Is washed up Ali the worst version of an undisputed champion?

Stole my thunder. The Holmes Ali was worse.

The Berbick version of Ali was a fighting machine, one that could have and should have continued till the Tyson era, cleaned up the division and taken Holmes' belt before Spinks had the chance.

 

Truthfully and painfully yes. Muhammad Ali was extremely vulnerable towards the end of his second title reign leading up to his defeat at the hand of Leon Spinks on Feb 15 1978. Ali's physical skills were long gone, his stamina, speed, footwork and reflexes, just a distant memory. If Ali had possibly retained against Leon in that first fight, he would have been surely beaten by soon to be WBC champ Ken Norton in a title unification fourth bout. It was sad to see him fight, he no longer resembled the fighter I saw fight on Closed Circuit Television on Nov 22 1965 against Floyd Patterson. He was flabby, swollen, and his speech appeared to be slurred during interviews with the press.

 

I think Ali of his last fight could have taken the Holyfield who fought that pathetic exhibition recently. Or maybe the Tyson who quit on his stool (at least Ali wouldn't quit).

The Holmes who fought Butterbean? Not a chance.

 

Even the 80 and 81 versions of Ali could have taken Butterbean and still stopped him. Who knows how far gone Holmes was since he couldn't stop Butterbean.

 

Carlo use to go on AOL message boards bragging about that.

 

Good Lord. The Ref should still be in jail.....Along with the Promoter.

 

Perhaps not the worst but in my view, the saddest, was 37 year old Joe Louis against Marciano.
Riddled with arthritis and having donated over $2M to Army and Navy relief funds, as well as having served, poor Joe was forced to take on a guy he would easily have disposed of a decade earlier.
Instead, he tries to stand up and demonstrate his colossal dignity as young Rocky knocks him through the ropes.
Tragic.

 

Have you watched the fight? Watch it and tell me that version of Holmes wouldn't beat the pants off Berbick Ali.

Holmes couldn't stop Butterbean because Butterbean has a good chin. Holmes did still convincingly win every single round and generally used Butterbean's face as a speed bag.

Seriously, watch the fight. Yeah, it's an old guy vs a freakshow, but it's actually a good action packed fight.