We all know that the great Muhammad Ali has a degenerative disorder - Parkinson's - there are really only 3 views on this in my opinion 1 - Ali was destined to be cursed with this disease regardless of anything he did i.e. sustaining punishment from boxing 2 - Ali was pre-disposed to the disorder, and his sever punishment from boxing helped progress the disorder faster/to a further state 3 - Boxing, and the puinshment he took was the sole cause of the disorder. Now onto the thread title, I was just thinking on his exile and the possibilty that it may have effected his disorder, I know there are a few scenarios to go from this so I shall just try to outline the ones relevant to my concept ( and to be honest this is only for those that boxing had an effect on his progressing his disorder ). If for talks sake Ali wasnt exiled from boxing - how would this have potentially effected his mental state - would the lack of his exile meant that he kept on top form ( without the decline in his reflexes etc ) and hence taken less punishment overall because of his ability to continue "dancing" and not relying on his in-human ability to take punches and just keep going and so leaving Ali in a better mental state than we currently have, or would Ali's skills still have deteriorated and he would have ended up relying on his ability to absorb punishment anyways, and from this actually having Ali's disorder progressing at an earlier point in time ( meaning his exile allowed him to fight on durning his later years because his disorder hadnt progressed as much if he had continued boxing durning those years). Of course there's always the view that boxing had nothing to with Ali's disorder,and also you have to consider that had Ali not been exiled that certain fights that could have potentially had an effect on Ali ( such as Ali-Fraizer 3 ), might never have happened, but i'm trying to avoid completly chaning history lol, anyone have any opinions on whether or not his exile had and effect on his disorder?
Many think it was Ali's sparring and exhibition fights which were a large part to play in his Parkinsons, he would often just let himself get hit over and over.
Ali was always gonna get Parkinsons. But, that is not all he suffers from. Boxing didn't give him Parkinsons disease, but it definitely gave him the brain damage evident in his slurred speech, slowed thought pattern, and daily battles with splitting headaches.
Ali stayed in the game too long as well. Manila should've been it but he continued on and took more punches from the likes of Shavers, Norton, Spinks and Holmes at a time when he wasn't the same fighter anymore and didn't really train as hard as he used to. That certainly contributed to the way he is now imo. He just took too many hard punches to the head. Ego is a wonderful thing isn't it?
Yeah....Ali was total **** in the seventies....! He would never have beaten whatsisname. You know,that guy who won two out of three with Frazier and Norton,and who dismantled the previously indestructable George Foreman,in the seventies. Can't think of the man's name....??????????
