A Young Ali Against His 1974 Onwards, Opponent's?

People would say the results wouldn't change but I see him beating everyone in easier fashion. Mildenberger was his worst performance post Liston and he still looked athletically superior, technically better, moved more, used more feints with more activity. Patterson 1 vs Patterson 2. Direct proof

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Blueprint for beating Norton was moving in and out, prime Ali does it better. He stops Foreman again. Beats Frazier the first time by split decision

 

Chuvalo also said he was better on the first go-round.

The first Patterson fight is sometimes excused on Patterson's end as having back problems, for whatever it's worth.

 

The younger Ali beats Foreman by his more usual method of dancing him dizzy before stopping him.

Chuck Wepner - Muhammad stops him as soon as he feels like getting serious.
Ron Lyle - Muhammad halts him anytime from the sixth round on.
Joe Bugner - Durable Joe probably still lasts the distance but loses by an even bigger margin than he did in '73 & 75.
Joe Frazier - Joe's eyes are both shut by Muhammad's blazing fists and Eddie Futch pulls his man out before the tenth.
Jean-Pierre Coopman - Stops him whenever Muhammad likes.
Jimmy Young - Jimmy lasts the course but loses heavily on all cards.
Richard Dunn - Ditto Coopman
Ken Norton - Ken is Muhammad's toughest opponent (along with Holmes) in this series. Like their second real fight with a little more daylight on scorecards.
Alfredo Evangelista - Ditto Coopman and Dunn.
Earnie Shavers - Ali avoids Earnie's right hand bombs and stops him late on in the fight winning nearly every round.
Leon Spinks 1 & 2 - Ali stops him before the halfway mark.
Larry Holmes - Ali's toughest opponent (along with Norton) in this series. A chessmatch type bout with a Muhammad win by around three/four points.

Trevor Berbick - The Canadian could be durable enough to last the distance but Muhammad shuts him out.

 

A prime Ali has a field day with all his late contenders.

Only chance I see for an upset is with Ali becoming cocky and careless, so a puncher like Foreman, Shavers or maybe Lyle, is able to pull a Cooper.

But I am not betting on that.

Edit: I forgot about Holmes. He has a real chance of beating even a prime Ali; a very dangerous contender, but I still think Ali prevails.

 

The blue print for beating Norton is in and out? What does that even mean? So vague. Was Ali jumping in, pot shotting and on the move not exactly that in fight 2? Ali said that bout was the one where he moved the most, commenting that Norton hit him more than anyone over 12. To me the facts is I doubt “Moar Moving” by Ali is the right choice, just like it wasn’t against Frazier he Klitschko’d him… his results are probably about the same against Norton and Frazier, with Norton he had healthier hands in the 60s if he moved less, clinched and tried to hurt a guy who was stopped by a teeny fighter like Garcia he may win via TKO - catch him with a hook he didn’t see like he did with Bonavena and anything is possible KN was a fragile guy.

 

Most had Ali winning fight 2 so my point still stands, and he was inferior to late 60s Ali. Superior reflexes, more upper body movement, feints and speed will always help. Holmes best rounds were when he used the ring, got out the way and jabbed Norton, same with Ali

 

Some really effective but strange fast twitch movements from Ali in first Patterson 1 fight.

 

Jabbing with Norton is exactly why Ali looked so bad in those fights, your point doesn’t really stand as it’s not really a blue print - even in those 3 fights many people thought Norton won all 3 (not me) Shavers and LeDoux seemed to understand how to fight Norton better just because you beat someone doesn’t mean it’s “The Blue Print” look at what Lyle went thought for Shavers… compare it to Quarry then compare it to Ali… who had the “blue print”?

 

Not while using his feet, this is why Norton has a close fight with Young, his strategy is to cut the ring, get him on the ropes and pound away. Norton was very good at range but everytime Ali just danced around Nortons output went down 3 fold. Nortons best moments where when Ali was boxing more stationary or briefly stood next to the ropes, on the run Ali had a much better time outboxing him imo

Did you even watch the second fight ? Really, his best moments were keeping Norton from setting his feet, jabbing, throwing combinations and moving away before Norton traps him on the ropes. Ali in his prime was better at navigating the ring, using feints and exaggerated movement to offset his opponents. He had more agile upper body movement, quicker feet, faster hands, a higher workrate when he wanted to throw more, used more feints, pivoted on his lead foot more, and look at how many jabs he threw against Patterson vs his comeback. Its not even close

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So can you explain why 67 Ali has a harder time against Norton than 70s Ali

Ali was way past it against Shavers

 

Well, Foreman would have obviously stopped young Ali. Because young Ali wasn't strong enough to deal with Foreman up close, and he wasn't savvy enough to fight Foreman at his own fight and beat him. And he would have had to fight him because Foreman had superlative skill when it came to cutting the ring. He would have relentlessly forced young Ali to the ropes and corners and manhandled him.

 

Foreman lost to Jimmy Young

 

That was not """""""""""""""""prime""""""""""""""""""" Foreman TBF..