Ray Mercer plodded straight ahead behind a pile-driving jab and threw a monstrous straight right. Based on an old Larry Holmes befuddling Ray with his Ali imitation one would be tempted to imagine Ali pitching a no-hitter. However, Mercer had a god highline jab and Ali lacked the discipline of Holmes which might make the fight mildly interesting.
Ali over Mercer via unanimous decision
Evander Holyfield versus Ali would be an incredibly action-packed fight with Evander having a superior work rate to the pressure fighters like Frazier and Norton who gave Ali such problems. Also, though Evander would catch more than he landed, Al would not be able to hold him with impunity as Holyfield’s ability to move side-to-side and his resistance training would have him breaking clinches which Frazier fell into.
In a three fight series Ali would take 2 decisions to 1.
Riddick Bowe was too big, too active, had too much reach and had too high a work rate for a big man for Ali to toy with.
Losing a split decision in their first bout, Ali’s superior ego and Bowe’s soft head would conspire to see Ali humiliating Bowe in the rematch with a mid-fight TKO.
Buster Douglas verses Ali would follow the pattern of his fights against Tyson and Holyfield, with his size and athleticism earning him an upset unanimous decision over Ali, to get fat between fights and then be KO’d early in the rematch.
David Tua is one of the few fighters since Ali who had the power to KO the greatest chin in the game. However, Tua’s ridiculously easy to time approach would have permitted Ali to recite poetry while he danced about like Peter Pan. Tua would score a hand full of body punches and fail to even touch Ali above the neck.
The Punishing Art
