Yes. Ali belonged to a group whose "solution" to white racism was to make the same kind of claim in reverse. And support segregation, anti-miscegenation, etc. Needless to say, this isn't considered a viable option in 2025. Largely because both brands of racism -- white and black -- lost the Culture Wars in the 70s.
I love Ali, but man, he never thought that one through. Hey, there's this thing this group of people does that I can't stand, so my response is... do the exact same thing. Wut? Good. People are people. Skin color matters **** all. Marry who you want. **** who you want. Ain't for me to judge or say ****.
Some other potential picks include: Carlos Monzon: I could see some posters in the hypothetical forum finding him boring Miguel Canto: In the general forum there are people who don't like boxers below 130 lbs showing up on p4p lists. They call those divisions weak and they especially don't like it when someone stays in one of those divisions instead of weight jumping. Also he has pillow hands and some posters don't like that Emile Griffith: Again I've seen the lounge
The reason Sominex is not available in Argentina is they had Monzon fights and didn’t need it. He put the judges asleep in nine of his fights to the point that when they woke up they had to call them draws since they dozed through them. Carlos was considered boring in his time. He won but mostly didn’t impress as he was so methodical (and not in a surgical way like Arguello) and so many of his bouts were slogs.
Opinions are like arse holes. Everyone has them, be those opinions informed or not. Back in the day, some scant letters to the Editor included in Boxing Mags was as much as Joe Public was allowed to squeak out. The UD awarded to Ali in his rubber match vs Norton would’ve surely seen a lot of outrage and cries of robbery on a contemporary online forum.
George Foreman would have been torn a new one. People would talk about how his power is all smoke and mirrors since he feasted on "cans" on his way up. They would say his best opponent was a past it Chuvalo and that when he fights Frazier, Frazier is going to expose him. Then he destroys Frazier and everyone is like "he's still unproven" and will say it's only because Frazier was out of shape and then will talk about how Dempsey and Marciano and Max Baer would have left Foreman comatose. With Foreman's destruction of Jose Roman, he would be mocked for fighting Roman and would be accused of ducking "real contenders' like Quarry or Norton. The fight would be looked at as another Foreman Farce. With the Norton vs Foreman fight scheduled, predictions would be made about how Norton will finally expose the fraud that is George Foreman. Foreman is finally fighting a skilled, in shape top heavyweight. The only argument is whether Norton stops Foreman or wins a convincing UD. After the Norton destruction, some posters start to come around to Foreman. Others, like @janitor insist that Foreman is still unproven. Some others still insist he is a fraud who would have never made it back in Joe Louis day. Posters wax poetic on how Schmeling would have given Foreman a boxing lesson. @Pat M would try to talk some sense into everyone concerning Foreman, but it would be like screaming into the void. He would be accused of just picking the modern fighter because he's modern. Finally, Foreman fights Ali and is stopped in 8 rounds! Everyone calling Foreman a fraud feels vindicated. They knew Foreman's vaunted punching power was all smoke and mirrors. He couldn't even stop a washed up version of Ali who leaned on the ropes the whole fight. If a washed up Ali could stop him, imagine what a prime Dempsey or Marciano does to him?? Foreman is on the comeback trail and has a near miss against Ron Lyle. Posters goad him for that. Finally, he loses against Jimmy Young and retires. Posters are resolute that George Edward Foreman was a fraud who at best would have been an OKish contender in the days of Joe Louis. At worst, he would be a trial horse.
“Roberto Duran ain’t fought nobody! He won his title on a low blow, he got dumped on his behind twice against Esteban DeJesus and the rest of his challengers are cans!”
There would be a lot of pumping up the next Great White Hope at heavyweight. It was definitely a thing, culminating in Holmes-Cooney being the highest-grossing PPV of all time in early 1980s.