Muhammad and Larry: A Story of a Fight That Never Should Have Happened
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10/21/2009 9:00 AM ET By Michael David Smith
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- Michael David Smith
- Michael David Smith is FanHouse's Lead Blogger
Howard Cosell's angry voice punctuates the opening of Muhammad and Larry, the documentary that will premiere on ESPN Tuesday, and the rest of the film serves to explain Cosell's anger: The documentary focuses on the 1980 fight between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes, and it argues that Ali never should have been permitted to walk into the ring that night.
Holmes gave the 38-year-old Ali a savage beating, and as Cosell called the fight he became increasingly incredulous at what he was watching. That's the part that boxing fans already know.
What boxing fans haven't seen before is a wealth of behind-the-scenes footage from both Ali's and Holmes's camp, footage that director Albert Maysles shot in 1980 for a planned documentary that was never released. Now Maysles has interspersed that footage with new interviews, and the result is an extraordinary story about an extraordinary moment in boxing history.
The three-decade-old footage from the fighters' training camps makes it painfully clear that Holmes entered the fight in great shape, while Ali, who was coming off a long layoff after announcing his retirement two years earlier, was in terrible shape. At one point we see Ali say, "I'm too old, I'm too fat," and when he follows that with the promise, "I'm gonna shock the world," we wonder if Ali really believed that.
Before boxers can be licensed to fight in the United States they must be cleared by a state athletic commission, and one of the surprising revelations from Muhammad and Larry is that Ali had already been diagnosed with short-term memory loss even before fighting Holmes -- and yet the Nevada State Athletic Commission licensed him anyway. At one point during Ali's training camp, Maysles's cameras caught Ali appearing confused while hitting a speed bag -- something that should be the simplest of all tasks for an experienced boxer.
The film doesn't show Ali today; he and the people closest to him apparently declined to be interviewed. But we know, of course, that Ali has battled Parkinson's Disease since shortly after he retired from boxing. That knowledge makes it a little startling that Holmes (who will turn 60 next month) is shown in 2009 as a happy and healthy man who has suffered no ill effects from his boxing career -- even though he boxed longer than Ali did.
Muhammad and Larry is, above all, the story of a boxing tragedy: The story of a fight that shouldn't have happened and ended up doing great damage to a great man. If there's anyone who comes out of Muhammad and Larry looking good, it's Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, who resigned from his post as Ali's personal physician in 1977 because he had failed to convince Ali to retire. In a new interview, Pacheco details how he tried to convince Ali to stop fighting -- and how that was an impossible task.
In fact, Ali fought once more after losing to Holmes, dropping a unanimous decision to Trevor Berbick in 1981 before finally calling it a career. But it was the Holmes fight, more than any other, that signalled Ali's downfall. It's a sad story well told in Muhammad and Larry.
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Cosell made millions through the years hyping boxing and then complaining about how brutal it was, but in this case he was right. It's horrible that Ali ended that way.
All I remember was that Ali, after all those years of berating his opponents, quit on his stool after being carried for many rounds by Holmes. It wasn't a real fight but the bully being called out.
Ali is suffering from Parkinsons Syndrome...not disease.
In addition to agreeing 100% with the two comments above me, I'm willing to bet that Ali made a pretty penny for this fight, maybe even more than Holmes. So did Don King and the networks. Ali wasn't knocked out, wasn't seriously beat up, but the fight was stopped because he was no match for Holmes and was an embarrasement. I would like to know how many of Ali's fights were stopped because his opponent was an embarrasement? And on top of that he probably would have made them feel like a piece of sh*t after the fight because it was alway about Ali being the "Greatest". Ain't paybacks a b*tch. Holmes probably had too much class to tell Ali what a joke he was and put him in his place the following days and weeks after the fight.
Interesting documentary of the boxing match that should never have happened. I wonder if the people who allowed Ali to fight in his ill condition can sleep at night. Finally ESPN has put out a film that has my interest. This film reminds me of the Humphrey Bogart movie The Harder They Fall.
You have no idea what your talking about. You are total fool
This fight might be the first fight that showed something was wrong with the GREAT CHAMP. Most people were and still are completely ignorant to the sudden decline in his demeanor, his attitude and his physical skill. Even at thirty-eight he cleary showed no signs of his former self, but knowing what we now know, really proves how much heart and passion he had for boxing. there's no knock on Ali, SH*T, he would have died in the ring if he could've. so to take something like what happened to him at the end of he's extremely long career, plus the fact that an illness that would affect the rest of his natural living life afterwards, and somehow think that he finally got his, as a lesson is ridiculous. Also remember some eight or nine years later Holmes himself was taught the benefits of youth when he was tore apart by a viscious pitbull by the name of Mike Tyson. what goes around?
What everyone should remember is this: Prior to Ali the average ring take home for a championship fight was approxiamately $125K, after Ali and the "HYPE" the average take for a championship fight was a hefty $4.5m. Ali was a kind and gentle man, confused in his youth by those that sought to extort his fame for their purposes. Remember Ali had two long term layoff in his career. The first was a prison term for draft evasion (failure to serve) and the second was the long term "retirement" just prior to the fight everyone witnessed above. Ali never deserved the beating he recieved at the hands of a far superior Holmes in this fight. But like most all fighters he "needed the money". One thing I have always said is boxers need to be educated in handling their funds from the day they turn Pro. Just sayin' ,,, you know?
"Remember Ali had two long term layoff in his career. The first was a prison term for draft evasion (failure to serve) and the second was the long term "retirement" just prior to the fight everyone witnessed above."
He didn't serve a prison term for draft evasion. The reason he didn't fight was because organizations like the WBA and the NY State Athletic Commission had stripped him of his title and taken away his license, and that happened before he was ever charged, arrested, or convicted of any Selective Service violations.
Granted, it may be a mostly moot point because his trial was only a few months away and most boxing organizations and state licensing commissions have rules automatically disqualifying boxers convicted of felony violations, however, they jumped the gun.
Therefore, while his case was on appeal he was free to earn a living as a speaker on the college circuit and he became a leading figure in the antiwar movement.