Yes, Ali would still be an ATG, though i doubt if he would be considered as the Greatest of the great heavyweights. I believe Muhammad's great acheivements were soooo legendary the first part of his career alone could have earned him the ranking of great and the Hall of Fame had his resume been based on all the things he has accomplished pre exile. We shouldn't forget his wins over Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell, Zora Folley, Cleveland Williams, Henry Cooper, archie moore and of course........the heavily favored and invincible Sonny Liston. It should be noted while the fact that "almost none of his opponents were at their absolute best and that Ali certainly fought a better competition in the 1970's" cannot be denied, it must be said that: -Ali, before the exile, has already beaten 3 hall of famer in Liston, Patterson and archie moore. (He would have been one of the few fighters in history to have been undefeated against hall of famers). - Ali already had 9 successful defenses of the undisputed title in his first reign - second only to Joe Louis’s 25. No fighter other than Joe Louis ever had more than 9 defenses of the undisputed heavyweight title. - Ali was 29–0 with 23 KO’s, with an 78% KO rate, and he would have been one of the few fighters in history to have retired at the top. And along with Rocky Marciano, the only undefeated heavyweight champion in the history of boxing. This alone would have made him a great fighter, and justly earned him his place among the true elites heavyweights. Just on a final note, having said all of the above, i don't think there would be one experts who would believe Muhammad Ali deserve to be called the greatest heavyweight who ever lived if we don't add his acheiving and his dominance post exile.
Muhammad Ali would still be considered an all time great if he had retired following the title defense against WBA no. 1 contender Zora Folley on March 22 1967 in Madison Square Garden. Ali's record would have been 29-0, 23 KO's. Again, a fighter can only fight the fighters in their era's, winning is better than losing. The only ready contenders at that specific time were Thad Spencer, Oscar Bonavena, who had suffered a loss to Zora Folley, Floyd Patterson, Jerry Quarry, Leotis Martin, and Jimmy Ellis. As mentioned many times Yank Durham did not want his protoge Joe Frazier in the ring with champion Muhammad Ali in 1967, they had other plans, that is what I read many years ago. Ali then would have been eventually convicted of Draft Evasion on June 20 1967, sentenced to 5 years in Prison, and fined $10,000.00, he would have posted bond, continued the appeal process until being exonerated by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 1971. Ali would have not suffered the Brain Damage that he suffered in his second career, 1970-1978,
On one hand I dont know if I'd consider the pre exile career all time great but def hall of fame. But on the other if he had retired undefeated I think he'd have an absolute mystique like Marciano and Mayweather. People would debate endlessly about what might have been, how he would have easily outboxed Frazier and Norton but would have struggled with Foreman, hell most of the guys trashing him on the h2h thread would probably consider him TBE and have names like "alitheman4ever" Especially if like he had gone to nam and died. Then he'd top everyone list even tho his actual resume wouldn't be nearly as great imo. Its interesting to think about. How by demonstrating his greatness he actually gets rated lower than if he had just given up the sport.
Ali's status as this mythical fighter who could never be beat would be off the charts if he retired in 1967.
He'd definitely have been rated as an all time great but not THE all time great. On par with Rocky Marciano. Maybe slightly higher.
He would enjoy the mythical status that exists in the minds of Tyson fans who argue his invincibility ended with his first loss at twenty four years old. Except in Ali's case he never lost. This would make him a favorite against any boxer that ever lived. I would argue he's at least even money as it is. To the gentleman who said Ali might have died in Vietnam that really wasn't a possibility. There was a deal on the table that he would perform in exhibition bouts to entertain the troops. He rejected that deal because it would mean lending his credibility to a war he though was wrong and get more people killed in it.
