Ali’s speech decline

Greatness ain't free, nerds.

 

Ferdie Pacheco (his doctor) indicated Muhammad Ali suffered not from standard Parkinson’s Disease but rather Parkinson’s Syndrome. Boxing is a very dangerous sport….just look at his opponents.

Floyd Patterson and Jimmy Ellis died from Alzheimer’s. Jimmy Young died from brain trauma. Jerry Quarry and Ernie Terrell died of dementia. George Chuvalo and Joe Bugner currently have dementia. Joe Frazier and Leon Spinks died of cancer but both had significant slurred speech. So did Ken Norton. He was in a bad auto accident but I suspect his condition was caused by boxing (notably Foreman, Shavers and Cooney).

Each one of the fighters listed above were either champions or fought for the championship. They all had winning records but they ended up with brain damage. Not just heavyweights either as Sugar Ray Robinson died of Alzheimer’s as did Tony Zale.

I know a guy who was a state trooper and he wanted to be a fighter but his father wouldn’t let him turn pro. They said he would have been a ranked middleweight or light heavyweight had he done so. I asked him if he ever sparred with someone I would know and he said Muhammad Ali. I asked when this was and he said Gleason’s Gym in 1964. He also sparred with Joey Giardello in Philadelphia. Long story short, he now has Parkinson’s Disease and is confined to a wheelchair.

I used to be an ardent boxing fan but I am no longer because I think most fighters are treated very poorly and most end up broke and brain damaged.

I know many of the posters on this site may disagree with my assessment and I know fighters are often their own worst enemy but very few fighters retire with their health and financial stability.

 

When Ferdie was going public saying Ali needed to be cleared by top doctors before fighting again, he specifically said it was because he thought Ali might have kidney disease. Never once mentioned Parkinson’s (syndrome or disease) until that became public.

The “Fright Doctor” was a fraud.

This is a man with a medical license (and he was going to make sure everyone knew he was a doctor and he knew more than anyone else) who sat ringside for Benn-McClellan and was basically poking fun at McClellan for blinking and questioning his heart when any doctor should know that repeated, rapid blinking is a sign of neurological distress. He’s watching a guy whose brain is shutting down and he clowns the guy and basically says he’s a dog for not fighting harder rather than screaming ‘stop the fight, his man has severe brain damage.’ Go watch the fight and listen to his commentary (keeping in mind he’s a doctor) and it’s beyond cringe … it’s sickening.

Once Ali got clearance from the Mayo Clinic, Ferdie told the Washington Post or New York Times (I forget which) that it was no longer a medical decision, that he would like to see Ali retire but that it was a personal choice and not a medical one.

Years later when all was known and public, he starting saying he know this and he knew that, but he gave so many interviews at the time that his stance was out there for all to see — at the time it was kidney disease and no mention of anything relating in any way to brain damage.

 

We all die weak, compromised and submitted. Very few us live like kings, even for a day.

 

With my non-native english I find it hard recognizing speech patterns. In 1978 interviews he seemed to be doing OK. Already by january and february of '79 (2 years bf Holmes), I believe the change was drastic.