This is a significant difference in the quality of these 2 boxers. Cooney would do nothing; no amount of strategy, tactics and gameplan would help him. Quantum difference. Hardly any heavyweight champion (or challenger in this case) would be favored against 1967 (peak) Muhammad Ali.
Agree with everyone. It would likely be a “p0ster” fight for Ali - showing off all his wares in their best light. It would see the type of performance that might give viewers cause to reason Ali to have been unbeatable on the night. There doesn’t seem to be any dispute that Ali wins and easily so. Perhaps the more significant question lurking beneath this hypothetical match is: how would Ali’s victory compare to that of Holmes? Oh, and perhaps also trying to guess what “flattering” nickname Ali might bestow upon Cooney. I would say Ali does it a lot more easily than Larry and stops Cooney in half to 3/4 of the time it took Larry to see Gerry off.
