How would a match go with Tyson at 20 vs Ali at 20?

He might've, but just before the release of the movie in Oct 1962, Sonny had Patterson staring down the barrel of a potentially upcoming requiem mass for a HW in Floyd's own honor.

 

I don't think young Ali had the durability to hang with young Tyson. Tyson was almost a finished product at a very young age and Ali only really gained his famous durability as he got older. I'd fancy prime Ali over prime Tyson but young Tyson over young Ali.

 

Age 20, I vote Tyson. Tyson was pretty close to fully developed, Ali wasn't.

Age 22, I vote Ali, he'd slice Tyson up and frustrate him.

 

I'll agree with most of the consensus. Having
watched Tyson on his way up before his championship
run he seemed to be a more mature product than
"Clay" at 20 yrs old, as he was known at the time.
I see Tyson beating Clay. But by 64"
and especially 65"through 73" no version of Tyson
would beat Ali if he's in peak condition. Which
knowing how dangerous Tyson was he would be.
And the mind games.....
Tyson would be more George Foreman career one,
than Joe Frazier when dealing with the psychological
attacks from Ali.

 

Muhammad Ali was like a Ford Truck, built to last. Ha Ha.

 

Even after a state dinner with President Kennedy, who told Patterson, You Better Win.

 

No, it isn't and this thread wants us to consider Ali of 1962 who had even further to go to reach prime. I love Ali but Tyson aged 20 stomps Archie Moore, Henry Cooper, Doug Jones and Sonny Banks all in the same night and makes the 20 year old Ali look like a pretender. No comparison whatsoever for me. Same as there's no comparison between a 30something Ali and Tyson of that age. We never saw either from 25-28, 29 but you'd have to favour Ali in that age bracket very heavily, given each man's career trajectory at that point.

Anyway. Back to the point in hand. Maybe by 1964, Ali had grown and matured enough but his last fight prior to that was the Cooper near debacle. I still don't think he's ready. There was a reason Ali was such a long shot against Liston, when he was 22. He'd struggled against some fairly ordinary opposition and a lot of contemporary experts did not rate him all that highly.

Tyson makes most reasonable top 15 heavyweight lists based almost solely on what he did prior to reaching age 23. I stand by my assertion that there has never been a heavyweight aged less than 23 who I would favour to beat him.