What if Cleveland Big Cat Williams had not been shot on Nov 30 1964?

He would have continued to decline like in real life.

 

He would've imo beaten Terrell in the championship rounds seeing as it was a scheduled 15 rounder, and Williams finished the stronger in the rematch. He might pick up a couple successful defenses against Patterson, Chuvalo, Bonavena, and others but he's still losing to Ali. Though he puts up a much better fight than he did in real life, and looks good in the process. He continues to be a force in the division until he runs into a young Frazier circa '69.

 

I would have much preferred that. A Williams-Terrell rubber match could still be pretty good, and it would certainly make for a much more impressive title reign and a much more exciting one than Terrell's. And even the unification match w/ Ali would have been a lot better more than likely. However, it does make one wonder what would become of Terrell from '65 to '67.

 

I agree

 

Appreciate it brother! Means a lot coming from you.

 

I see Williams Terrell as a pick em fight, if they are both close to their A game.

 

Nice to hear some respectable bromance going on, on this site for a change.

 

Nothing significant in the big picture.

I'd favor Terrell by decision

And against Ali he probably would have performed better but would have still have lost to him.

 

Very refreshing and a nice change from the juvenile insults we're far to used to.

 

I think the best Williams could have done was to take Terrell close in another fight again. The filmed fight we have of Terrell against Williams was a hard fought fight..but Terrell looks the better fighter. Not that I was that sold on Terrell but he’s the younger fighter and he seemed to have solved Williams.

In their bout Cleveland was a bit one dimensional and a bit too easy to hit. He needed to Outland Terrell in order to win but Williams had too much trouble avoiding so many jabs to get going. And it being a Terrell fight, it was quite physical with a lot of falling in and mauling. I’m not convinced he ever beats Terrell for a title.

having the WBA title at this point (when Ali was the real champion) is only really like being a contender to Ali anyway.

But Supposing Williams got the decision over Terrell , I am not sure it would have been conclusive enough. His next bout would have been another fight that would have went either way. Machen or Chuvalo. Two fighters he did meet in real life without getting the win. For my money Williams is not good enough to be a certainty in any fights beyond The Terrell point. At contender level He’s just a guy who is good enough to take those kinds of fighters close. That was his level.

 

Exactly! World's got enough negative crap going on with out it spilling out on to every thread.
Amen!

 

Probably beats Terrell, but runs into Ali after making a couple of defenses and loses a mid round tko.