If Ali was born ten years earlier?

He is a much less interesting person.

 

He would have had more success in the ring. Louis, Moore, and Walcott were on the way down while Clay would be on the way up. I only use the word Clay because he might never have become Muhammad Ali. And in a twist of fate if he ever faces Rocky he's the young up and comer and Rocky is the older boxer.

 

I thought he looked like Walcott.

 

The earliest his trainers would put him in the ring with Rocky is 1955 so Ali is aware of what he did to Louis, Walcott, and Moore. He isn't going to be foolish like he was when he fought Cooper.

 

So I guess that would mean Muhammad Ali would have been a title challenger 10 years earlier. They would have a super fight Marciano Vs. Muhammad Ali, if Marciano hadn't retired a little earlier. Patterson and Johansson would not be champions. Muhammad Ali would certainly fight Sony Liston, but a peak version of Liston, which would be great. After Ali's reign (or the reigns of Ali and Liston) it would be Frazier's turn.

 

Food for thought,definitely,Bokaj. Clay/Ali beats Rocky Marciano by decision,then stops him in a rematch. Makes succesful defences against Charles,Walcott,La Starza,Moore, Patterson et al. Does Muhammad still have a three and a half year lay off? If so he comes back,beats Patterson again. Beats Liston by late rounds stoppage to win back the title. Eventually an Ali in his middle thirties meets a young Joe Frazier whom he loses to. Ali retires for good around 1967/68.

 

Hmmm I think it actually might add to his legacy. As without the war trouble, we’d actually see Ali hit his prime, with no exile to stop him.

 

Clay would be 19 in 1951 when Marciano annihilated Louis. Might he have fought Joe before Rocky? Doubt it. I think instead he builds a fine amateur record and enters the 1952 Olympics as a light heavy. Floyd Patterson is on that team; Floyd wins the middleweight gold and the two young athletes, so unlike each other in personality, become friends. Clay loses in the Olympic semi-finals to an East German. It's an unpopular decision. Now 20, Clay is faced with the question of who will manage him. The Louisville group of businessmen who signed him in 1960 aren't in the picture. Cus D'amato likes him but he insists on total control of the fighter and Clay is bothered by that. The Jim Norris organization with offices in Madison Square Garden promises it will make Clay a TV attraction. They don't yet own the Liston contract. Clay signs with them first. Pep Barone of Allentown, Pa. is his manager of record. He fights prelims most of 1953 and is beginning to step up in class in 1954. A match against Patterson is on the horizon but Cus won't allow it. He says privately that Clay is mob-controlled

 

I think he looked most like Jose Legra and Jimmy Slattery.