Muhammad Ali's Tragic Loss to Larry Holmes in 1980

On October 2, 1980, Muhammad Ali, one of the most popular and charismatic athletes the sporting world has ever known, failed miserably in his quest to regain the heavyweight boxing championship for an unprecedented fourth time, taking a one-sided beating in a fight that many believe contributed to Ali's eventual development of Parkinson's Syndrome. Showing a surprising lack of vigor and energy, and being painfully slow of foot and reflex, Ali, at the age of 38, and after a two-year retirement from boxing that included very little training but an awful lot of eating, was a shadow of his former greatness, being thoroughly outclassed and trounced by the very capable champion, Larry Holmes.

In a fight that many people feel never should have been allowed to happen in the first place, the great Muhammad Ali, the same man who shocked George Foreman and the world in Zaire and stopped Joe Frazier in a brutal yet beautiful fight in Manila, was left battered and bruised at the end of ten one-sided rounds, at which point his long-time corner man and trainer, Angelo Dundee, put an end to the carnage and refused to let his fighter proceed with the night's assignment. "Thank you," Muhammad Ali whispered to Dundee through swollen and bruised lips. Ali's pride and courage, so spectacularly displayed throughout his long and storied career, was still very much intact; if it had not been for Dundee's merciful halting of the night's proceedings, Ali would have no doubt continued to fight. He was a champion after all, and champion's fight! But the questions still remain to this day as to why Ali was allowed to fight in the first place. The trouble signs were plainly evident well before Ali's challenge of Holmes.