There's footage that makes me think Ali would have the perfect style to give Joe movement and beat him. Then I see some Ali fights where I'm not too sure. Against Cooper, He had problems. Cooper was not Joe Louis, (as an example). On the other hand, I see fights where Louis looks so darn slow moving on his feet, but he did have good hand speed and was a sharp puncher. Conn was basically a super middle and gave him problems, so what would a full-fledge heavy as fast as Ali do. Then again there are fights where I thought Ali looked unimpressive, so I don't know...
Not totally favoured but would likely beat Muhammad most of the time. Joe Louis Mike Tyson Joe Frazier Ken Norton Lennox Lewis Wladdy Klit Tyson Fury Archie Moore Larry Holmes Rocky Marciano
If you’re implying Louis was troubled by Walcott and Conns footwork you’re correct, if you’re implying Ali’s footwork is even close to as similar or effective you’ve lost it.
I always factor Louis’ well known economy which could see him fighting down toward the quality level of his opposition. I like to point to Joe’s performance vs Max Baer in which Louis energetically displayed all that he could be in the one fight. After all, Joe wanted to get out of there quickly, he had a honeymoon to enjoy and possibly a marriage yet to be consummated. The other feature to the Conn fight is, notwithstanding Ali’s obviously greater speed and mobility (relative to Conn), he still carried a much larger physical target than Conn did. And conversely, we can see that Ali himself could find a smaller, more nimble target like Cooper that little bit more awkward than some of the bigger fellas Ali faced. I include the 2nd 1966 Cooper fight in that analysis.
Archie Moore would probably the most difficult pick to justify from your list, and not just because a green Ali utterly dominated an ancient Archie.