A fight that should never have happened.

The best Ali vs Holmes upload

You could see on the replays Holmes was holding back when Ali was up against the ropes. He let go with some right hooks and uppercuts but then he stopped and didnt do any more..... I guess he figured that Ali was totally gone.

The most shameful fight ever to take place. Not only was Ali clearly showing early signs of Parkinson's with his slurred speech, mask like face and lack of balance (look how he's stumbling around during the introductions as Dundee grabs him; maybe playing partly, but he looks inebriated), but he had also been misdiagnosed as having a thyroid problem and was prescribed Thyrolar. These pills aid in weight loss but can be extremely dangerous for someone without a thyroid problem. Ali thought they were like vitamins and was popping several a day, which made him rapidly shed pounds but also caused him to lose muscle mass - you can see how much smaller his shoulders are compared to only 2 years prior. Two days before the fight, he collapsed during roadwork and was hospitalised with dehydration. During the fight, he was unable to perspire due to the effects of the Thyrolar medication he had been taking. Doctors after the fight said that he could have had a heart attack at any point.

For Ali to last that long truly amazing heart of a champion

Awesome upload. Pre and post-fight footage is super rare. Thank you!

Holmes knew what was going on. He could of obliterated Ali but held back outta respect and boxed him. Shows the character of Larry.

Still sad to watch even after all these years. R.I.P. Muhammad Ali, the Greatest!! And everyone recognize the greatness of Larry Holmes, perhaps the most underrated champion in history.

Wow I never heard Ali talk before that fight he’s slurring his words all over! How did they even allow this fight???

Holmes really never gets the credit until at 42 years old he beat Ray Mercer

Thanks, coach for this upload!

thanks for the good quality

This is the fight Mike Tyson said he got "revenge for Ali" for. Revenge for what? Holmes was both professional and merciful in this match. The last two rounds he was clearly holding back.

if somebdoy tells me that Holmes didn't held back in the last round, he's a fool...

Holmes showed restraint in this fight. Class act. Too bad he didn't take out his frustration on Don King.

Holmes will never get the respect he deserves!

i honestly think that the Ali of the 70's would had trouble to beat the peak Larry Holmes of the early 80's. The young Ali was hundred times better than the Ali of the 70's. The Ali of the 60's is for me the greatest fighter.

Angelo ! Is a real hero . R.i.p to the legends! Ali, Holmes...

How great are these clips of great men!

Esta pelea jamás se tendría que haber llevado a cabo.

Two or three years prior to this fight, you can see Ali was in the very early stages, and he still managed to defeat Ken Norton and Leon Spinks. Just shows the character of the man and his resilience.

This fight was 40 years ago this week.

''all the people involved in this fight should have been arrested'' Ferdie Pacheco He summed up that criminal event perfectly..... that ''fight'' was a crime. I loved Joe Frazier and despised Clay/Ali growing up........and I cried like a baby watching this tragedy.

"Legends die hard" one of the saddest quotes I have heard.

This is the night Holmes became the Lineal/Ring Champion although he was the WBC champion already.

The End tho with Larry and Ali Taking The Mickey out of Howard was Funny 😄😄

Ali clearly has Parkinson's Disease by this point and should never have been allowed to fight.

Larry Holmes had so much respect for Ali that he would never have stopped fighting even though he really knew something was wrong with him. It's a warrior's code. It's more honorable for them to go down in battle than for him to just say "stop the fight". The Ali of the 60s would have been an awesome challenge for Holmes. Holmes was just giving his idol another battle. That's what honorable warriors do. Both men, class acts and champions!

Ali tried his old trick of holding behind the head but Larry wasn't havin' it.

I remember watching the fight soo well. Even then l thought my goodness Ali's speech and look. I loved Ali but l wished he never took this fight. Larry is and was always a pure gentleman.

Excellent quality. I would love to see the physical report prior to this fight. It is clear in Ali's eyes that something is terribly wrong (Onset of Parkinson's).

Sad day 😢

Muhammad ali is so humble he do accept defeat R.I.P goat!

Man it's 2022 and I can't watch anymore of this..Peace and RIP Champion 😪

This is the saddest fight I have ever seen. Last was clearly holding back and was still dominating. Ali should never have taken this fight.

Wow! I just saw an interview that Holmes said he only slap-boxed Ali in that fight!!

Holmes in his prime... he really was a great... could of beat anyone

Loved the interview after the fight - Insane (and sad) that Ali was talking about a further comeback...

I can't bear watching Ali- Holmes fight despite the years has passed !.

This fight NEVER should have happened.

This is the young student taking over from an aging master. Ali is a legend - never to be forgotten. RIP Champ. Holmes was a great fighter too.

Ali still showed resilience though, He was 38 years old, had Parkinson’s, and he was really tired and he still didn’t go down so technically he still proved himself as the true champion.

Holmes' combinations are so quick

Holmes was the last great classy heavyweight champion we've had

45:40 Thank God for Angelo. You hear him telling Ali's crony corner yes men mainly bundini to leave Ali alone and that's it. Fight is over.

Una pelea que no tenía que haberse celebrado nunca!!

I love how in the ninth round he tries to dance a little he knows its over But he still eants to entertain the crowd

back in the day.great time's great fighter's and good ole howard.

Ali remained very humble after the loss. Larry didn’t wanna kill him but he had to do the dance. Real Gs right here.

the fight seems like Ali is literally fighting sleep walking

This fight should never have happened. Whoever signed off on Ali’s boxing licence should have been investigated.

Ali was fighting two opponents in this match, Holmes and Parkinsons. It was hard to watch, 10 years earlier, Holmes would've missed 3/4 of those jabs as Ali ducked and weaved. Ali's punching speed was about 50% of his prime.

Larry Holmes a great Champion! Never got the recognition of great because of Muhammad Ali

assistindo a essa luta , percebi q algo de errado estava acontecendo com ali parece q ele queria apanhar ,perder! seus reflexos nao estavam aguçados entao eu pergunto . o que estava se passando na cabeça de Ali naquele dia tao triste ????

You can hear the heartbreak in Howard Cosell's voice. He cared about Ali.

Wow, this was so hard to watch...!!!!

This fight is too sad to watch

I loved the camaraderie between all three at the end - was TV really this good back then?

Lovely comments; thank you very much! Lovely comments from the greatest and most popular champion M Ali! Engineer Ismailzada

I've never seen that last portion where they were interviewed very interesting stuff , always felt sorry for Larry, people hated him for that fight, ALI and Holmes were buddies till the end

I've never been a big Holmes fan but I do think he was very underrated. People were mad at Holmes this fight but he's a boxer performing his profession it's Ali's people that people and the public should be mad at. Ali's own people put him in danger for letting him fight that night and the sport of boxing is also at faught.

Ali's speech was definitely affected and the very early onset of Parkinsons was developing when talking to Cosell. RIP

This fight should never have been allowed to happen. When Rocky Marciano fought a clearly done Joe Louis, Rocky yelled at the ref ... "What do you want me to do, kill him?" You can see Larry had the same feeling and respect for Ali.

ali was already talking in slow mo

Sad how Parkinson's can affect any human being never mind the greatest. He looks intoxicated like he was partying the night before or something. Sad stuff.

This fight should have never been scheduled. Holmes was Ali's sparing partner before he ( Holmes) went pro.

I feel bad for ali. Holmes knew the whole game plan too but he had a heart. These guys went through those punishments from the higher ups in boxing industry. They are hypnotized, beginning of fight holmes got hisself smothered with something and ran up to ali and did something ... Ali swung at him but as it happen you can see him starting to shut down. He was looking at him like "wtf" he was saying I'm your "father" just heartbroken why holmes couldn't look at him..at the end of the fight when have you ever seen a referee jump in to try block ali. He just sat there guy whispering something in his ears and he shut down almost robot like. Idk why ppl surrounded him after a fight with no air... His corner man looked like he was crying and don tapped him on the shoulder. Camera stayed outta ali corner and all this sudden they ring the bell again.... This is just not right.

Muhammad Ali had no business in the ring In this fight he should not have even been licensed to fight

For anyone interested this took place October 2nd 1980. Ali was 38 and Holmes was 31.

Knowing what we know now it’s understandable why people weren’t fans of this fight.. Yet ironically everyone seems to be silent on the subsequent Ali Berbick fight

Even to this day Holmes won't admit he fought a washed up over the hill sick Ali. Think how well a prime Ali would've done. That said, credit to Holmes for being merciful most of the fight, he held back a lot and didn't go all out on Ali, good example is the 10th round, he mostly just flicked out some punches here and there, didn't want to hurt Ali more than necessary to win the fight. Had tons of respect for Ali. I respect Holmes for that! Ali taught him so much, and helped him out tremendously in previous years.

This fight should not have been allowed

What comes up must go down

The Greatest!! RIP Champ!!

Angelo Dundee, the only one who thought of Ali's humanity: Sequence 45:45

Ali just never knew when too stop a true Legend

If anything, it was bittersweet seeing Rahman Ali congratulate Larry Holmes.

😢😢😢 listening to his slowed speech

Muhammad Ali will always be the best of all time.

Even before the first bell Ali was stumbling around. 😢😢😢

It is particularly sad when Howard Cosell starts to reminisce about Muhammad Ali's best fights.

10:43 Love how Larry is standing out there like a statue while Ali is clowning and throwing himself at Holmes.

Listen to Ali talkin with cossell at the start of the video that brain damage was settin in bad

Crazy fight

I wish this fight had never taken place but it did sad to see the greatest Muhammad Ali in this state rip 🙏 against Larry the legend Holmes .

They should have talked Ali out of this fight

Two of my all-time favorite fighters and this was sad, but not just for Ali, but for Larry as well...you could tell he truly had massive respect for his hero Ali. He always said that this fight bothered him more than any in his career. In my opinion, these guys are as good as it gets in the game of boxing. Two ring generals who most definitely had the heart that truly makes a champion. RIP Muhammad, you were the gentleman who made me fall in love with the sport. Larry was the fighter that I cheered forever, I remember taking a lot of flak for cheering for Larry against Cooney, who was yet another failed great white hope...I loved watching Larry and I had zero doubt he would take Cooney out.

Like watching Willie Mays tripping in center field.

Ali was the greatest showman ever

For anyone that ever watched Holmes box a single round, Its very obvious Holmes was holding back from the sound of the bell in round one, Holmes did not even want this bout to occur & personally asked Ali to reconsider but Ali was in financial distress & needed the money. Some seem to forget these men knew each other for a long time prior to this bout & Holmes even lived with Ali when he was his sparring partner. They were actually good friends. Most of Holmes punches were either slap blows or pulled punches. If Holmes did not fight at all, Ali would have taken this as a great insult. Ali was after all a prize fighter & wanted to be treated as such. Destroying his mentor in the ring however was never on Holmes agenda. This was probably the most difficult fight of Holmes career, not physically mind you but emotionally & mentally. Like Holmes basically said before the fight, "Even if I win, I lose......In the ultimate sign of respect, Holmes attended Ali's funeral & was made an honorary pallbearer by the Ali family.

For Ali fans who wished death on Holmes for this fight, let's hold Ali accountable for not fighting Holmes in 1977 and 1978. Ali decided to defend his title against Alfredo Evangelista and Leon Spinks who did not pay his dues like Holmes up to that point. I do not blame Ali for taking those fights; however, I don't blame Holmes for this fight because technically Ali was the lineal and Ring Magazine Champion because according to those rules you have to beat the champion head to head. So please do not blame Holmes because Ali did not want to defend the WBA/WBC title against his deserving undefeated former sparring partner back in 1977 and 1978. Ali knew after watching the Holmes vs Norton fight that it was time for his former student (Holmes) to dominate the division. As he watched on with Frank Gifford, you can tell Ali was like,"Oh shit. Let me get out of this sport ASAP because the guy I trained looks to much like a younger me."

This is so upsetting to watch ! Greatness has to come to an end , one day 🙏 imshalla .... we love ❤ Ali

Might I mention there was 3 seconds left when the corner yelled "left left left"

In the Sports Illustrated article written after the fight by Pat Putnam, he quotes Ali as saying he knew as he walked to his corner at the end of the 1st rd that he didn't have anything to fight Holmes with, so I'm curious to know if Ali actually did any significant amount of the sparring which he speaks of during the pre-fight interviews. My thinking is that, if he'd done so, isn't it likely he, and all the others involved in his training team, would've seen and known that, regardless of it being caused by meds or the onset of Parkinson's, that he wouldn't be able to do anything worthwhile? I just the other day read a Dunee quote saying Ali was a terrible gym fighter throughout his career, so could that have possibly prevented them from realizing what was actually happening? I just can't see how he'd not looked close to the same when sparring for this fight. Last, it's beyond ridiculous that anyone around him cleared Ali too fight, his team and the NSAC. Listening to the pre-fight is crazy. Surprised Cosell didn't just straight call em out on it

Thanks for the upload. I couldn't watch 90% of it. Ali shouldn't of took this fight.

Peleas memorables del gran Mohamed Ali

Thank God for Angelo Dundee for caring for his fighter

What happenened in this fight with Ali? He looks so different, when he got lots of punches he wouldn’t strike back he was only pushing Larry from him...

You can tell Ali was sick at this tyme in the beginning stages of Parkinson's he didnt know when to quit very sad to watch 😞

He's got the heart of the biggest lion!