Ali did not purposefully lose to Spinks. Ali fought Leon as he did others. Letting opponents punch themselves out then come on to win. Against Spinks it did not work as Leon was young and trained to fight 15 fast rounds. Here the ropeadopes limitations were revealed when facing a determined in shape contender.
I looked at the 2nd Frazier fight the other day. To me, that’s peak 70’s Ali. Still had quickness, mobility, hand speed & stamina. Contrast that to the 3rd Norton fight. It’s a guy doing an impression of himself. There are a few moments where he looks as sluggish as he did in the Holmes fight. There’s one point where he’s standing in front of Norton & he looks like he’s in a fog. Probably the best time to retire would’ve been after Foreman. I watched an interview right before the Jimmy Young fight & Ali’s speech, while clear, is thicker. Not really slow but not crisp. The Manila is probably the next best spot to retire but man they both took some damage. Winning the title 3 times is nice but not sure it’s worth the punches Ali took. Norton & Shavers caught him clean with absolute bombs.
This topic always makes me sad. He should have taken a couple of easy fights after Kinshasha and retired. He could have monetized his fame like the Golden Boy and became a promoter. He didn't have to be the brains, just the face. He also wouldn't have screwed fighters like Don King .
I think the thrilla in Manila. Winning the title a third time wasn’t worth losing to Leon Spinks and some of the flat performances he had in his remaining fights didn’t do his legacy much justice. Of course if he needed the money then he needed the money
When did he split with wife number three? That broad looked like high maintenance. I bet he needed money for the settlement.
Frazier wasn't a murderous 1-punch artist, but he still hit hard and was a relentless pressure fighter who never stopped throwing. I think those 3 fights, especially Manilla, caused more decline to Ali's health than a lot of his other fights. As amazing as Manilla was, if I were his advisor and could time travel I would try to convince him not to take it and retire after Zaire. Everything else was just cherries on top and he was solid lock for the hall of fame and a top 5 HW. But I remember reading an article on Ali years ago. When Ali was old and heard someone say on TV that he wouldn't change a thing if he could, he nodded and said "that's right" or something to that effect. Deep down at some point Ali knew his body was suffering but he wanted to be the greatest so bad he didn't care. It was basically his 2nd religion and he was willing to die in the ring. He also was willing to suffer fighting far longer than he should have so that his kids could be set for life and that's pretty admirable.
I remember some book I listened to where Ali is having a conversation before the Shavers fight. He says something like, “You know how this is going to hurt? You know how hard he’s going to hit me in my head?” That’s just crazy to go on that long. Taking punches against Foreman worked but shouldn’t have become part of his regular strategy. Guy couldn’t punch so the fights were already guaranteed to be long. That’s a ton of shots to take. I’m listening to the book by Jonathan Eig and it gave an estimate as to how many punches Ali took. I don’t remember the number but it was around the same number he landed. What’s bad is that Ali mostly threw jabs & his opponents threw power shots.
