I saw an article a while back saying that if he never came back in Oct.1970 against Jerry Quarry in Atlanta...if his fight with Zora Folley at MSG on March 22, 1967 was his last...he wouldn't be remembered much at all...the 2 "fights" with Liston...boring 12 round TKO against Patterson in '65 who had a slipped disk in his back...Brian London ....Karl Mildenberger...Cleveland Williams...9 yrs older than Ali...with pieces of a 357 slug in his abdomen...that affected the nerves above his legs...so he couldn't really move around....Ali stopped him easily in 3 rounds...Henry Cooper on cuts in 1966....listless fight with George Chuvalo....etc. The article said his first title reign was nothing special. It was his fights with Frazier...Foreman...Norton...and others in the 70's that cemented his legacy!!!
He'd be at the higher end of the top 20 heavyweights but probably not top 10. People would find him as hard to rate as Marciano.
Frazier would be rated much much lower, without Ali his resumee would be Jimmy Ellis' resumee plus jimmy ellis. Nortons resumee also takes a big hit. Foreman reigns longer and is eventually beaten by Holmes, Foremans second career may have never happened. Holmes standing would indirectly improve.
