Suppose we bring the Cassius Clay of 1964 into the 1974 Muhammad Ali's timeline and put the '74 Ali back in Clay's one. I see it developing somewhat like this. The sixties version beats Foreman by a mile on points,and has easy stoppage victories over Wepner,Lyle,Coopman,Dunn and Spinks. Clear but hard fought wins over Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. Earnie Shavers would hit air for about seven rounds before being rescued by the referee,and Bugner along with Young would go the fifteen but be outclassed. A 32 year old Ali would stop the 1964 Liston in about ten rounds. Easy wins over Patterson,Cooper,and London would follow. George Chuvalo would be a rugged opponent lasting the distance but still being widely outscored. By this time Ali would be 35. A controversial decision over Ernie Terrel and a fairly easy one over Zora Folley would wrap this up. Thoughts ?
After looking again at this thread,it's occured to me that although Ali had slipped in between 1967 and 1974,there was a bigger deterioration in between 1974 and 1978,imo.
