Its hard to figure out who Ali could have beaten at this point in his career. I've always thought Leon was the most fortunate fighter ever for being at the right place at the right time in history.
Totally agree. My pick would be Scott Ledoux. The Ali-Spinks fight was being aired on CBS during "sweeps week." It was a payday for Ali to help the network boost its advertising rates for the next quarter. Ali always fought a no-hoper in these cases (Coopman, Evangelista, etc.). Ali wanted to fight Alfio Righetti initially, instead of Spinks. Ali wanted to play off the popularity of the movie ROCKY by fighting his own "Italian Stallion." But 5-0-1 Leon outpointed Righetti in December to get the spot. Ali also fought an exhitibion in Chicago in December 1977 (less than two months before the Spinks fight) against Scott Ledoux, who had fought Leon to a DRAW in Leon's fight before Righetti. So, if Leon couldn't make it, I think Scott Ledoux would've received the call. Ali and Ledoux had already worked together. It would've been an easy fight to make. There was also a wild card. In Floyd Patterson's biography, Floyd mentioned that Ali's team called Floyd and asked him if he wanted to fight Ali in that slot (instead of facing Leon). Floyd, then around 43, turned them down. But, if Leon pulled out, maybe Floyd would've had a change of heart and we'd have seen Ali-Patterson III? Who knows. I'd lean toward Scott Ledoux, though. When Leon won the title from Ali, Scott began answering his phone "This is Scott Ledoux, Uncrowned Heavyweight Champion of the World." Regarding whether Ali wins or loses, Scott gave the aging Norton and Lyle really hard fights in 1979. So he may have given Ali a rough night. But I don't see Ledoux beating Ali. Ali beats Ledoux. Leon fought a great fight that night against Ali when he won the title. He never stopped punching. He showed great endurance. And his shots were very accurate. Here is some footage leading up to the Ali-Ledoux exhibition. This content is protected
There’s another interesting possibility here: Victor Emilio Galindez. Victor was WBA light heavyweight champion at the time — he actually lost that title to Mike Rossman on the Ali-Spinks I undercard (and later retained it). Light heavyweight champions had been given shots at the heavyweight crown before, so there’s precedence. The Argentinian was a roughhousing slugger (and deceivingly skillful counterpuncher) who would probably pose little threat to even an end-of-the-line, under-prepared Ali. I figure Victor has just enough credibility as a light heavyweight champ to make the fight doable from a network and sanctioning perspective, but would have lost an ugly decision to this version of Ali.
I think you meant Galindez lost it on the undercard of Ali-Spinks 2. After Ali regained the title from Spinks, Arum tried to make Ali-Rossman. Arum wanted to promote it as the Muslim vs the Jew around the time as the Egypt and Israel peace treaty brokered by Jimmy Carter. Ali said no. Ali vs Galindez in early '78 would've been good. Victor was coming off the Eddie Gregory defense.
You are correct on when it happened. I think Ali-Galindez would have looked a little like Ali-Evangelista with Victor posing less of a threat. He’d have been game and worked the body well when Ali rope-a-doped, but Galindez was also very vulnerable to cuts (Rossman targeted his scar tissue above the eyes successfully) and Ali was a master at the slice-and-dice. I think he wins on cuts stoppage within nine or so rounds.
