But Ali looked similarly crap in other fights before that. Did pretty much the same thing. It looked like he might well have been waiting for young Leon to run out of gas, and may well have grown used to judges who always scored his way (in the event, one of them scored for him anyway ! which underlines that point).
Do you really think Ali would choose to go through the embarrassment and humiliation of losing to a novice like Leon Spinks just so he could win the title a third time?? All he would end up doing is beating that same novice to regain the title. In any case, both Ali and Spinks agreed that the winner would fight Norton next which is why the WBC stripped Spinks for fighting Ali instead. So there was no guarantee what Ali would ever fight Spinks again for the title if he lost. If what you are suggesting is true then Ali might as well have decided to lose to anyone he knew he could beat e.g. Wepner, Bugner, Coopman, Young, Dunn, Evangelista and Spinks and have a return clause in the contract so he could regain the title. He could then say 'Oooooh, look at me. I've won the World Heavyweight Title nine times.'
He was counting on fans like you who will buy anything. If you need Ali to be a Saint I'm sorry to upset your delicate sensibilities. Plus ah ..it did happen. I have reality on my side of the discussion. You tell me. Unless you have Ali above reproach. Then there would be no reaching you. Do you think Ali really threw his Gold Medal away? Anyone with an open just needs to watch the fight. He didn't fight. Period. He showed gave the title to the kid.
Looking back, most fighters should have retired soon. I think the Shavers fight damaged Ali. Ali won it, but should have retired there.
What are your views on the Kennedy assassination, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the alien autopsy and the Moon landing?
So I suggest you watch their first fight with an open mind. It was the Fight of the Year for 1978. The 15th round was the Round of the Year Watch how many shots Ali throws in the round 15. He was trying to knock Spinks out, just like he tried to knock out Shavers in the last round of their fight. But Spinks not only matched him punch for punch, he had Ali hurt in the closing seconds. It was a great fight. Anyone who thinks Ali "didn't fight" or "gave" the title to Spinks so he could win it three times is living in a fantasy world. Did Norton "give up" the title to Holmes that summer, too, so he could win it back? Because the 15th round of Ali Spinks is better than the 15th round of Holmes-Norton. Those two 15-rounders (Ali-Spinks 1 and Holmes-Norton) are arguably two of the most competitive, complete 15-round title fights in heavyweight history. When people say Ali "gave it away" or he "didn't fight" ... they are either just repeating garbage they heard someone else say or they need to watch it with a fresh pair of eyes. Most Fights of the Year feature TWO guys trying to win.
Did you watch the fight? If he didn't give any effort he wouldn't have only lost by an SD. The fact that one judge scored it for him (even with his reputation of getting gifts) prove that he wasn't doing nothing the entire fight.
After watching numerous footage,I can't notice Muhammad's speech slowing as far back as 1971. It was the LATE seventies when I first recognised it. Manila would have been the perfect time for Ali to have retired. His legacy would have been just as awesome as it is now. Only minus the three time champion factor. And who knows ? Maybe his health would have been better in recent years.
Here is the deal...it was not until Ali Frazier 3 that historians were all in that Ali was indeed the greatest. Against the leading contender and former champion Ali came back in a fight it appeared he was going to lose surging to make Frazier unable to continue. All this under the harshest of conditions. Thus for his all time ranking and health he should have retired after his 1975 bout with Frazier. At this point he had nothing else to prove and it would have eliminated the bearings he took from Shavers, Norton and Spinks that did his long term health no good.
I'll say he should have retired after the third Norton fight. If he fought these days he would have rested after the Manila fight and went straight into the Norton fight, maybe a full year after Manila, which would have been better for his health.