If Muhammad Ali didn't have a 3.5 year ban how would his career have looked?

After he came back, he actually fought 4 of the best contenders than emerged during his exile in 11 months, knocking 3 of them out. If it wasn't for the exile, he would beat these guys little earlier, probably even in better fashion. He would also beat Frazier in 1968 imo.

 

His career definitely would’ve ended earlier I still see him beating most of the late 60s to mid 70s contenders. Norton would still trouble him, he can probably still outsmart George. I don’t see him beating Frazier the first time he needed that loss to learn how to adjust, plus he came in underestimating him.

 

But if it wasn't for the exile, Ali would have fought Frazier in 1968-9, not in 1971. So we would have a peak, peak Ali vs Frazier who wasn't as good as in 1971.

 

One hell of a fight this would have been, I still think Frazier's doggedness would have worn Ali down the first time they meet especially with Ali going presumably undefeated until the fight

 

I'm saying Louis missed more fights because he could have ended up with like 20+ more title defenses and there were enough opponents during WW2 to facilitate that. With Ali I think his resume can't really really improve much if you give him those years back.

 

It’s not really about improving his resume but more the fact regular fights keep him in better shape and sharper for when the tougher tests of the 70’s come around

 

Other side of the coin, could add to wear and tear, so Frazier and Norton would win nonetheless.

 

How much more wear and tear could Ali got in a year to fight Frazier in 68?

 

I agree but you're talking removing 1 loss and polishing some already good wins otherwise his resume stays the same. I'm saying if he got through the Ellis, Quarry, Bonavena, Mathis group earlier theres no one extra he could have used that time to fight. And this is the front end. At the end of the day the back end is why people have Ali as the HW GOAT not how he dealt with that group. He beat Foreman got 4 out of 6 against Norton and Frazier, beat Jimmy Young, Lyle and Shavers, Bugnerx2, Evangelista and Wepner and that whole early 70s group all without taking an L. Its hard to improve on that.

Ali went 26-2 between his exile and the Spinks fights. If we give him those three years back and for the sake of argument everything else stays the same(which it wouldn't) how many extra wins does Ali get? And its probably 3-5. In the Louis situation its more 25-30 wins he missed out on.

 

Sure. He beats pretty much the same people but doesn't lose to Frazier. Maybe not even to Norton, not that early at least. If his first loss comes in the late 70's because he's just stuck around for too long, his resume should look better.

 

Exactly. And a fight in '68 would probably be quite tough but not the bloody battle FOTC was, so could actually save him some wear and tear.

 

Pretty much my thoughts, too.

I really can't see any logical argument to think differently.

OK, those very prime- time 3.5 years time out, had he fought in them would have been wear & tear on his clock. Which may have had a detrimental affect on the longevity of his career overall. But prime years are prime years. Maybe we never got to see some of Ali's best potential performances due to him not fighting due to the absence.

 

Then one year or so worth of wear and tear. Training, injuries, actual fight damages, punches taken, etc. (Also for me, both Frazier 1 and Norton would still win nonetheless.)