Muhammad Ali vs Larry Holmes (1978)

This might go the distance, but Ali comes up short. After 1976 he is there to be taken.

 

He looked somewhat impressive versus a coked-up neophyte who was on the smallish side. A prime Ali would have his problems versus Holmes let alone the mummy who was in the ring during those final years

 

Although it would n't have been the horrorshow that their 1980 bout was,it would still have been a one sided Holmes victory. By 1978 Ali was too far gone to have dealt with a peaking Larry Holmes. In my opinion,you'd have had to have gone back four years to have have found a version of Ali (Zaire) that could have beaten Holmes. That would have been an excellent fight.

 

If we're talking about the slow dancing Ali of New Orleans who stayed off the ropes, this might have been closer than is commonly supposed. Larry may well have come in with the old sparring partner's mentality, a surplus of caution, and it would be a few years before he exchanged Giachetti for Futch. It would be a dull fight, Ali would not take a beating, and Holmes would win the UD, but not by as wide a margin than many expect, due to excessively conservative boxing. (I've long expressed the opinion that Futch versus Giachetti in Larry's corner is critical when fantasy matching Ali with Holmes. Muhammad had the knack of making several challengers and opponents hold back too much during his second career instead of going for broke, as Leon finally did in dethroning him but failed to do in their return.)

 

This tallies with my vision of how an Ali-Holmes fight would have unfolded in '78. Ali would have been exhausted at the end,but still on his feet fighting.

 

True. But there's no way that Muhammad could have kept this up over a long period of time in '78. I've made it clear so many times on here that I'm a big fan of Muhammad's,but at that point in his career,Holmes would still have been one fight too far. As I've previously stated,the 1974 Ali v Holmes of 1978 would have been a GREAT fight. That version of Ali would have the edge. A lot of people would disagree,but that's the beauty of opinion.

 

Ali's Parks Syndrome was in the early stages by 1978, but he and we didn't yet know it then........ By '80 it was blatant that something was wrong......

Anyway, Holmes of '78 whips that ass of Ali's........ WORD!

MR.BILL

 

It makes it all the more incredible that Muhammad could still compete,let alone win against fighters while he was in the early throes of Parkinson's. Yet another way that he was remarkable. The first time that I noticed that something was wrong was in 1979,when he was over here on his 'Farewell' tour. I thought that he had a sore throat or cold. It was even more apparent the following year when he signed for the Holmes fight.

 

I thought Ali was still holding his own pretty good in 1979 when he filmed "Freedom Road." His voice had changed, but he still pulled it off....... Leading up to Holmes in Oct of '80, Ali looked great for the photo session, but he was slurring badly and had no strength or reflexes...... He was shot by then......

MR.BILL

 

I go along with that Mr.Bill. He should n't have been allowed to take those last two dreadful fights.

 

Agreed. He had an acting career waiting for him if he'd gotten out before sustaining the damage which has haunted him since. I thought "Freedom Road" signaled that he had found a life after boxing, but he didn't continue to pursue it as he should have.