Tell me about Holmes vs Ali please

After the fight Larry and his brother went to see Ali in his hotel room and Larry said, " I love you" and Ali responded, "Then why did you beat me up like that?" I believe it was the day after the fight and Ali went on Good Morning America and echoed General MacArthur's famous saying after retreating from the Philippines, " I shall return."

 

1. Only Larry can answer that question.
2. He tried to win decisively and he beat Ali up.
3. I figured out by the second, maybe the third round that this was gonna be really bad, that Ali had nothing, absolutely nothing.
4. That's a long time ago, but I think there were some people caught up in the Ali mystique.
5. I thought Ali could win because I was always an Ali fan, and I got caught up in the Ali mystique, because I was young and driven by emotion rather than rationality in assessing stuff like this. The old me would've referenced the two Spinks fights and reasoned that Ali had no business in the ring with Holmes. The young me also detested Holmes, sort of was wishing Ali would take him out because of that. The old me now greatly appreciates Holmes for the ATG he was. (Along the same lines, I utterly detested the Charlie Finley Oakland A's in real time but I now 50 years later have a great appreciation for that team. So outlooks change.)
6. Yes.

 

If my memory is correct Ali was only a 11-10 dog. I forgot who the other person was but it was a boxing expert and Cosell said to him, " Larry is susceptible to the right. Once Ali gets that working he'll win" and the expert said to himself not only will Ali not win, he will not win a single round. The only man and I'm no fan of his who could have stopped Ali from taking the fight was Elijah Muhammad and he was dead.

 

I am also a stalwart Ali fan and I knew he was done. The Spinks rematch would have been the perfect coda to a magical career.

 

Your questions, (with my answers).

- The myth is Larry took it easy on Ali, is this true? (It didn't look like he took it easy on Ali, to me.)

- If not did Larry go all out to KO Ali and win decisively? (Yes, IMHO.)

- How soon in the fight was it clear this was a tragic mismatch? (1st Round. Ali had nothing.)

- At the time did any respected figures in boxing think Ali could win, if so who? (Sports Illustrated seemed to think Ali had a chance.) ( https://www.si.com/boxing/2015/09/23/muhammad-ali-larry-holmes-title-bout )

- Anyone who watched it at the time what did you think the outcome would be, did anyone bet on it? (I didn't bet. I thought Larry would win but I didn't want to bet against Ali. According to the odds shift, some were betting on Ali late)

- Was Ali graceful in defeat? (Yes, IMHO.)

 

Even experts had so much faith in Ali they were willing to suspend disbelief. In retrospect it shouldn't be surprising he had so much faith in himself.

 

It was a horrible fight.

 

An autopsy.

 

It was sad to watch. It was sad to listen to the commentary where they try to make excuse after excuse for Ali.

There was one point early on where Holmes nails Ali with a perfect right to the face and Ali makes a pained sound. It didn't sound like a boxer being hit. It sounded like an old man getting beat up and moaning in pain. Was just terrible.

 

I never once saw Larry do the things he typically did to stop a person. Watch pretty much any of his stoppages and you'll see what I mean. He had a certain way of ending things that weren't in evidence during the Ali fight. That said, he more than kept Ali down and not willing to risk opening himself further to vehement retaliation.

I personally see exactly what Larry said: "I had to hurt him enough to keep from beating me, but I'm noone's executioner". He didn't want to entirely humiliate Ali, his close friend. But he had to do enough to make him seem a very beaten man, and to help convince him to give up the sport.

The whole thing was a very bad debacle, and though I don't go as far as Pachecho in saying everything should have gone to jail, at the least his trainer, doctor, corner should have seen he couldn't do this.

 

Someone who wasn't Ali's friend might very well have killed him that night, IMO.

 

Ali weighed 217 1/2, his lightest weight since fighting George Foreman six years earlier. Of course no one knew it was accomplished by taking thyroid pills as if they were diet pills, which melted off weight but also dehydrated him and did other damage.

But at the time, people were fooled into thinking ‘Ali is BACK!!! He’s in shape again. We’re going to get the old Ali for one last hurrah!!!’

It turned out to be a mirage, but the perception of many going in was that this was a revitalized Ali.

 

He looked like a million bucks plus he was dyeing his hair by that time.

 

It's lucky that Ali didn't get killed in there that night. Apart from the punches, he was abusing Thyrolar, that's how he got down to a weight drained 217 for that fight, the lightest he weighed since Foreman 6 years earlier. I remember reading that the Thyrolar also caused his body to over heat and I wouldn't be suprised if he was dehydrated as well. He was in no condition to fight Holmes and when you factor in everything it was a recipe for disaster.