YouTube Gold: The Almost-Fight Between Wilt Chamberlain And Muhammad Ali
The mind boggles
Wilt Chamberlain was one of the most remarkable athletes of the 20th century. Obviously he was a wildly gifted basketball player who still holds many records. Less known is that he also excelled in the high jump and gymnastics at Kansas and also had sprinter speed.
At the end of his basketball career he also briefly played professional volleyball. He was also a phenomenally powerful weight lifter.
Less well known today: in 1971, he almost fought Muhammad Ali.
Ali had been forced out of boxing when he refused the draft during the height of the Vietnam War and coming back against Chamberlain would have guaranteed a massive gate.
And Chamberlain was certainly not Ali’s match in the ring, only a fool would go into a fight with him unprepared.
First, his reach was 92 inches to Ali’s 78 and secondly, he was one of the strongest people the world has seen in the last 100 years.
Would he have had a shot against Ali.
Depends on how you look at it.
Ali was a highly skilled boxer with immense heart. However, he was coming off a long exile and when he did come back against Joe Frazier, his footwork, once dazzling, was somewhat leaden.
Presumably Chamberlain could hold him off with his length and power for a bit but Chamberlain would have had no concept of how much Ali knew about boxing. In the end, Ali knew how to not get hit and also how to take a punch and we’re guessing Chamberlain had no idea what that meant in Ali’s world. Eventually Ali would get through his defenses and cut him down - assuming Chamberlain didn’t get lucky.
It’s kind of fascinating to think about these two actually getting in a ring but it didn’t happen. The Los Angeles Lakers weren’t keen on the idea and ultimately talked Chamberlain out of it.
So did his dad, who recommended that Chamberlain work on his free throw shooting instead. Good idea: Chamberlain’s lifetime mark was just 51.1 percent, or basically a crap shoot. That’s about what it would have been against Ali too.