Ali's career after Manila

Any of you casuals denying the great right hands that Ali was setting up and landing against Berbick, and the fantastic size that Ali carried in 81... y'all need to Do Not Pass Go and immediately report to IDKSAB Jail.

 

I think Lennox and Marciano were the last to leave right before any significant decline. Few can ever hang it up at the right time.

Ali would have had to have an iron will to turn down all the comeback money he’d have been offered for years after Manila had he retired then.

 

I'm not. Majority of the press had the fight for Ali, lol.

 

Come on man.

Putting Ali in with Shavers at 35 years old was criminal. If the decision in Yankee Stadium had been a just one this damage doesn't occur.

 

Bam! Spot on. You crushed it.

 

I agree that the controversy is overstated, but Young, Norton 3 and Shavers were all very close fights that could have gone either way. So not a great note to go out on. Not to mention his very last fights.

He should have retired after Manilla. Nothing he did after enhanced his legacy, but surely detoriated his health.

 

To my earlier point here, I think for his health it would have been absolutely advisable for Ali to retire after Manila. He had little left to prove in his career after that, but who in his life or team would have actually told him to stay retired and turn down all the offers for millions that would come in?

It's crazy he came back in '80. Likely due to hangers on burning through his earnings.

 

Ali literally loved being the man in the arena. That's why Rocky told Belinda that Ali, "would never retire because he had the bug."

 

If you look closely a lot of atg careers ended with a lot of hotly contested decisions that could have gone either way, but few ended as tragically as Ali's. Part of the reason is they lost some power and when your fights are consistently going to the cards you're living on the edge.

 

Not that I think that it was necessary but I guess the only possible rationale to continue after Manila would be to settle up with Norton via the rubber match.

I know Ali said he lost that fight but I guess the sincerity behind that statement is open to interpretation.

Just imo, I think Ali knew he lost. Had he retired after that fight it would’ve been upon a highly controversial decision which, ironically instead, might’ve pushed him to fight even longer - I know, that is pure speculation.

I think Ali beat Shavers fair and square and some older mags alluded to the possibility of Ali fighting Norton for a 4th time - Ken promising that he would unveil a right hand (“secret weapon”) to knock Ali out - a boast likely motivated by Ken’s 1st round KO of Duane Bobick in 1977 in which Ken’s right hand (including to the throat) did destroy Duane.

 

It was a race to see who was declining faster. I like the Ali-Spinks 2 version versus the lackluster Kenny who was annihilated by Earnie Shavers and who struggled against LeDoux and Cobb.

 

In the Spinks rematch Ali looked okay - the major difference was Ali being far better conditioned than he was for the first fight.

However, in the rematch, Ali’s balance in and of itself didn’t look right. He also appeared so much less strong than he was even just a few years prior.

Some shoves from Spinks had Ali teetering backward - a highly unusual sight and well removed from the fighter who did manage to manhandle the obviously strong Foreman at times in Zaire.

I guess the Spinks rematch would’ve been a nice way to finish but really, he should not have lost to Spinks in the first place - a fact which takes some of the edge of his regaining the title for the 3rd time.

Suffice to say, Ali beating Spinks in the rematch was nothing like his historic beatings of both Liston and Foreman.

 

So you liked Ali looking like a channel swimmer?

Dead sexy, right?

Hey, I’m not body shaming.

Each to their own I always say and it does appear that you are very much on your own.

 

Honestly I don't think Ali looked much better, if at all than he did in the first fight. The far more drastic change was Spinks—his condition was a stark drop-off from the first fight.

 

For a Gold Medalist Spinks really was a limited professional fighter. Was he really that limited or self destructive?