Would the 1974 Ali had a chance? Maybe. I think the 1974 Ali was stronger, a much better clincher, and more cunning. The 1967 Ali of coruse was much faster.
Two very different fighters. In the end it might come down to cunning and experience, which '74 Ali had in abundance. If that wasn't a factor then i'll take '67 Ali by decison.
Ali 67 probably, its hard to see how the Ali 74 could win, he couldnt use rope a dope. He'd end up being forced to try and hold the centre of the ring and getting beaten to the punch by the young Ali.
He's better at clinching, sure, but what's that going to negate against the young Clay? It isn't like younger Ali was an in-fighter like Frazier or something. Neither Ali could in-fight, so unless the older Ali's allowed to get away with constant clinching throghout the fight it's not going to really have much an effect here. 67' Ali by decision.
Ali 67 wins by ud people think that ali 67 was just super fast but dont forget... its the same guy as ali 74.... only faster & better stamina. Ali 74 came up with the rope-a-dope because his 32 yr old legs could no longer carry out fight plan 1... which was be the ali of 67 for 15 rds. The reason we never got to see the full package of ali 66/67 is because he was never pushed to his limits like the 70s ali was. Ali 66/67.... best ever. :good
Ali himself said young Ali would have won. He said he would have tried to fight in spurts and knock young Ali out but felt that he was better pre exile. Patterson and Chuvalo both said he was better pre 70 as did D'Mato.
!967 Ali had already demonstrated that he had no problems going 15 with Chuvalo and Terrell. 1975 Joe Bugner helped Ali demonstrate that the rope-a-doping tactic he developed wasn't a very useful weapon to try turning against himself. !974 Ali had vastly improved upper body endurance. The 1967 version would not have been able to generate the punch output produced by the post exile Ali who performed from the FOTC to Manila. But the trick for the more mature model would have been getting his younger self to stand and punch. The mature Ali was not Zora Folley. He was not going to land singular bodyshots from the outside, nor would he have been able to jab with the original champion. Whatever success the older Ali enjoyed would have come courtesy of his right lead. But it wouldn't have scored often enough to secure a favorable decision, nor would it have had sufficient firepower to stagger the youth into submission. Finally, Jimmy Young showed how uncomfortable the mature Ali could be when made to advance. This would be long-range, mid-ring headhunting, and that would favor the 1967 Ali to win by 15 round UD. There might be others the older Ali could have done better against than the younger one, but this head to head matchup isn't one of them.
If 74 Ali was abale to rember what he was like in 67. 74 Ali would know what to expect from 67 Ali. This would be a big advantage and 74 Ali would win. If 74 Ali had no memory of being 67 Ali than I think 67 Ali would fast enough to win.
