who would beat 36 yr old ali at the 8 fight stage of their career?

Assuming that Ali actually trained and came to fight, unlike the way he showed up against Leon Spinks, then my answer would be very few. James Jeffries might have been a possibility as well as a young Frazier or Tyson.

 

I'm sure that somewhere, someplace there are guys who could have done it, but nothing appears on the surface... Marvis Frazier had olympic pedegree, but never went to the games due to the US boycott in 1980... he also falls into the category of someone who never made it either. He might have pulled it off with 10 fights or so, but nothing else really jumps out of the book at me.

 

Well conditioned , fast punchers with high outputs and fairly solid chins ... a young Dokes might have done it ..

 

I'm more surprised that he actually lost the rematch. Ali was done. A lot of guys with Olympic and amateur pedigree could have managed it.

 

Ali was toying with him and not trying. Thus the "Exhibition".

 

There are two ways to look at Neon Leons win over Ali, given the rest of his record.

Either he put up a James Douglas style one off performence, or Ali really was that far gone.

 

On this point, I think that Shavers might have been part of the reason why Neon Leon beat Ali.

Maybee that fight took more out of Ali than given credit for.

 

I think it might actually be a combination of both.. There is also the theory that Ali did not train for the fight, and in fact, purposely threw the bout, knowing that it would make for an easy rematch, but I'm not sure that I ever bought that claim..

 

Or how the judges vote Ali any way compare to Norton imo.

The judges played a large part in Ali's later wins imo.

 

My guess would be Floyd Patterson. Though outweighted, he had an outstanding amatuer pedagree his style was well-developed going into the pros. I think he would have had the speed and general athleticism to give Ali fits and there's no doubt he had the stamina to keep going down the stretch.