Could Muhammad Ali replicate Joe's feat in the same era?

I suspect that the Ali of the Spinks fight, would have been beyond getting gifted a decision against Walcott!

It would have been so one sided, that even the most corrupt judge wouldn't have bit the bullet!

 

He'd be 33/34 instead of 36 for Walcott, though. And he most likely wouldn't have wars like the ones against Frazier and Norton behind him either.

 

I can!

None of these men stood out as people who would give Louis problems, but they did based on the friction in the system!

 

I think that any point from the Young fight onward, he likely loses to Walcott.

 

Not if he hadn't gone through those four brutal fights he had had against Frazier and Norton is my guess. And I can't see any of Louis opponents 36-42 that would give prime Ali even one such brutal fight, let alone four. Five if you count the Foreman fight, which wasn't a walk in the park either.

Instead of facing Frazier x 3, Norton x 2 and Foreman when past his prime, he would be facing Schmeling, Farr, Galento, Godoy etc in his prime. I see a clear difference in wear and tear there.

 

I don`t think he would have dominated Walcott and Charles.

 

No, not since an ageing Norton gave a prime Holmes a very tough and close fight. Going by that fight I'd most likely see Norton as a potential banana skin for an early 70's Ali, who was quite inconsistent with his shape for fights.

I probably wouldn't have thought he'd give a well trained and focussed Ali the tough fight he gave him in the rematch, but that he'd give him at least one very tough fight wouldn't be at all far fetched. And then there were four fight against Frazier and Foreman on top of that...

 

Ali is the only guy who comes close.

Holmes would have a go but get stuck towards the end, after that the chasing pack of johnson, lewis and marciano is way behind.

 

This. I could see Ali having a hard time with Arturo Godoy, Tommy Farr, Jersey Joe Walcott, Max Schmeling, and Marciano. He might need rematches to get wins over any of these guys.

 

It's a very good point. There may be a stylistic Norton in the bunch of Louis' challengers, that Ali has unforeseen problems with. There was little reason to think Mildenberger or Cooper would give him hard fights, for example.

It's difficult to see exactly who, but it may be that someone like Nova or Farr gives him major problems on an off-night. Prime Ali was pretty consistent though, had ATG intangibles, and unlike Louis a great ability to adapt within fights.

 

I don't see Conn having much chance against Ali. While Conn was quick, Ali had handspeed and footspeed advantages, not to mention a huge advantage in reach. Ali wouldn't chase Conn, and if Conn did get inside Ali would probably just nullify him by clinching and using his 40lbs weight advantage. He wouldn't allow him to flurry like he did against Louis.

While not a direct comparison stylewise, for me it's similar to Chris Byrd at heavyweight. He performed well against certain top-level heavies, but had nothing for Wlad when they fought as he was outmatched wherever the fight could go, and didn't have the punch to turn things around.

 

An interesting fight for the prime Ali that would have been, the 1941 Billy Conn. Ali would win because of height, reach, and cat like reflexes. Ali by a late round stoppage. Not to mention superior foot work. Conn would have to abandon his boxing skills as in the 1st Joe Louis fight and become the aggressor, playing into prime Ali's hands. Mere frustration for Conn. No rope A Dope here, because Muhammad would be prime 1964-1967.