Hi ETM. I believe that Ali gave away so many rounds because - 1/ He thought that Spinks would blow himself out eventually. He did n't. 2/ Ali thought that he could come from behind and stop his man like he'd done on quite a few previous occasions. e.g. the Ron Lyle fight. Unlike against Lyle,though,Muhammad no longer had those lightning fast combinations - and that right hand. I can't honestly envisage Muhammad losing on purpose.
If you read this artcile https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_...y-reveals-early-indications-parkinson-disease Talking about a study by Jonathan Eig, it paints a very bleak picture of Ali after the Shavers fight. I think that fight did life changing damage to Ali's brain. With modern understanding of the disease, Ali easily could have been diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1978. The real outlier fight is the second match with Spinks, I have absolutely no idea how Ali turned back the clock that night. "Spinks was really the only guy left he had a prayer of defeating in a rematch" there is absolutely no way this crossed Ali's mind. He still thought he could beat Holmes 3 years later. He had absolutely no idea how much he had lost. In his mind he was still the man he was when he beat George Foreman in Zaire.
I have come to expect that. The question you can ask yourself is what if it was anyone else? Insert any other fighter with the same situation they would have at least been under some suspicion.
I hope he didn't. Maybe it was a subconscious type of thing. I'm not saying he bet against himself and all that but self fulfilling prophecy sometimes. Ofcourse its impossible to prove something like this. Especially a figure like Ali who was and is worshipped.
Good post. Yes,that that was why Muhammad thought that Earnie Shavers was a more punishing puncher than George Foreman. Ali had forgotten,or not realised,how much he'd slipped during those three years between those two fights.
Amir Khan was a bad matchup for Timothy Bradley and wouldve beaten him if they fought during their primes.
Most people favor Foreman of course but i think Bowe has the size and the infighting skills to cause an upset
Ward beat Kovalev in the first fight. Battling Jim Johnson picks up a version of the world title in the 80s, 00s and 10s.
I’d like to see if your opinion changes if you go rewatch the 15th round of the first fight. It’s a corker. Not the way a guy fights if he’s trying to lose. Tell me he’s not trying to knock Leon out.
