What says the ESB Classic? I think no. Obviously Ali is a special fighter, but his technical shortcomings would've been exploited by lower weight class technicians. His skills would've taken him far in any weight class regardless, but limited his success.
Well, you'd have to extrapolate his abilities (as would be the case with all of these hypothetical pound-fpr-pound matchups, rendering them utterly useless) were he to fight at those other weight classes.
NO, naturally a HW, could never have even got down to L-HW or even cruiser as we have it today. besides WHY, we should be focusing on fighters at "their natural" real fighting weight and exposing those that fight WELL BELOW it as opportunists in todays severely dying world of boxing. compliment real fighters among the greats and remove others who have the benifit of todays media hype and exploitation of a once great sport!!!
If you have a machine to shrink him, the law of diminishing returns means he would be even faster, have a higher workrate and have an even more impressive chin. Technically Ali got away with quite a bit because of his speed but that speed would still see him beat most in a P4P sense. ALlot of pure boxer types would still struggle
Didn't in late-1959, Cassius Clay jump into a couple of heavyweight tournaments. One with Allen Hudson, and a couple of others. Looks like he could have never made 175 lbs. after the 60' Olympics.
Ziggy Pietrzykowski was already a very accomplished 25 year old amateur LHW when Clay whitewashed him in Rome. He'd gotten to young Cassius through winning four preliminary matches by scores of 5-0, 5-0, 5-0 and 4-1. No question who the best amateur LHW in the world was at that stage. Stylistically, Howard Davis, Jr. was comparable, but didn't have the punch resistance, power or physical strength Muhammad possessed at his peak. Howard was probably the foremost applicant of Ali's defensive lean during the late 1970s and 1980s in the lower weight classes. Although never a champion, he did come within seconds of dethroning Rosario before sustaining a final round knockdown which shifted the margin of victory against him. He may have fallen just short of the mark, but did have a respectable career. At 30, he battled fellow speedster Meldrick Taylor to a standstill. His shot at Watt was premature, but he clearly would have beaten Rosario with Ali's chin.
