Following up the post on Eduardo Corletti, I also came across a probable obituary for another "almost opponent" of Muhammad Ali...Willie Gullatt.
Again, the birthdate (1934 in this case ) matches up from this (January 2016) obit. Gullatt was never as well-known as Corletti, he seems to have been a local club boxer in Miami. What happened of course was Gullatt declined the scheduled match vs. Ali and alternate "Sweet" Jim Robinson substituted, losing in a very quick one round. This may well have been one of Ali's easiest fights, he himself once designated Rudi Lubbers for the "honor" ("The man didn't do anything") yet even Lubbers went the distance, from all reports Robinson wasn't able to get much going.
I have to believe Willie Gullatt would have done better, if still a losing effort. He was listed as being 6'6" (appropriately nicknamed "Shorty"), more formidable than Jim Robinson who was recorded as 170-something lbs. (and "Sweet Jim" admitted to being closer to 150-something). Vs. the then-190-something Ali/Clay, never a particularly large heavyweight but dwarfing Mr. Robinson. Fighters that "Shorty" Gullatt actually met in the ring included Tony Alongi, a now mostly forgotten contender of the time. The bout went the full six rounds, Alongi winning the decision. Also there was a three fight series of Willie Gullatt vs. Herb Siler, another Ali foe, with Gullatt managing a decision win while dropping a decision and a KO loss. These were highlights in an 11-8-2 career.
As to what happened that night of "Clay-Gullatt," some Ali partisans figured Gullatt got scared of his potential opponent's reputation and bowed out. Though this does not sound like the Willie Gullatt who fought Alongi and Siler, when a writer (researching the vanished Jim Robinson) years later found and interviewed him, he responded that he just didn't like the low money promoter Chris Dundee (the brother of Ali's trainer) was offering, certainly for such a tough fight. So instead Willie went out and got drunk. Alcohol seems to have been a problem for so many of these fighters, Herb Siler (a sort of "common link" in this Miami circuit) said it derailed his own life.
Anyway, Willie Gullatt eventually became a fairly respected figure in his own community. He did have to have a leg amputated in his senior years, about the time (early 2000's) of the Robinson article. That's the reason I like to do these updates, to sort of "close the books" on old fighters who sometimes tend to be forgotten, so they don't just disappear as (likely long deceased) Jim Robinson. RIP Willie.