If you noticed the young Cassius Clay coming through the ranks what would you think?

I'd think,

'Awww damn! Whitey was just starting to bring it back home!'

 

I think you need to read Goyourownway's NWO conspiracy post a few more times.
Eventually something might click. :good

 

I wouldnt have been impressed at all.

He'd have won me over through success, over time, though. He just didnt look the goods till Liston, by my view.

 

Since we're talking conspiracies, I'll mention this, without sarcasm:

This content is protected

READ. THIS. BOOK.

 

Im so glad i came to classic with this thead you guys

 

I'd think he was the second coming of Ali.

 

Average size, not too big of a puncher. Fast as heck. I'd have suspected him to be chinny, as guys with his early build usually are, and pegged him for a decent run with an alphabet title, but never top dog in the division.

 

I'd think, oh no, not this ******* again! You know though, I'd love to see a young Ali against the klitchko's, his speed and movement, defense and decent power , he might just humiliate them.

 

It is easy to say that you would have identified him as the second coming with the benefit of hindsight, but I realy don't think that people would have.

There are verry few prescedents for his style, let alone for a fighter employing it sucesfully, and when they do it depends upon a number of unknowns. Some historians might say that he looked a bit like a bigger version of Jimmy Slatterey. His being sucesful depended heavily upon his durability and people would certainly have questioned it after the Cooper fight (or equivalent).

All in all, I doubt that many people would have picked him to be more sucesful than David Haye.

 

US boxing finally got a new heavyweight star

 

There is no doubting, though, that Ali's speed would look out of this world against today's slow behemoths. I think that most people would be going absolutely ballistic with claims about his weak chin, and for that reason alone, there would be so many doubters. I think his heavyweight career would be met by the same claims that Roy Jones Jrs was.

Of course the difference being that Ali would eventually prove them all wrong, when his chin turned out to be one of, if not the, greatest ever. I thing he would become a consensus ATG by a defence or two after he had cleaned up the Klitchskos. Saying that, i wonder if Haye or Adamek might be viewed the same way by the majority, if they pull off the feat.

 

I would think, This guy will never be able to handle true Modern heavyweights.

 

Totally agree with this. No matter how fast you are, the stylistic defects Clay had would have led to much "knockout waiting to happen" chatter. Larry Holmes often said Clay was not that great a boxer, and in the pure, technical sense he was not far wrong. There's also the correlation with mouthy boxers needing to prove themselves more than the quiet ones. You only need to look at the predictions made before Clay-Liston 1 to see what the experts of the day thought.

 

I would think Greg Page was reincarnated, lost weight and learned how to recite poetry. I wouldn't have high expectations but I'm sure his eventual success would surprise me.

 

But the experts were proved wrong,were n't they ?