Even in defeat, Ali was the main story,
not the man who actually won the fight.
October 2, 1980: Muhammad Ali, 38 years old, tries to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World for the 4th time.
Sugar Ray Robinson and Archie Moore had been champion boxers in their 40s, but it was a mistake for Ali to even think about getting back in the ring. He is already beginning to show signs of Parkinson's disease, from the poundings he had taken in the ring from 1975 to 1978.
He hadn't fought in 2 years. He has gotten his weight down to 217 1/2 pounds, his lowest since he won the title for the 2nd time, from George Foreman in 1974. But, at the same time, he'd lost too much weight too fast, and it had drained him, as it had Jim Jeffries against Jack Johnson in 1910, and Joe Louis against Rocky Marciano in 1951.
And he was facing Larry Holmes, who was 30, and 35-0, with 26 knockouts. The native of Easton, in northeastern Pennsylvania, was already known as "The Easton Assassin," and had beaten Earnie Shavers, who nearly beat Ali in 1977, twice; Ken Norton, who beat Ali in 1973, lost to him later that year, and nearly beat him in 1976; Alfredo Evangelista, whom Ali beat in 1977; and Mike Weaver, who would later win a share of the Heavyweight Championship.
The fight was held at the outdoor boxing stadium at Caesar's Palace, outside Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada. It was a mismatch: Holmes won each of the 1st 10 rounds, and Ali looked like, in boxing terms, a very old man. His trainer, Angelo Dundee, stopped the fight. It was the only time in his 61 professional fights that The Greatest neither won nor at least went the distance.
For the only time in its history, Sports Illustrated put the loser, but not the winner, of a prizefight on its cover, with the headline "THE LAST HURRAH," invoking Edwin O'Connor's 1956 novel about an aging politician in his last campaign. Ali had lost 3 times before, but this was the first time he had truly looked like a beaten man. The expression on his face in the cover photo shows that he knew it. For its article on the fight, SI titled it "Doom In the Desert."
Like the rising Marciano, when he inflicted a similar punishment on the aging Louis in 1951, Holmes was seen crying after his victory. He gained very little from the win, and may even have lost respect from many of Ali's fans. This was unfair: If there's anybody with whom they should have been angry, it should have been Ali, for even trying this fight.
Father Time doesn't always win, but he always wins the rematch. Watching this was like watching Elvis in Omaha in the last TV special.
And still, Ali fought once more, on December 11, 1981, losing to Trevor Berbick in Nassau. It became known as "The Trauma in Bahama." That fight may have damaged him even further. He did as much good as he could in the last 34 years of his life, but Parkinson's severely limited this. He really should have quit after the 3rd fight with Joe Frazier in 1975, "The Thrilla in Manila."
*
October 2, 1980 was a Thursday. Football was in midweek, and the NBA and the NHL were in their preseasons. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Ron Guidry outpitched Jack Morris, and was supported by home runs from Reggie Jackson and Oscar Gamble.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski did not play.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 9-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rookie Rickey Henderson went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs, but no stolen bases.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Seattel Mariners, 6-2 at Royals Stadium (later Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-2 with a walk, and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. His batting average, which had been up to .401 in early September, dropped to .389, and he would finish at .390.
* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Texas Rangers, 6-3 and 4-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* And the New York Mets, the Baltimore Orioles, the California Angels, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Montreal Expos and the San Diego Padres were not scheduled.
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