What Ali’s management did to him was criminal.

Nobody forced Ali to do anything he did n't want to do. He marched to the sound of his own drum and it was he who decided to fight on way beyond the time he should have packed it all up. He was in two minds about whether to retire or not and he admitted that he was clearly on the descent post 1975. I do agree that his management and lots of others around him did n't really have his interests at heart when it came to him leaving the stage - the freebies would have disappeared - but the decision was his alone. I've been a big Ali fan since 1966 and I've read enough about him over the years to make an informed opinion about this.

I too wish he'd retired after Manila or even Zaire. He'd cemented his legacy and there was nothing left to prove to anyone.

 

Don’t think Ali wouldn’t have carried on without his regular crew. They knew this so went along with him. At least Pacheco did something about it. He walked away. A bit late but he walked off. The rest knew they really didn’t have that much influence with Ali. If any. If any one of them including Angelo Dundee said anything Ali didn’t agree with they’d be out.

 

There were a few who were sincere. Howard Bingham for one,and Dundee had Ali's interests at heart but did n't believe in forcing his views across.

 

Dundee took the money & kept his mouth shut on the issue.

 

He needed money at the time

 

Moral discussions in boxing always seemed silly to me for various reasons. Ali was a racist, predator and a wife beater I don’t care what happens to people like that. Neither do most sane people but the thing is because he’s a boxer and an iconic one he has this “loveable rouge” halo effect. The truth is few men are moral and you shouldn’t try to please a demon by making an angel out of it. He was what he was they did what they did.

 

He was good at one of those things his whole “career” and very little else.

 

What gets me is how Dundee said a few times how Ali loved to fight. Cause he loved to fight. He was good at it and it was his profession. As Ali’s supposed chief corner man it gets me how many beatings Ali took and Dundee goes on about how Ali loved it. He should have done what Pacheco did. But as already mentioned, money. That’s what it was all about. Ali needed and so did most of his cornermen. Dundee probably did like to keep his opinions to himself but not as the chief trainer of a man who could barely speak by the time of Berbick. Against Holmes at least a belt was on the line. But the last fight proved what a bunch of leaches most of his crew were. The only one that truly cared was Bingham. And he was not really there on the boxing side but as friend and photographer.

 

Herbert Muhammad and his son
Don King
Angelo Dundee
Ferdie Pacheco
and other leeches/hangers on.
Dundee and Pacheco also had the nerve to pretend they were concerned about Ali's health.The problem being, by then the damage had already been done.
They all deserve all the scorn possible
They weren't the first leeches in boxing and they won't be the last.

 

Interesting that Elijah Muhammad disassociated himself and the Nation of Islam from the young Cassius Clay in the lead up to the first Sonny Liston bout as "LIston was bound to prevail" Then came February 25th 1964,Cassius proves he's the real deal and Elijah suddenly wants to jump on the Clay express and even gives him his Islamic name which a convert usually had to wait ages to get. What a piece of work he was!!

 

According to Dundee he asked Ali to retire several times. Ali told him he’d keep on fighting whether Dundee was in his corner or not. So Dundee figured it was better him in there looking after Ali than someone else.
Who knows,though I think no one should underestimate how much of his own man Ali was.

 

Yeah nasty.
Herbert got a whole load of his secretaries pregnant whilst preaching about modesty when he wasn't leeching of Ali.

 

Yes and lecturing his muslims about morality!

 

I think the same self-belief that made Ali so great also led to him continuing too long.

Its true that Ali surrounded himself with some shady characters that pretended to be his "friends" but were only there for money. Its a good lesson to young boxers to not place that level of trust in people.

Ali retiring after Manilla would be the perfect time.