Ali vs Berbick - Why?

Ali had de-genarated to a point that all fighters get.....everyone was trying to get that last penny from the flesh.

And now you see the health the man is in.

 

The Frazier/Cummings bout was taking place around the same time. There was a possibility of a 4th bout if each did well or go after Weaver/WBA title.

Berbick was a carefully selected opponent that was ranked and did not have punching power. He was a strong physical maul and brawl from the inside type guy. The Ali camp must've planned on Muhammad winning the bout with jabs and lateral movement and get the nod on the cards. And that next fight would have been big and there is no way they wanted anything to do with Holmes. But both Berbick and Cummings spoiled things and showed it was already past retirement time for both.

But going into the bout, there was minimal interest in it. And here was an Ali bout and nobody seemed to care. Lukewarm at best attention from boxing fans. And Berbick didn't exactly cooperate but he did not magically add some tools to his skillset to win the fight. He did as expected.

In some ways it was similar to the Tyson/Danny Williams fight. A carefully selected opponent with fundamental flaws to exploit with no surprises. But the opponent did not cooperate. And there was minimal interest in the bout thing as well when compared to the buzz of his earlier fights.

 

Ali wanted to go out fighting,pure and simple. Even though he'd never have beaten Holmes at that stage of his career,the thyrolar that he'd so stupidly taken pre bout,incapacitated him so badly that he barely threw ten punches all night. He wanted to go out on his feet,and throwing leather.

 

And he actually was competitive. Berbick did n't have an easy night,by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Ali DID want to fight holmes again, believe it or not. Ali said on the interview where him and holmes were on the set with howard cosell that he wanted another shot at holmes. He blamed his loss on the thyroid pills and said that he was going to have a tune-up fight with a top-10 fighter and challenge holmes again.

Ali was a very proud man and couldn't accept the fact that his fighting ability was gone. He gave holmes hardly any credit for the win (which truthfully he didn't deserve seeing the shape ali was in) and it ticked holmes off to the point that he said that if ali beat a top fighter he would give him a rematch and this time, he would really hurt him.

 

Never going to happen. The Ali braintrust was never going to put him in the ring again against that style. Talk is one thing, signing a contract is another. the Ali camp would not sign the contract. And who is going to put up all the $$ to sign both to a rematch and have the public buy it?

 

Don King?

 

Funnily enough,King tried to muscle in on this event,and did n't heed the warnings to keep his brillo pad head out. He got a good kicking,by all accounts.

 

True.

 

Redemption.

$$$$

 

Ego

 

Ali was a hair shy of 40 and 236 soft pounds with slowed speed and faded skills, however, all in all, Ali made it fairly close against a prime Berbick who was buffed like a fullback at 218 pounds.... I scored for Berbick 96 to 94 over 10 so-so rds of boxing.... YAWN! Legendary referee Zachary Clayton was the third man.... Peace...

MR.BILL:hat

 

Ali wanted to go out on top with a reasonalby decent performance, unlike his battering at Holmes' expense.