ESPN 30 for 30: Muhammad Ali vs. Larry Holmes

Only Pacheco and then Angelo Dundee cared about the man, Bundini Brown argued to let Ali continue...what a maggott...and they had to gets Herbert Muhamids ok to stop the fight...Ali was surrounded by these blood suckers...He was used and abused

 

Wow didn't know the Herbert Muhamid anecdote. That shits on a serious level if he actually needed to be notified. Ali was definitely manipulated by the NIA. Ali started in some radical and revolutionary times. He got swept up in a lot of that. Definitely used/abused.

 

The speed bag thing and the sometimes vacant look in his eyes
made it so obvious there was something terribly wrong. It's seems the people around him were trying there best to ignore it but, again, it was SO
obvious. The thyroid medication depleting the muscle and energy
reserves was adding even more to the problem. This stuff was basically
hidden from the general public. The fight should have been cancelled.

 

great utube clip - thanks. atleast angelo stopped the farce.

 

I know but he looked like he was 68. His 38 was not like some of the 38 year olds we see fighting today. He went through too many tough fights.

 

Interesting that one trainer said Ali was like 28 when he was obviously more like 68 as the other poster suggested. In five years, Ali had changed dramatically. This wasn't Father Time. This was the Parkinsons that was probably starting soon after the Manilla fight and getting worse with time.
The drug-induced weight loss made Ali even worse.

 

I think Ali's Parkinsons actually started (in minor form) after the FIRST Frazier fight. Parkinsons is a disease that gradually comes on, and can be relatively minor and intermittent for years. Just watch how Ali speaks right after Frazier I. He sounds punch drunk. He took serious bombs in that fight round after round and was almost taken out by an absolutely prime Frazier the likes of which was never seen before or since. That type of beating, like the one Bowe got against Golota, has an effect. Just watch Bowe sound punch drunk and slur his words after the second Golota fight. You knew right then and there that the guy's brain was done for.

 

Correct. The Ali people should be ashamed of letting their man go int he ring. I guess Ali really needed the money. To Ali's credit he got in the best shape for this fight. To Holmes credit, he took it easy on Ali.

 

Mendoza, I don't think Ali was in shape at all. He looked in shape.
The drugs got Ali's weight down. It also zapped him of everything else.
This and his Parkinsons did him in. Good point earlier about Ali after Frazier l. I guess it would be hard to determine exactly when the Parkinsons started.

 

You watch that video and you hear what Gil Clancy says and it was spot on, exactly how the fight unfolded.

 

They prostituted him vs Holmes and they knew he was taking pills, then to fight Berbick at that stage.....Angelo truely cared but the Muslims cared about money and control and they wanted the payday, Bundidni Brown was another maggott, reminds me of Holaway and crew that Tyson had after Cus died...shame to have him in the condition he is today...He thought he was indepentant but he was owned...Shame

 

Herbert Muhammad probably has twice the money that Ali has today, or more......That guy always came across as a total louse...A money-grubbing man of God......

 

a disgrace. you can clearly see and hear ali talking much slower then he was he did in his early 30's. but everybody was focused on the 8 million dollar payday. even ali himself.

 

Yes, what an obscene amount at that time.

But on top of these points, if Ali was this bad what was going on when he fought Berbick two years later?

 

The fact that over a year later Ali fought Berbick and didn't get KO'd
shows how great Ali was. Both fights should not have happened given Ali's condition.