Were Ali's health problems a direct result of boxing?

I think it is safe to say, if not a direct cause it did not help.

 

Yes, they were, almost certainly.

The idea that other boxers haven't suffered the same symptoms is just plain wrong.
Lots of boxers have developed Parkinsonism.
They just don't have the fame and media attention that Ali had, and it's understandable that they and their families haven't generally advertised the fact.

 

yes, which he has, in the past, attributed to getting KO'd and fighting on too long.

 

Your the reason I don't watch much TV...

 

How can you not love Seamus at large?!

It just amazes me that in over 200 shows, everyone one of them was boxing related!

 

Nah not as many, all though holy definitely took more than Ali did. If Holyfield's there I'd put Lewis there as well

 

I think he might have gotten Parkinson's whether he ever boxed or not. I also believe he has damage from boxing. Frontal lobe damage. He boxed a long time against so many good fighters.

 

I think what people forget is nobody gets out of here alive. Too much of anything is not good for you. And we all pay a price.

Any sport will take it out of you one way or another. In an extreme sport Knees, arms, shoulders, backs will be effected. It’s obvious the head is effected too.

Head trauma catches up with everyone one. A lot, or a little bit. There’s no way getting past that.

People are effected in different ways. Some keep their mental faculties but their motor skills are effected. Others mental faculties are seriously effected. Others will seem ok apart from their speech. Some go through personality disorders due to frontal lobe damage.

Seems to me Ali’s mental faculties remained intact. But Everything else was shot to crap. And it happened far too early.

At a guess, I would not be surprised he exasperated some medical issues he was prone to getting anyway due to going against medical advice, taking punches and taking the wrong kinds of drugs. He took all kinds of stuff. Trained on and fought on it. Ridiculous really.

Having said all of that, if somebody isn’t showing signs by seventy years old they have done very well. Getting Alzheimer’s disease in later life is a side effect from living too long. George Chuvalo probably only had regular Alzheimer’s.

 

I was going to but instead decided to pretend to be an architect.

 

Toney I suspect wasn't damaged from his pro fights it was the wars in the gym he had over the decades, go watch any sparring footage of him and it's full on giving and taking flush shots to the head, you do that day in day out and it's going to leave a mark.

 

Toney took lots of punishment without getting stopped. Same with Bowe. They also killed themselves in camp due to poor lifestyle.

Roy was a fitness freak who got sparked out cleanly a handful of times late in his career. Holyfield may be the luckiest of them, but he also took care of himself.

 

Ali had traumatic Parkinson's, not pugilistic dementia. Traumatic Parkinson's causes motor issues and usually depression, but cognition remains mostly normal.

 

Roach and Terry Norris.

 

Big difference with Ali and Holy could be the fact that Ali fought many tough 15 rounders...

 

Probably