Guys Who Ali Beat Who Could Have Beaten Ali

Mildenberger gave Ali a lot of problems, he didn`t like his southpaw style and Karl also cross his glove across his chin like Norton and Frazier did each time Ali punched blocking a lot of shots while dodging at the same time. Alo looked awful agaist Jurgen Blin and got caught a lot, he couldn`t move with much speed because he was out of shape. Cooper nearly knocked Ali out in their first clash.

 

Foreman in '76 or 77 against Ali in the States would have been interesting imo.

He might have beaten Ali, maybe not, but
George lost to Ali in Zaire and lost to Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico so it seems he didn't travel too good.
Maybe he would have lost to Ali again, but a rematch would have good. It's likely a very tough match for Ali in those years. Of course once George lost to Young, that went out the window.

Not saying Henry Cooper would have beaten him, Ali likely beats him anyway, but cuts really hampered Henry in their meetings. Ali's fast punches slashed up him, but Cooper gave pretty good accounts of himself up til then.

So who have beaten Ali?
Maybe Foreman, maybe a better prepared Lyle with more experience.
Shavers hurt him, but couldn't stop him. They probably have to stop Ali and that's the difficulty, even with post-prime Ali.

 

Ali was struggling in '77. By 78, Ali was 36 years old and ready to be taken, as he was vs Spinks. He won the rematch.

 

I don’t really agree with the names you’ve mentioned. If they could have beaten Ali then they would have done it imo.

 

It is true that Henry Cooper nearly knocked out Muhammad Ali in their first bout on June 18 1963, no excuses, but as Ali was winning the fight, he began to play with Cooper, which is not the most intelligent tactic, then Henry nailed him with that very wicked left hook, in their next encounter on May 21 1966, Ali cut poor Henry to ribbons, no knockdown there, Ali by TKO 6. Karl Mildenberger I think gave Ali his hardest bout when they clashed on Sept 10 1966, Karl though was very vulnerable to a straight right as Howard Cossel said in the telecast, remember it quite well.

 

Ernie Shavers might have done it if he had committed to the attack more.

 

This. Dundee even warned Ali not to underestimate Cooper or he could end up regretting it and he almost did.

Ali was very lucky that Dundee was such a good cornerman much like Marciano was very lucky to have Brown in his corner, since he likely would’ve lost to Charles when Charles cut him.

 

This is true.

 

Not really anyone. I’d say Frazier from the Thrilla in Manila. If the fight wasn’t stopped I feel like he could have received the UD. I’ve watched the fight twice but only once to score it and had him up. That’s just my opinion.

Other than that I really just don’t think the guys Ali beat had what it took to beat him.

 

Could have versus should have! With pros that big who can swat anything is possible. That’s one of the things that makes heavyweight fights exciting. Even against Ali there is the punchers chance especially when you start bringing up names like Shavers, Foreman and Frazier! It’s also makes it comical when poster bring hypothetical matches requiring time travel and predict what would happen with absolute certitude! It is hard enough to guess what is going to happen with guys in the same era.

 

Anything can happen in boxing. Doug Jones gave his all and ended up being just a shade short.
Cooper could have been awarded a DQ win or at worst a NC because Ali was illegally given smelling salts in between rounds - an error by his corner (Dundee) as smelling salts were still legal in the USA but not in the UK. The ref didn’t notice.
Jimmy Young beat Ali imo. Ali was overweight but any version would look somewhat bad against Young.