Heavyweight great Larry Holmes believes there is just one fighter at fault for the rapid decline in Muhammad Ali’s health.
It was reportedly made common knowledge towards the end of the career of ‘The Greatest’ that his health had began to deteriorate, although he was allowed to fight on two more occasions before he retired from the sport in the early 80’s.
Ali returned to the ring in 1980 after a 2-year hiatus, suffering a tenth round stoppage victory at the hands of Holmes in the penultimate bout of his career.
Just 1-year later, reportedly against the advice of numerous medical professionals, Ali faced Trevor Berbick in the 61st and final outing of his glittering tenure. ‘The Greatest’, who was quite clearly a shadow of his former self, was beaten by Berbick via unanimous decision in Nassau, Bahamas.
Despite going ahead with fights against himself and Berbick, Holmes believed the decline in Ali’s health started 3-years prior when he fought Earnie Shavers in a defence of his world heavyweight championship.
In an interview with Boxing TV, ‘The Easton Assassin’ made no mistake in naming Shavers as who he believes was responsible for Ali’s rapid health deterioration.
“Muhammad Ali fought Earnie Shavers. He was OK until he fought Earnie Shavers, and when Earnie started hitting him upside the head, Ali went a little bit like that. And I blame Earnie Shavers for it.
“I shouldn’t but I do. I said if you hadn’t hit him like that he would be walking around, going punchy a little bit. Earnie hit him and hurt him a lot of times. He knocked the hell out of Muhammad.”
Ali faced Shavers in September 1977 in a defence of his WBC and WBA titles at Madison Square Garden. Despite walking away with a unanimous decision victory, ‘The Greatest’ was stunned on several occasions during the tough 15-round battle.
