Alt History: What If?

But this thread is based on "What if" scenarios.

 

I think the ultimate boxing "what if" is the following: Would Jack Dempsey have scored a KO over Gene Tunney in their 1927 rematch if the infamous "long count" hadn't occurred?

 

As I said previously - this thread is based on "What if" scenarios.

 

I've often wondered about that one. In one interview,Gene said he was n't sure as to whether he could've beaten the count had the long count not taken place,whereas Jack said that he reckoned Gene could well have got up within ten. Both men showing respect to the other.

 

He had enough money to retire after Zaire had he wanted to. That and the income he would have earned post retirement - he would rake it in with his book,film and maybe commentary work etc. This is still a hypothetical thread and we can throw around different scenarios.

 

I wonder where all of it went, when Ali beat Foreman, he was paid more money than Jack Dempsey or Joe Louis got in an entire career.

 

What if Duran hadn’t quit against Leonard?

Let’s say he just gradually slows down, plods around the ring half-ass chasing Leonard and gets his ears boxed off pretty substantially.

Where does it go from there? There was no rubber match for years because Roberto’s reputation was shot and people weren’t going to line up to buy tickets to see a guy who quit for no discernible reason (and wasn’t in danger or distress or getting beaten up) fight the same guy again … but let’s say Roberto loses the decision and confesses after that he partied too hard for too long after the first fight and just wasn’t as sharp as he needed to be — maybe the rubber match does happen after Leonard-Hearns (providing Duran gets serious and beats a contender or two impressively in the meantime).

What does this Leonard-Duran III look like at 147?

 

An in shape and motivated Ali wins in Kingston. If he wasn’t in shape and motivated, I’m not so sure. He’d have kept fighting if he’d lost a decision in Kinshasa, probably would have retired if he’d gotten knocked out. Which might have been the best thing that could have happened in the long run, if we’re talking alternative history.

 

I like to think about boxing What If's.
1) What if John L. Sullivan had fought Peter Jackson?
2) What if James Corbett beat Jim Jeffries in their fight to become the first man to reclaim the HW crown?
3) What if Jack Dempsey fought Harry Wills?
4) What if Jack Dempsey fought Jack Johnson?
5) What if Rocky Marciano had come out of retirement to fight Ingmar Johansson after the Swede's shock win over Floyd Patterson? (Rock did start training to do so but realized he couldn't cut the mustard anymore)
6) (BIG ONE) What if Muhammad Ali had not been persecuted by the US Government and had been allowed to keep fighting as champ in his prime?
a) and faced up-and-coming Frazier in 68?
b) and later faced up-and-coming Foreman in 72-3?
7) What if Larry Holmes got the decision against Michael Spinks and tied or even broke Marciano's 49-0 record? Would he be fit to carry his jockstrap then?
8) What if SRL had fought Aaron Pryor?
9) What if Tyson KD of Buster Douglas had been counted as a KO?
a) Would Tyson's inevitable fall have come against Evander Holyfield as those two were supposed to fight next after Douglas-Tyson?
b) Or was Holy not ready just yet in 1991?
c) What if Tyson took a tougher-than-expected fight against Douglas as a wake-up call and rededicated himself to training, cut ties with Don King and other leeches, etc.
10) What if Bowe had fished the belt and his balls out of the dumpster and fought Lennox (likely a repeat of their amateur match-up) ?
11) What if Lennox lost the rematch to Hasim Rahman (this one feels among the more far-fetched as Lewis had so much more upstairs than Rahman; their first fight was already a fluke for the Marylander) ?
12) What if RJJ fought Corrie Sanders as was discussed after the former cleared John Ruiz and the latter leveled Wlad Klitschko?
13) What if Ike Ibeabuchi hadn't gone to jail and fought for championships? How long might he have reigned?
14) What if Golota got the decision he should've gotten against John Ruiz? (between Ruiz and Chris Byrd, the early 2000s was a difficult time to be a HW boxing fan)
15) What if James Toney hadn't been busted for PEDs after beating Ruiz?
16) What if James Toney had gotten the deserved decision against 'Who Neks' Sam Peter their first fight?
a) Might he have gotten a bout against one of the (as he put it) "Klitschko sisters"? He might've been sorry he did.
17) What if Wlad had fought "Let's Go Champ!" Shannon the Cannon after Briggs knocked him off his jet skis (anyone remember that video?) ?
18) What if Vitali Klitschko had fought Sugar Nicolai Valuev? I always wanted to see the Valuev tree fall and thought Vitali might've been the lumberjack to do it.
19) What if Mayweather had fought Pacquiao immediately after the latter's destruction of Miguel Cotto?
20) What if Paul Williams didn't go motorcycle riding that fateful day?
a) What if Corrie Sanders wasn't at the restaurant the day he was shot?
b) What if Vernon Forrest hadn't stopped for gas that fateful day?
c) What if Arturo Gatti hadn't fought with his wife that day?
21) What if Edwin Valero hadn't killed his wife and self? What fights might we have seen?
22) What if GGG had fought Felix Sturm, Sergio Martinez, Cotto, Billy Joe Saunders, Mall Charlo and young Saul Alvarez in his real prime?
23) What if Jack Rees counted Tyson Fury as KO'ed in the first (and only!) Deontay Wilder fight?
24) What if Loma got the decision against Haney?
a) Unfortunately bad decisions have become so commonplace I could do a million 'what if so-and-so got the proper decision against whats-his-name' spinoffs...

 

While Ali won clearly in Zaire I still think it was a fight that was finely balanced. For all Ali’s fine conditioning and strategy it was still a very tough gig.

Part of the strategy was that Foreman play his assumed role to the hilt - and George did. Ali said he prayed that George would blast his ass off and keep throw in’ - and that’s exactly what Foreman did.

In early ‘73 one could be well justified in thinking that Ali could not possibly be as well prepared and as well informed for Foreman as he was in 1974.

That doesn’t mean Ali still couldn’t win because he was nothing if not adaptable - and he was often literally so, adaptable on his feet, after first bell.

Ali couldn’t have foreseen the loose ropes, the impossibly small ring and the soft, slow canvas - but he modified himself to the environment while others might’ve succumbed due to the very same surroundings.

Knowing Ali, he probably would’ve rallied the folks in Jamaica to chant Ali Bomaye also. Lol.