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Topic: Muhammad Ali Dies
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted June 04, 2016 11:30 AM
I used to watch his 15 round bouts in the 1970's on live television. He was and is, one of thr true masters of the ring!
As an avid lover of boxing, I was so enamored with Ali, and was equally saddened as I saw him continuing to box after he was past his prime. I was so elated when he actually won back the title a third time against the young man who won it from him (Spinx) when, instead of doing Ali's "Rope A Dope" (which they were expecting), Ali stood toe to toe against the much younger Spinx and beat him ...
Then, he made a terrible mistake ...
He decided to try to get the title back again against his old sparring partner, Larry Holmes. Holmes knew his old mentors every move and, as he stated years later, though he didn't want to hurt his idol, he beat the living hell out of Ali until, in the 8th (or 10th) round, Ali chose not to get up for the next round. He was truly, terribly beaten.
He had one fight after that with an unknown loser, and did narrowly win that one, but watching him in that fight, you could see that something major was taken out of him in the Holmes fight, and though he had already, before Holmes, started to slur his words a little, the effects of that Holmes beating became apparant shortly afterwards.
Ali, you were and are, in my opinion ... the greatest to ever step in that ring!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted June 07, 2016 12:02 PM
Joe, you're right. My memory must be getting bad. I always thought his last fight was with some largely un known white fellow, that he beat, must be thinking about some other fighter late in his career.
I thought I'd watch that Holmes/Ali fight on youtube and I was honestly just about in tears watching it. I'd forgotten just how terrible it was. After about three rounds, Ali pretty much did the rope a dope and hoped that, maybe larry Holmes would tire of punching on him, but it didn't happen. In the last round, Ali didn't even throw a punch, but just got mercilously hammered continually.
To see you're hero/idol get so destroyed was hard to watch. One almost gets the sense that perhaps Ali just wanted to end his life in the ring that night, but we'll never know what was in his head at the time.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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