If Muhammad Ali Were Fighting Now..

Am I out of line to suggest if Ali were in his prime today he might choose a different career path such as wide receiver in the NFL or NBA point guard?

 

I don’t think he’d ever have made it to ceral box status.

 

Astonishing

 

Are you denying that Quarry had a good chin?

That's cute how inconsistent you are with this approach. When someone points out the weakness of your thinking you always say "but they fought nothing alike", but when you talk about older fighters it basically doesn't matter.

Keep finding excuses for everything Ali accomplished, it proves how hard it is to argue your points.

 

No, I'm just Wilder has an even better one.

I'm arguing them very well, it is you that has no arguments. I'm stating FACTS.
Foreman punching himself out is FACT.
Bonavena getting tired is a FACT. Up until then, the fight was very close.
Given that this will be a 12 round fight, and given that Wilder is faster than Foreman or Bonavena, and has a the reach advantage, the chances of Ali getting him tired are very slim.
So Ali will have to outpoint him, which is gonna be a very hard task.

 

If you try to find excuse for every stoppage Ali has, then of course it wouldn't look likely. The truth is that Bonavena and Foreman were stopped only once throughout their careers. They never "punched themselves out" or "got tired" before or since. Both have more proven chins than Wilder.

Wilder never faced anyone like Ali. He never faced top tier boxer who had significant speed advantage over him and who had iron chin.

How would that be hard? Ali would make him look amateurish.

 

I can’t believe that anyone other than with the proverbial punchers chance would give Wilder a hope against Ali. The skill gap is a chasm it’s simply a no contest.
Even if Wilder lands there’s no guarantees as Ali had one of the best chins ever.
Usyk yes it’s a contest and possibly Fury, but Wilder?!
Do me a favour.

 

I'm not making any excuses, I'm simply pointing out the fact that the circumstances of those fights are completely different to this hypothetical one we are discussing.
Like I already mentioned a million times, this will only be a 12 round fight, that makes a huge difference.
Second of all, Ali won't be enjoying his usual reach advantage that he had over most of his opponents, including Bonavena, which you gave as an example.
Third, Wilder is faster than both Foreman and Bonavena. That makes a huge difference.
Forth, the fight will not be in the blazing heat of Zaire, which hugely affected Foreman.
Fifth, Wilder won't fall for any of the traps Foreman fell for.

You cannot use Foreman's second career as proof for his chin, since it was better then. And Ali only KOd him due to special circumstances, which will not be present against Wilder.
Also, Bonavena wouldn't have been KO'd had it only been a 12 round fight. Thus, Ali KO'ing him becomes irrelevant.

That can be argued both ways.

He faced Fury, who, although doesn't have significant speed advantage, poses a bigger problem than Ali.
And Ali's speed advantage over Wilder won't be that big.

What good boxer did Ali made look amateurish ?!?
Answer: NONE !!!
Every time he faced a good boxer (Norton, Frazier, Young and even Foreman), he struggled.

 

What skill gap ?!?
Wilder has average skills and good speed, but relies mostly on his power.
Ali had average skills, and relied mostly on his speed and reflexes.
As Eddie Futch also noted, Ali was not a very skilled boxer, it was his physical assets that made the difference.
So yeah, Wilder more than has a chance. I still favor Ali to eek out a points win, but it won't be that easy.

It depends on how he lands. If he manages to get a combo in, it's all over.

 

Ali didn't need 15 rounds to stop Foreman

Ali didn't have reach advantage over Foreman.

He's also much worse boxer with worse workrate.

Wilder is extremely basic fighter, Ali would make him look like a fool.

I didn't, but I can and you can't prove that.

Yeah, but Foreman was still harder to outbox and more durable than Wilder. He was still harder to stop, even taking circumstances into consideration.

With shorter duration, Ali could pick up the pace. It goes both ways, not only in direction you want.

Sure, but Ali has the best resume ever and he faced extreme competition throughout his career. Wilder competiton is nothing compared to that.

You can't be serious... Wilder may look fast against obese HWs of 2010s, but Ali had WW-like speed. That's ridiculous take.

Liston, Ellis, Quarry, Foreman, Patterson. Do I need to go further?

 

You are freaking clueless about the sport you supposedly love...

 

He'd be a L-HW cum Cruiserweight...

 

No, but he achieved that in certain circumstances, which won't be present here.

The skill gap is small.

So is Ali. Like I said, both rely on their physical assets.

More durable perhaps, but not necessarily harder to outbox. Foreman was very slow.

That I agree, Ali could pick up the pace. But Bonavena was smaller and slower, thus easier to hit.

Resume is completely irrelevant in H2H matchups, all that matters is how they stack up to each other.

Ali didn't embarrass Liston at all. Plus, Liston was not prepared properly for the first fight and had a shoulder injury. He took a dive in the second. So that's one example that is not valid.
Patterson had an injured sacroiliac joint in 65. That is why he did better in their second fight in 1972, despite being way older. So that's another invalid example.
Quarry was a small HW. Plus, I said great HWs, Quarry was not. Thus again not relevant.
We've already discussed the Foreman circumstances.
So you're only left with Ellis who, again, was a small HW.

 

No, you are.
Speed and reflexes do not constitute skill.
As great as they were, guys like Ali and RJJ are not what I'd call skilled.
Guys like Duran and Toney are examples of skill, not Ali.

 

This is interesting. Quarry had a really good heart and more than adequate chin, but I have to give Wilder the much bigger nod there. Wilder was getting pounded in the final rounds of the Fury rubber match and kept going, same with the 2nd.

It's true, Fury was never a big puncher, but neither was Ali, who stopped Quarry twice.