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If you put Ali in a time machine the night before the first Liston fight and popped him out in 2000 or whenever you think Lewis was at his prime, Ali would kill the man.
I have to agree wholeheartedly with Smash here. Sonny Liston had the fastest hands anyone had seen on a heavyweight and hit like a ton of bricks. Ali HUMILIATED HIM. TWICE!!! Ali was almost inconceivably fast, was a brilliant ring tactician, and could psyche out almost anyone. He took horrific beatings from Frazier and Foreman (one of the hardest, and probably THE hardest punchers ever), and STILL had enough gas to beat them.
Lewis was like Larry Holmes, the best of a bad lot. He's not a chump, but if he were surrounded with the kind of competition that Ali was, he'd not be champ. I don't think he'd touch Ali(pre-ban), and would still lose to him badly post-ban. Ali just had too many weapons.