How does a young Ali do in the 70s?

He destroys them all.
Norton would still give him some trouble, as would Frazier in 1971. But I think there would be no doubt about the winner.
He'd be the same age as Larry Holmes and if he stays in good shape he sees off that challenge around 1979. He might have a trilogy with Holmes.
He probably loses to Pinklon Thomas or Michael Spinks or Tony Tubbs or someone, he comes back for Tyson at age 39 and gets brutally stopped in 5 or 6 rounds.

 

Interesting that Ali never referred back to his prime self - to say anything like “When I was younger, this or that fight would’ve been so much easier” etc.

A real, here and now guy, no excuses, no savers. If anything (perhaps simply to hype and promote his second incarnation) it seemed Ali often compared his 70s self more favourably against the mid to late 60s version.

Not to necessarily agree even though it’s as per the man himself but it’s interesting to note. Ali most definitely claimed that Norton would’ve “eaten up”’ his younger self.

As compared to prime, there were some pros and cons but just imo, the cons outweighed the pros for 70s Ali - by and large he does so much better if starting as a 22 yo or so in the 70s.

 

Quarry would be a slight favorite over the Ali who was decked by Henry Cooper. Bonavena would have been a test. And I would favor Frazier over 22 year old Ali.

 

Early 70s Ali seemed to be more robust and stronger and even a harder puncher. And a 32 year old Ali was definitely more durable than 21 year old Ali. No way 21 year old Ali takes that punishment from George Foreman.

 

True, Ali was more robust, demonstrably resilient and likely stronger - and that was kinda of a cancel out trade off - in many instances in the 70s but perhaps not all or at least not as badly, the young Ali could be calculated to have avoided most of the punishment by way of his prime mobility and evasions.

With the legs and supporting stamina not what they once were, Ali had to utilise/develop more strength and durability to compensate.

We shouldn’t forget also that Ali naturally became wiser in the ring with age and further experience - as many boxers do, so I guess that maybe somewhat of a con for an Ali just starting out in the 70s.

 

I think Ali hit his pinnacle around 24-25. At 21-22 he was already awesome but not fully matured as a professional as seen in the Doug Jones and Henry Cooper fights. That said there might be a danger of him losing some fights to his more formidable 70s foes

 

Yes, though I think FOTC Frazier would win a decision. Foreman, Norton, Frazier after 71, Ellis, Quarry...Ali would beat them all imo.

 

A young Ali would be learning his trade in that era. That's Quarry instead of Cooper, possibly Norton instead of Jones. Goodness knows what Ali was capable of but that generation of Heavyweights would have been a harder apprenticeship.

 

He would also have issues with Norton it will always be close with frazier, Ali dominated the 60s because the heavies of that era were weak!

 

Norton and Frazier would always been hard fights for him. They would beat him at least once.

Ali doesn't suffer the ignominous showings towards the end of his career.

He loses to Holmes and thus passes the "torch".

 

There is a clip of him when he's asked how 22-year old Ali would fare against Foreman and he answers that he would have made easier work of him with his speed. It was when he was in Britain, quite soon after beating Foreman, I think.

 

If he's matched as relatively safely as in real life (so no Foreman in 1969-1970). I think this Ali beats everyone until the 80's. On paper, at least. But there is always such thing as that left hook Cooper landed on him. If it's landed by, say, Quarry in the middle of the round instead, it might be a different story.

A fairly young Ali against the more experienced Frazier of FOTC would be a great one. I think Ali would have been served well to have had a couple of tough fights before, such as the Jones and Cooper fights. Maybe Quarry and Bonavena could have served up something similar.

 

If Cooper landed in the middle of the round, it might be a different story.

Quarry stands no realistioc chance against a 21 year old Ali. Henry Cooper had a great left hook. And Cooper had a style that allowed him to box with Ali to land it.
Even in the 1966 fight (absolute prime Ali), Cooper did better than Quarry ever did with a 1970s Ali.

Quarry has become incredibly overrated on this forum.
he was completely outclassed by Ali in the 1970s, in two fights. Which should really disqualify him from being mentioned as a threat to a young Ali.