Young did defo cause Ali trouble and that points you in the direction of another deluxe spoiler in Walcott who I think would turn in the type of performance you're thinking about for Charles.
Also fair to point out that was 1976 though, Charles would have a much better chance against 1976 Ali too.
Cobb was/is quick witted, a friend told me about Cobb being interviewed by Joan Rivers (maybe filling in for Johnny Carson?). She asked Cobb if the Rocky movie was realistic. He told her (maybe not exact words?) that he thought Rocky was "an accurate portrayal of how an actor thinks a boxer lives."
Why are we using a 230 pound 34 year woefully out of shape Ali as an analogue for him at anything closely near prime? It reminds me of the Leonard hater on this board uses the Leonard of the Norris fight as an analogue for the best of Sugar Ray.
Why are we using Joe Frazier and Kenny Norton as analogues for 160 pound fighters? Thank you in advance.
There's an inevitable limit to what modern training and technique can achieve and it's more likely this 170 pound athlete becomes 200 pounds with no loss of speed or reflex time. The 140 pound athlete becomes the 170 pound one.
Here's the youtube. He's owning Ellis. Notice the size difference. Jimmy was 189 pounds, not 160. And to those who say it was all reflexes with Ali go to the 1.20 mark and see the beautiful shoulder rolls. That was the fight when the great Harry Wiley, trainer of Sugar Ray Robinson, was in his corner because Angelo Dundee was in Jimmy's because he was contractually obligated to him. This content is protected And to avoid charges of cherry picking here's the whole fight: This content is protected
The Ellis fight is one of my favorite fights in the Ali canon because he's fighting an elite fighter, owning him, and unlike Williams was capable of fighting back.