Very dull scrappy fight. Not much action provided by either man. Nobody could have put up a serious arguement if it had been scored a draw.
Muhammad had to wait until the 1970s to get the really big bucks. Legacy wise, it's easy for us to discuss when he should have retired to optimize his boxing legacy, but his bouts were making money hand over fist right through Holmes, and it's a business first. As relatively pathetic as Ali-Frazier IV would have been in 1982, if Muhammad had been awarded the decision over Berbick, and Smoke over Cummings, they each might have actually garnered a seven figure payday for a geriatric swan song. (And this isn't something that would've ended in 90 seconds either. As decrepit as they were, these two would have given fans whatever full measure of contentious action they remained capable of.) I've long since opined that Ali-Shavers was Muhammad's true cutoff point, that he never looked right again after sustaining the neurological damage Earnie inflicted on him.
Yes,as far as Muhammad's health goes,I agree about the Shavers fight. Ali had already slipped a lot since 1975,but the deterioration between the Shavers and first Spinks bout was alarming. I recall very well all the talk of an Ali-Frazier IV. Thank God it never came off !! It would have been a case of two creaking legends hauling their weary frames through ten rounds of very slow action.
I scored it a few years ago, and have posted it occasionally. Next time I do this, it will be with extensive round by round annotations. (It was scored on the five point must system.) R1)...Ali-4...Young-5 R2)...Ali-4...Young-5 R3)...Ali-4...Young-5 R4)...Ali-5...Young-4 R5)...Ali-5...Young-4 R6)...Ali-5...Young-4 R7)...Ali-5...Young-4 R8)...Ali-5...Young-4 R9)...Ali-5...Young-4 R10)..Ali-5...Young-4 R11)..Ali-5...Young-4 R12)..Ali-5...Young-3 (Young hung up on the ropes ducking through, ruled a knockdown by referee Tom Kelly.) R13)..Ali-5...Young-4 R14)..Ali-4...Young-5 R15)..Ali-5...Young-5 My final tally: Ali 71-Young 64. My card matched judge Terry Moore's final total. I would like to review the official round by round breakdown by the ringside officials though, as there may be some profound discrepancies between how they scored and how I saw it. For example, I gave Jimmy each of the first three rounds, as well as round 14, and I believe the ringside judges may have unanimously awarded at least one of those four rounds to Muhammad. (Round two may be that specific round I gave to Young which the three judges bequeathed to Ali.) When I previously scored Escalera-Everett in a thread a few years back, I deliberately skewed as much in favor of the Snake Man as I could. A couple posters voted for Alfredo in stanzas where I did not. Even when I used their votes to override my own, the absolute closest I could get was 143-142 Everett. The next time I score Ali-Young, I will likewise affect a bias towards Jimmy, to determine the detailed extent to which he might have been favored.
April 30, 1976 World Heavyweight Championship Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland Capacity; 18,000 * Muhammad Ali......Age 34 years, 3 months (230 lbs.)...50-2-0 (36 KO's) vs. #3 Jimmy Young......Age 27 years, 5 months (209 lbs.)...17-4-2 (4 KO's) Fight Scorecards; Referee; Tom Kelly......E A A A A...A A A A A...Y A Y Y E = 72-65 (10-3-2 in Rounds) Muhammad Ali Judge; Larry Barnett...E A E A A...A A A A E...Y A Y Y Y = 70-68 (7-5-3 in Rounds) Muhammad Ali Judge; Terry Moore....Y A A A A...A A A A A...Y A Y Y Y = 71-64 (11-4-0 in Rounds) Muhammad Ali Associated Press......69-66 (9-6-0 in Rounds) Jimmy Young Howard Cosell.........69-68 (7-6-2 in Rounds) Jimmy Young Sports Illustrated....72-70 (5-3-7 in Rounds) Jimmy Young Ken Norton............72-72 (6-6-3 in Rounds) Draw Muhammad Ali received $1,600,000 as a fight purse.
Round by Round? Thats easy Ali didnt win a round. Had the roles been reversed Ali woudve won 15-0. Your supposed to score punches. Judges gave Ali 8 rounds just for climbing into the ring. He couldnt hit the kid. It was a disgrace. The way Ali`s fights were judged in the late 70s was an embarassment. Not just Young and Norton but one judge gave him the first Spinks fight. As I said before it did Ali more harm than good in the long run. It kept him in the game a few more years he didnt need.
Muhammad Ali vs Jimmy Young Fun Filled Fact #37 All scoring officials for that fight, lived in Maryland. Referee; Tom Kelly Judge; Larry Barnett Judge; Terry Moore Fun Filled Fact #38 Both, Larry Barnett and Tom Kelly worked the Earnie Shavers vs Jimmy Young II bout, held at the Capitol Center in Landover, Maryland in November 1974. Larry Barnett scored the bout 47-44 for Jimmy Young Tom Kelly scored the bout a Draw, 47-47 Even. Fun Filled Fact #39 26 year-old, Jimmy Young weighed 197 lbs. for his November 1974 bout vs Earnie Shavers II. Which was 12 lbs. less than his 209 lb. weight for the 1976 Championship Bout with Muhammad Ali. Jimmy Young was much quicker in 1974, and was in 'superb physical condition' with a cut physique.
I think Ali should've retired after Foreman - I think his fights after that neither benefitted his legacy or more importantly his health - would've been a much more triumphant way to go out aswell on one the great performances by any fighter ever
Health wise I'd say after Manila. That was a brutal fight that took a lot out of both men. Norton III was the absolute last fight Ali should've engaged in. He won the rubber match with Ken (at least on the judges scorecard...not mine) and there was nothing left to prove. Teddy Brenner himself said after the fight that he would not promote another Ali fight...there's the warning shot over the bow for Ali but he didn't heed it. The man had a huge ego and he couldn't stand being out of the spotlight. Pacheco told him his kidneys were failing and his speech had slurred noticeably and still Ali wouldn't listen. Boxing wasn't ready to let go of it's top cash cow yet so unless you brought a gun into the ring with you Ali would get the decision. This extended Ali's career longer than it should've gone. Ali was probably the greatest HW to ever have stepped into the ring but he really wasn't business savvy like say..Larry Holmes. He squandered millions and needed to fight along with satisfying his ego to be happy. It's too bad really. He would've made a great color commentator.
IMO Ali is the greatest HW of all-time (we never saw the summer 67-summer 70 Ali :roll But his legacy IMO with repeated viewings is tarnished by his second reign. The big bucks guys and the public wanted him around for as long as he was able. Still questions about the Zaire fight....loose ropes, delay, even the drug thing, everything going in Ali's favor. Never gave George a rematch. Norton III? I've yet to hear a good argument from someone that thought he won that one. Young? He won simply because of the axiom that says a challenger has to go out and TAKE the fight from the champ but Jimmy made him look bad. I still think, knowing that he had the 'powers that be' in his hip pocket, that he gave the Spinks bout to Leon knowing that the green kid would get back in the ring with him six months later letting Ali become the first to be a three time champ. (Patterson was more of a three time champ given his effort against Ellis IMO) I love the greatest but his post-Foreman career is arguably suspect.
I've posted a detailed scorecard of Ali-Norton III in the scorecard thread. It has decriptions of each round and why I scored them for who I did. Ali won. It's a really close fight, and all the 'robbery' bull**** is nonsense. It was a close fight and either way can be argued.
