Would Ali have retired if he managed to win that fight with Berbick?

Yeah that's why I'm not really upset he didn't get the decision (which I felt he deserved). It would've given him false confidence that he still had it.

 

Wasn't Ali contracted to fight John L Gardner when he announced his retirement ? John got a big payout for a cancelled fight with Ali.

 

It's best that he did lose, so he would retire

 

Berbick beat Ali,Ali had his moments but he still lost the fight.

 

I would hope that he would have retired. Ali wasn't just 38, but an old, shop worn 38 suffering with early onset Parkinsons (as most people who get Parkinson's don't get it until their 60's). If Ali had aged well like Holmes or Foreman, he could have stuck around until the mid to late 80's.

 

So they purposely shafted him out of the win in order to show him the door?

 

Perhaps his chin would have degraded so much by then that Weaver KO's him quickly?

 

That's one theory. One I subscribe to tbh

 

Had Ali and Frazier both won, I believe we'd have seen a fourth ... as awful as that sounds. That is why they fought within days of each other. So we all owe Trevor and Jumbo our gratitude.

 

He was going to fight Gardner in Hawaii in early 81, but Ali couldn't get a license in the U.S.

 

I honestly believe that Muhammad Ali was finished physically, he was taking Thyroid medication, his organs were starting to fail him, and his Neurological system was showing a decline. No country or state would have not issued him a license, the commissions would have to literally protect Ali from Ali. He did have the heart of a warrior, no doubt, but was it safe for him with all of these irregularities to compete against younger opponents that he would have easily defeated in his prime years, 1964-1967, it would be sad to watch. When he came back in 1970, after his banishment in 1967, for refusing to serve in Vietnam, he was not the same fighter that he was in his prime years. He got hit more and was more vulnerable. In his prime years, he had footwork, reflexes, stamina, and speed. His return featured laying on the ropes, the invention of the Rope A Dope, it won him back the title against George Foreman, but at a price later on. The FOTC was a great fight, Joe Frazier won it fair and square, but it makes many a fan wonder if Ali of 1967 would have fought Joe that night, who might have won? I think that Ali as great as he was should have walked away after the Thrilla In Manila.

 

Well, Ali had overstayed his welcome.

 

That's an understatement!

 

Ali was a very sick man in the berbick fight...i felt he won..but he didnt look 10% of what he"d been..

In retrospect as far back as 1977 he had that vacant staring facially rigid parkinsons look.

Yes he would have gone on...weaver was his aim...he might have taken a tune up against a Gardner or le doux....as finished as joe was the thought of a 4th fight is horrifying...ali wouldve been very badly injured....

 

The Berbick fight always makes me wonder how well Ali would have done against Holmes if he didn't use the diuretics and trained for strength and durability instead of a beauty contest. Ali would have lost but I think he would have gone the distance and looked relatively good. In a perverse way I think Ali did well against Berbick, but I think Trevor clearly won the fight.