Sorry another Ali thread, but I was wondering what you guys think Ali would have did if he had beaten Trevor Berbick? Would he still have retired? or would he have had a few more fights? even though his parkisons would have retired him over the course of the next two years. But do you think he would have snuck one more fight in there?
I'm gonna get killed for this, but I kind of edged the score cards towards Ali. If he had beaten berbick.. I think he still would have retired. He had nothing left and still struggled against someone like Berbick.
I think that it would have been the worst thing that could have happened to him.. Had he won that fight, the temptation to keep going would have been overwhelming, especially for Muhammad Ali. He would have taken another bout, perhaps against a Dokes, Coetzee or Cooney, and would have been pummeled as bad or worse than the Holmes fight.. Losing to Berbick was sad, but also a blessing in disguise.
Could that not be becuase you wanted Ali to win so badly? I mean he was in dreadful physical shape, had a hole in his brain and was suffering from the early onset of Parkinson's disease - An extremely miserable sight to see in the ring and I felt saddened viewing, but he lost the decision fairly, in a fight that shouldn't ever have been sanctioned. I agree with this, it would have been even more horrible watching him fight on, completely shot but still believing he's the rightful Champion.
If Ali had got the nod over Berbick,there were plans for him to fight Mike Weaver for the WBA title. Thank God it never happened. As an Ali fan,I remember hoping that he'd lose the Berbick bout,but not get hurt. This came to pass,mercifully.
I scored Ali the winner 97-93. (I don't have my card with notes handy at the moment, and won't be able to get to it for several weeks with my busted leg.) He controlled the movement in the ring (generalship), decisively outscored Berbick from long range, and I felt he neutralized and smothered Trevor's flailing away at his body in the clinches fairly effectively. (If Berbick legitimately earned this decision, it was largely on the basis of this work rate.) Muhammad was far better against Berbick than Page and Tate were, and he defended his head well. I also thought he finished strongly. It seemed as though all the straight punches came from Muhammad. Having said that, I'm glad the judges voted as they did. Even if I feel off the tape (admittedly very different from sitting ringside) that he deserved their scoring, he shouldn't have been competing, and he might have encouraged to continue on, though probably not. (He himself opined that, "It was close, but I have to go along with the judges.") During the post fight press conference, he did assert that his hand eye coordination and reflexes were definitely gone, so perhaps he would have called it a career regardless of how the scoring went. (Berbick also suggested that Ali hit him harder than Holmes had, but Trevor was also much more defensive against Larry, seemingly more interested in breaking the championship defense stoppage streak of Holmes than taking the title.) Regardless, Ali didn't absorb a great deal of punishment in this one, nothing like what he took at Manila, or against Shavers and Holmes. When he did take a hard shot to the head, he retreated and defended against the follow up attacks sufficiently enough to ride out the storm. He boxed efficiently, used his experience to good effect, and did not rope-a-dope as much as those who have never seen this bout in its entirety might expect. The jab was no longer much of a weapon, but he hadn't really thoroughly dominated a match with his jab since LBJ's administration. (Even Wepner and Quarry II weren't the blood baths they would have been during his first career. Manila was his only stoppage win induced by accumulated facial damage during the 1970s.) To me, Ali was arguably worse in the first fight with Leon, and against Young and Evangelista. (He was also less impressive over the first ten rounds against Lyle, but he was obviously holding back for the championship rounds.) A case could be made that this was Berbick's weakest decision win over a major opponent.
Ali would've been "Moidered" by Mike Weaver in 1982......... Ali fighting Berbick was supposedly gonna lead to Weaver in '82 had he won........ Don King and team Ali were in the process of working that deal out, but Trevor Berbick had other plans..... Ali looked like **** at age 39 and 236 pounds...... His words were slurred, belly flabby and skills gone...... Ali was a ghost in the Bahamas..... 'Nuff said...... MR.BILL
At that point Ali wouldn't have even been able to defeat WBA Champion Mike Weaver. Or worse yet, Don King could have led Ali to the slaughter against one of his young lions, namely Michael Dokes.
Dokes or Page probably would take Ali to school at that point, though Page probably wouldn't take on his fellow resident.
The bloodsuckers around him would have fed his ego and steered him into another fight until he was a total cabbage.
