Muhammad Ali at 70: The Emotional End of His Boxing Career (Video)

by Scott Christ on Jan 17, 2012 9:01 AM EST in Boxing History

This is a clip from one of the countless TV specials that have been dedicated to Muhammad Ali over the last 30 years. One of the brutal realities of boxing as a spectator sport, and for fans of the sport, is that eventually, you will watch your favorite fighters lose it. It's never pretty. This is a demanding, violent, often cringe-inducing profession.

But there may have never been a sadder exit from the sport, on such a massive level, with video evidence to relive painfully, than that of Muhammad Ali. This clip focuses on his fight with Larry Holmes in October 1980. Ali was, to be kind, a shell of his former self. He was nowhere near the man who had once ruled the ring.

[ Related: Ali Tribute Video From GP ]

Ali, of course, lost badly, and would lose badly again in another ill-advised comeback attempt in 1981 against Trevor Berbick. Ali did not win a single second of his fight with Holmes, who had the unfortunate and regrettable task of having to pummel a legend.

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"I begged him -- begged him to quit. He said to me, 'I wanna show you something,' and he took his shirt off. It was absolutely mind-boggling. He looked exactly the way he looked when he fought Sonny Liston the first time. And I said, 'That doesn't prove anything, Muhammad.' And he said, 'Well, I fooled you then, and I'm gonna fool you tomorrow.' And I wish he had." -- Jerry Izenberg

"Then they rang the bell. And within a round, you knew it wasn't Ali." -- Ron Borges

"To watch him just get beaten up without putting up a fight -- he's just standing in a corner, just being beaten to a pulp. It brought tears to my eyes." -- Charley Steiner

"I remember sitting there at ringside, and Holmes shouting to the referee, 'Stop this! Stop it! I'm gonna hurt him!' And then boom, hitting him. I don't think Ali hit him five times all night. It was the saddest sports event I ever covered." -- John Schulian

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They have a 30-for-30 about Holmes and Ali

"Boxing is like dealing with a ho"
-Bernard Hopkins

by erod on Jan 17, 2012 9:55 AM EST reply actions

The Greatest

When people say Ali was the greatest of all time they don’t always mean the greates boxer of all time even tho most of the times they do mean that. Ali was the greatest movement in boxing of all time, he was and still is the immovable object. His presence was overpowering and undeniable. He was a real authentic fighter and champion in every sense of the word, from the ring, to humanitarianism, to politics….Ali=THE GOAT

by BOXING MACHINE on Jan 17, 2012 10:00 AM EST via mobile reply actions

Ali

Can’t be beat.

There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939

by BoxAnne on Jan 17, 2012 10:48 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

I remember that fight, and I have never, ever been able to sit through a video of it. It’s just horrible, agonizing, to watch.

by DrRck on Jan 17, 2012 12:16 PM EST reply actions

It’s so bad that I’ve only ever watched it in full one time, years ago. No desire to ever see it again, and it was before my time. It shouldn’t have emotional impact on me the same way as someone who saw it live, and it probably doesn’t, but it does genuinely turn my stomach. It’s a beating. And as bad as I feel for Ali trotting himself out there for that, probably really believing in his mind this wasn’t going to happen, I feel almost or perhaps just as bad for Larry Holmes, who just has to do his job.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Jan 17, 2012 6:41 PM EST up reply actions

Holmes was in an impossible position, and yes, he had a terrible job to do that night.

For what it’s worth, the impact on me was the cumulative effect of, first, the fact that almost everyone thought that Ali could do the impossible one more time; then, the bluster he managed to maintain throughout the buildup and into the beginning of the actual fight; then, then feeling that although the early rounds were going very badly, that could easily change at any moment; and then, finally, the realization that this was going to be a slaughter, and he had absolutely nothing left, and we would have to watch this.

His career had built up so much justified expectation of the seemingly impossible, but when it was gone, it was really gone, like turning on a faucet that had always given at least a decent trickle and having nothing, not a single drop, come out.

The beating was the aftermath of all that.

by DrRck on Jan 18, 2012 6:45 PM EST up reply actions