Interesting question. I think most people would agree that Ali, in a direct H2H matchup, would dominate more or less any opponent. But when we talk about a long career like Louis’, the edges of that career become especially interesting. Ali was 22 when he fought Sonny Liston, which means he was more than a year younger than Louis when Louis won the world title. So, you could argue that Ali might have struggled with some of Louis’ pre-title opponents. For example, he would have been even younger against Schmeling than he was against Doug Jones and Henry Cooper. Maybe he would also have had some difficulties with other early Louis opponents (Pastor, Baer, Ettore, Retzlaff, Sharkey, Carnera, Perroni, etc.), without naming one specific guy. Overall, I think Louis had more tough opponents before winning the title, including many who were considered top 10 fighters. Of course, a prime Ali would have been a heavy favorite against all of them. But we should not forget how young he would have been at that point. Today, nobody would assume that the Doug Jones and Henry Cooper fights would be competitive if Ali had not actually gone through them. If we instead use Louis’ age as the reference point, Ali would have been 23 against Braddock, already a bit more mature. But then his chances against Ezzard Charles (Louis was 36) and Rocky Marciano (37) would probably decrease. Ali himself was 36 in the Leon Spinks fights and I don’t think that version of Ali would have beaten Ezzard Charles. On the other hand, maybe he would have had a bit more left in the tank if his overall level of opposition had been slightly easier up to that point. If we go by Ali’s age when he beat Liston, he would have been around 35 against Ezzard Charles. At 35, he fought Shavers and Evangelista. Would that version of Ali beat Charles? I tend to say no, although it would be more competitive. And what if Ali had been in better condition because of lighter opposition overall? Even then, I still wouldn’t favor him. We also shouldn’t forget that there were about 2¼ years between Louis’ retirement after Walcott and his comeback fight against Charles. If we transfer everything 1:1, Ali would also have had that long break, which could have affected his form as well. Another option is to start from their first pro fights. Ali was 18, Louis 20. In that case, Ali would have been only around 21 against Braddock. So again, with such a long career like Louis’, the beginning and the end are the most interesting parts. Louis has a natural advantage here because his career was, in a way, perfectly built around him. That’s where these thought experiments become trickier. Ali could probably have duplicated Louis’ successful title run at a similar age – maybe with fewer ebbs and flaws (fewer obstacles or close fights, but not always quite as dominant as Louis, considering his quick knockout wins). In the end, it’s still just speculation. Unexpected obstacles can never be predicted.
Ali would dominate but Walcott would be a hard fight for an aging Ali. Ali himself thought Walcott was a tricky fighter.
Yes that's true mate, you never know what going to happen in boxing. I'm going to say I think Ali would be quite dominant over the bulk of Joe's opponent s. Slower feet Smaller average size of the heavyweight s back then,tho that doesn't always make a difference. Less experience with lateral movement at that level. Ali would mostly win on points , clearly most of the time. Stop a few that get desperate chasing him. Rarely be in serious danger. Just my opinion of course.
Ali would do it about as cleanly as Louis did, maybe even better. Only threat is late career opposition like Walcott but I think Ali would still get the W
I get where you're coming from. The older Ali, slowing down and perhaps over confident . I definitely see Jersey Joe surprising him.
People talking about Ali aging and etc but remember Ali would age differently under a different scenario/timeline. Ali would still have the hiatus from the sport due to WW2 like Louis did. But Ali was competing in the strongest Heavyweight era in the 70s. And fights against the likes of Frazier, Norton, etc were putting alot of wear and tear on his body. So Ali would realistically age better in Louis's era against weaker opposition overall and having less bigger skilled Heavyweights to deal with overall.
A whole lot of it would look like Ali-Brian London. Ali never loses to Schmeling. Barring a minor miracle (like the one in a million Cooper thing), it's unlikely he ever hits the deck vs. B. Baer, Galento, Braddock and the like...and he definitely doesn't get dropped by all three. Can't imagine him having to dig himself out of a hole in the later rounds vs. Conn. He's probably still relatively fresh by the time he meets Charles and Walcott, and at the very least outperforms Joe vs. each of those. Guys like Larry Donald & Chris Byrd probably do extremely well vs. Louis' competition. It'd be an absolute cakewalk for Ali.
Prime Ali would be even more dominant than Louis. 47 Walcott and 1949 Charles would be some competition but he was clearly better then either.
