puglistic dementia....

Yeah, you can't really come out of Hilly without being a warrior in the gym. It's almost expected of you.

That really carried over into the ring with Taylor as well. He'd just degenerate into wars with people, from Chavez to Norris.

 

Although Ali's speech is nearly indecipherable now (except when he's roused to yell things like, "I'm the greatest!"), he's never exhibited any indications of dementia. His mind seems to be perfectly intact. He's more like somebody with cerebral palsy, or a stroke victim. It's his motor coordination and speech which is compromised.

Conversely, Jerry Quarry's speech center was unaffected, but his mind deserted him.

 

One of the truly remarkable cases is Chuvalo. He took beatings like nobody's business and does engaging, humourous interviews about the old days to this day. Makes his living as a public speaker (mostly at high schools with an anti-drug message... I'm sure that story is pretty well known).

He's in remarkable shape, all things considered.

 

in 15 years holyfield will wont be able to spit out a straight sentence.. hes got a mean slur happening already.
tyson has developed one as well but its only slight.. he sounds like ali when ali retired.

 

Theres really no official factor to it. Lamotta was sharp as hell and he got battered like a mad man. Mind over body kinda stuff from my point of view.

 

Tyson? Last time i heard him speak (interview in 2007) he sounded perfectly clear. He's never been a really fluent speaker due to his shyness, but i don't think he's showing any signs.

At any rate, with his lifestyle, drugs, obesity and alcohol are way high health concerns.

 

Ali took too many blows to the head, and really should have retired after the Shavers match. Shavers damaged Ali. Ali had no memory of the fight after the final bell.

 

You put you finger on an event which receives far less careful scrutiny than it should in Muhammad's career.

Most of the heavy punishment he took from Foreman was to the body. He gave as well as he got with Frazier. But he was buckled repeatedly with flashing right hands from Earnie, buckled in a way Frazier was able to stagger him only in round 11 of the FOTC. Ali saw more stars and lost more brain cells in that fight than in all his other bouts combined.

 

"He gave as well as he got with Frazier" in this case means that he received a horrible beating.

 

Duodenum --I just mentioned you in a recent post. Good to see you. Had I been Ali's conscience in 1975, I would have demanded that he hang them up after the Thrilla in Manila. Everything after that was incidental. I have a tough time watching every fight after that one in fact and usually just won't.

As per pugilistica dementia: In about 20 years science may isolate the gene that makes some boxers prone to it and others not prone to it. That will be a Godsend because we will be able to make better decisions as to whether we should and who should box in the first place. The number of fights or amount of punishment over a career is less important than the presence of that gene in my opinion. Who had it? Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome when he was about 12 although it is clear that the punishment he took in the 70s accelerated it. Bowe has it. Quarry has it. Hearns has a speech impediment and nasal problems but he's probably got it too by now. Meldrick has it. Who doesn't? Many. Including those mentioned. I'd add Duran. Duran sure as hell doesn't. He speaks a mile a minute even now.

 

Are you sure about this? Very interesting, if true.

 

Not 100%... I should have prefaced it with "if I remember right". I think it may be in Hauser's biography if you have it handy.

 

Indeed he did Chris, but as with Foreman, most of this was to his body. Even in his final outing with Berbick, Trevor did not reach his head much, mainly flailing away at Muhammad's body. Nobody nailed him to the head with big shots repeatedly quite like Shavers buckled him with.

 

Sounds like bull**** to me.

Tyson came away from the Lewis fight with a definite slur.I remember his voice being extraordinarily clear for a prizefighter,before that fight.

Max Kellerman says he noticed a subtle change in George Foreman's voice after Alex Stewart tenderised his face.

 

Holy was interviewed after the valuev fight, and I didn't notice a slur in his speech as definite as he had in the past.