If Muhammad Ali Were Fighting Now..

Ali was not stupid. He would probably condemn BLM.

 

I'm going to be the one to ask. Why do you think that?

 

The answer is going to either involve White Bomber's own politics, or be something along the lines of "he's not going to want to **** off half his fans". If his answer is the former, I don't come to a boxing site to argue politics, so I'll just stay out of that one. If his answer is the latter, well, uh, Ali did EXACTLY that in real life.

 

Ali fought multiple times north of 225 without serious training in the 70's and held the weight well and still had speed and stamina .. if he fought today he'd have today's training and whatever the rest are taking , be that what it may .. I see him for sure with his naturally big legs at a very fit 235, still extremely fast, extremely strong with his incredible ring IQ, chin and heart .. a better , right-handed Usyk ... he'd dice up the robotic Joshua and with Fury it's a ref's fight .. if Fury is allowed to lay all over his who knows ... if not Ali dices him up too ..

 

Ali is my favorite boxer and one of my top three favorite athletes but he would never be as big now. There are myriad reasons.

1. Winning an Olympic gold medal in boxing doesn't garner you as much attention as it did back then.

2. The thing that made Ali stand out even before he won the title was his braggadocio. In this era, his kind of self-promotion is standard, run-of-the-mill stuff. To an extent, that is because of Ali and some of his boxing descendants.

3. The social climate of the 1960s and Ali's place in it really catapulted him into the front of social discussions. Changing his name from Cay to Ali was a huge deal, now, no one cares. Refusing to step forward at his armed forces induction added even more to his name recognition.

4. All of #3 being said, the recognition and notoriety he got from becoming Muslim and refusing to fight in Vietnam was not all good or even close to it. He was despised by many for his actions. This polarizing aspect of his personality created an even greater love/hate following.

5. Lastly, and easily the biggest reason that Ali would not be as big now is the fact that boxing and the cachet and prestige of being the heavyweight champion of the world are not nearly as big in 2022 as it was in the 1960s. In short, he just wouldn't be cared about as much so what he did wouldn't matter as much.

 

You are right but even if he self-identified as female the only way it has long term effects is if he goes to court and wins the right to fight as a woman against women. That may have a long-reaching, long-lasting effect.

 

It’s a good question and hard to fathom because I think his unique charisma and qualities would still come out … but probably in different ways because he’d be brought up in a different world.

I think Ali would probably have about a zillion social media followers and he would have completely mastered that landscape. He would certainly have taken up social causes and probably unpopular ones in unpopular ways.

It’s entirely possible, maybe even likely, that he doesn’t become a Muslim because the Nation of Islam movement was of its time and sort of a convergence with who he was when it was happening. Or he could have been but come to it differently. No way to really say.

As far as the boxing part goes, he’d have different nutrition and training methods so I suspect with his frame he’d have been about 225 in great shape without losing any speed of hand or foot. Probably would hit a little harder.

There would be some difficult physical matchups — Fury is a nightmare for anyone, Wilder with his length and power and the speed on that right hand could catch and beat anybody or he could be completely flummoxed and never quite land the bomb (or Ali could have survived it) … those are the two who stand out as being matchup issues.

But remember this: boxing is 90% mental and Ali was 100% the master of the mental game. He knew how to dissect someone psychologically and play them and get under their skin. He’s one of the mentally strongest fighters ever as far as sheer willpower, and I think he’d find a way to be The Greatest in any era.

 

Cause he will see through the smoke and mirrors and realize BLM is not really interested in helping black people.

 

Prime Ali can hope he wins on points against Wilder?

 

I agree with you. Muhammad quite often realised when some would use such organisations to suit their own ends. He criticised some black power militants for burning and looting their own cities back in the sixties. Even though there were aspects of black power that he concurred with.

 

Yes, he can't knock him out in a 12 round fight.
Wilder ain't very skilled, but his chin is good enough.
Plus, given the speed and power Wilder's got, Ali won't take many risks, he will just settle to win on points.

 

I wouldn't bet on stoppage win, but your choice of words is ridiculous. Ali wouldn't have to "hope" for points win, he would make him look silly outboxing him all fight long.

Besides, Ali stopped quite a few durable fighters. It would really depend on Ali approach, but I can see him stopping Wilder. It's certainly possible.

 

Outboxing Wilder is not as easy at it seems. As we clearly saw in his fights with Fury.
Apart from superior speed, Ali has no clear physical advantages over Wilder.

Just so I don't speculate, who do you have in mind ?

Possible, yes. Likely, not so much.

 

If Ali was active and in his prime today, I, personally, don't see anyone, who could beat him. In his prime today he'd be undefeated, IMHO, of course. That doesn't mean that some of the fights wouldn't get interesting at times.

 

Ali would have loads more KO's if he fought nowadays, cause they stop fights way too early now.