Ezzard Charles replaces Zora Folley against Muhammad Ali

the speed/size difference would make it very one sided.

 

When he beat Folley he was at the absolute top of his game. He may have been close to unbeatable. The world never saw that Ali again. I was at that fight at the Garden. I was 19. Folley couldn't take a punch to the head anymore. Ali put him to sleep twice.

 

It might be a bit more interesting but 1967 Ali would stop Charles as well. KO or stoppage in 10-12 rounds. Charles would be giving up about 20-25lbs in weight and about 4 inches in reach--way too much against someone of Ali's caliber--ESPECIALLY the 1967 version of Ali!

 

Ali stops Charles, Ezzard is a great fighter but he has nothing to seriously trouble Ali

 

Doug Jones gave Ali a tough fight early on but even a mature version of Ali has trouble with a prime heavyweight Charles from the Walcott fight version to the Marciano fights version.

Charles has a dangerous style for Ali and would be the toughest fighter Ali fought until Joe Frazier. I have to exclude Sonny Liston because he quit in fight 1 vs Ali and KO'd in one in 2nd fight was Liston suddenly that bad? One thing about Charles is you would have to put him on his ass legitimately, Charles would never quit.

 

Just to put an exclamation point behind your last sentence, Folley was done. He was getting by on experience alone against mediocre opposition. Ali was merely paying off Patterson's debt for avoiding Folley during Zora's prime years. Same thing with the Cleveland Williams fight.