Was Berbick given the decision in the Ali vs Berbick fight?

I should add that he was also officially diagnosed with Parkinson's Syndrome sometime in 1984. Also, the NYSAC stated way back in 1977 that the Shavers fight was Ali's last in NYC because of his condition after the bout. Forty something Ali was not going to light the boxing world on fire anywhere in the USA. He would be lucky to participate in exhibitions given his medical history at that point.

 

He was still sparring well into the late 80's. He had the fire in the belly. How much worse could his condition get? The die was cast.

He still had the skill and ability to impact the division in a meaningful manner. And last I checked the rankings were more important than the fighter.

 

Sparring is a lot different from fighting. Does this look like a guy who should be fighting in a ring?
By the end of the 1980's Ali would have ended up losing to the Ron Creamer's of the world.

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press reports in 1984 said, that ali was taken to the hospital one night, having no control over his body because his extrimities were shivering that much. the diagnosis was "parkinson´s syndrome", a different disease than parkinson´s, but with similar symptons.
the very same year muhammad was on national tv.

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from then on (and even before, starting in the 2nd half of the 70s), his condition worsened month to month and year to year that followed.
does this person look and sound like one that could hold a portion of the heavyweight boxing titel well into the 80s, let alone who should be fighting in a boxing ring (as steve1990 already pointed out)?
i cannot believe you´re being serious, seamus.

 

I don't think people get it, it was not age or fitness that finished him.

You can butter it up however you like but he had been fighting with brain damage for a number of years.

He would have never been cleared to fight nowadays, it's a shame he didn't catch it in time but he made his own decisions.

 

interestingly, the new biography "ali - a life" points out, that damage to the brain may prevent a person to make good and right decisions.
if true, this is reducing your argument, which was also used by angelo dundee (amgong others), to absurdity.
the question that needs to be asked then: was muhammad still able to make good and right decisions for himself?

more interestingly, mentioned book refers this very question to the time frame from 1972 to 1974, when muhammad fought 11 brain damaging and debilitating professional bouts over the course of only 25 months against world class competition (not counting exhibitions and the countless full contact sparring rounds), asking the question: was it needed to fight that often? and could it be, that - even by then - this already was a consequence of an impaired ability to make (good and right) decisions.

of course, after all those years no one is able to give the correct answers to these qestions today.
but in my view those questions are valid.
so draw your own conclusions.

 

Maybe so but he didn't seem to lose his wit or wisdom, it was more a case of his body giving up on him and his motor skills failing.

I can't put an exact date when he went past the tipping point but the Manilla bout may have been it.

 

Just been watching a few clips and don't really notice his speech getting bad until the early 80's.

You could tell though by his movement and coordination that something wasn't right with him in the mid to late 70's.

 

not at first glance. but at second (glance), (watching and comparing interviews, press conferences etc.) you realize that much (if not the majority) of his 70s output in poems and slogans was just a rehash of his self promotion of the 1960s.
after frazier 3, muhammad was very often just going through the motions in and outside the ring (and more and more each passing year, until he had become a poor copy of this former self by 1980).

 

hard to believe that muhammad ali sparred as late as january of 1986. found this report from 1986 by chance and it says he actually did.
however, the last paragraph reveals that it looks like it was no real sparring, but rather a favor his former sparring partners did him. nevertheless it was fun to read.

source: http://articles.philly.com/1986-01-15/sports/26052257_1_training-sessions-shuffles-muhammad-ali

 

No, read the posts after yours. Ali was in no shape to beat Spins again, nor anyone at all competitive at World Class, even if it was soon after Berbick.
He trained hard to win the rematch, but even if Leon was again lax, Ali in '82 would have been significantly declined from 1978.

 

Agreed. It was a crazy decision to even let Ali fight Holmes.

 

Trevor Berbick was certainly awarded the decision in The Drama In The Bahamas 10 round bout in Dec 1981, it was Muhammad Ali's last official bout in a pro career that began in 1960

 

It was a crime to let an older former great like Muhammad Ali get brutalized by the WBC Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes on Oct 2 1980, to see that was very sad, Larry Holmes must have felt sad about destroying his mentor just as Rocky Marciano must have felt on Oct 26 1951 when he destroyed his boyhood hero Joe Louis in 8 rounds.

 

If Ali had somehow got the nod over Berbick he would likely have been stopped by Weaver, sneak a decision over Gardner and then be a punching bag for the likes of Bernado Mercado, Tex Cobb..............finishing with losses to Monte Masters and Tony Fulilangi