YouTube Gold: Muhammad Ali vs. Larry Holmes

A deeply sad chapter in a brilliant career

One of the toughest things for any athlete is knowing when to stop. You can find sad stories about people who just went on too long. Willie Mays is just one famous example. Another was worse than sad, it was tragic: Muhammad Ali.

When Ali signed to fight his former sparring partner, Larry Holmes, it was 1980 and Ali was 38, far past his prime.

Prime Ali was dazzling. He was nearly impossible to hit and had stunningly fast hands. He was forced to vacate his title when he refused to be inducted into the army in 1967 and miss four years of the heart of his career. When he came back, he was no longer as quick, but boxing fans discovered he had enormous heart. He had epic fights with Joe Frazier and George Foreman, and lesser but still great bouts with Ken Norton, Ernie Shavers and Chuck Wepner, with the last fight being the inspiration for the classic boxing movie Rocky.

By 1980, Ali was in bad shape. He was required to undergo a thorough exam at the Mayo Clinic and had the results been disclosed before the fight, the public outcry would almost certainly have stopped the fight. He was not well.

However, the fight was approved and Holmes, who was 30 and a superb talent, dominated Ali. It became the classic example of an athlete holding on too long and even Holmes asked the referee to stop the fight. When he refused, Holmes began to pull his punches, not wanting to humiliate his friend further.

Four years later, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. He had been hit with an estimated 200,000 punches during his boxing career and many believe it contributed to his diagnosis. Some believe that the Holmes fight, with the brutal beating Ali took, particularly caused him health problems.

There’s a reason why author Joyce Carol Oates calls boxing American’s tragic theater.