The crazy thing is he looks fairly hard for the Mathis fight but against Young at 230 he looked like a walrus.
Oh my gosh yeah. He just reached that tipping point I guess where he wasn't going to lose weight anymore and he needed to put in enough work to keep the fat off and he wasn't doing it. Of course Manila had him pretty flabby. Even more unbelievable is that he was 225 against Earnie Shavers and looked even worse.
I think Naz intended to carry Said Lawal after heavily dropping him with the first punch of the fight. His fights were big events in the UK at the time and I think he had intended to carry his hurt opponent to give the crowd and audience watching on TV some value for money, but still managed to stop him in the first round with the third punch of the fight - This content is protected Adamaek vs Vitali was a huge event in Poland too. I honestly believe Vitali could have finished him at any point front the 2nd onwards had he wanted to.
It all comes down to muscle definition,I suppose. Funnily enough,in my eyes,Muhammad looked in better shape for the second fight with Joe Bugner than he did in Manila next time out. Even though he was the same weight.
So you’re saying when Jimmy ducked outside the ropes, his intention was to carry Ali to the locker room?
Norris versus Leonard. I think Norris, after brutalising Ray for the first three rounds or so, was a little shocked and saddened by how little Leonard had left and showed mercy (well, as much mercy as he could) for the remainder. Could easily have got Leonard out of there a couple of times over in the later rounds, but didn't want to humiliate his former idol. Norris himself has said this when reflecting on the fight, if you choose to believe him. In this case, I do.