When should Muhammad Ali have retired permanently?

When he returned to boxing, he fought almost as well as he used to in the 60s. He dogged his way through to the 3-8-71 title fight with Smokin' Joe and took a hideous shellacking, he could have retired there, nobody would have faulted him, he fought like a warrior and took shots no human being should have to take, for 15 grueling rounds from Hell.

But he fought on, and soon thereafter took another hiding from Kenny Norton in early '73. He looked like real crap in that fight, rewatching it a couple of times recently I was shocked how bad he looked, he couldnt get out of the way of shots, Norton shellacked him for 12 embarrassing rounds. Of course he had the broken jaw excuse.

But when he beat Frazier in the rematch in '74 and worked his way back to a title shot with Big George Foreman, everyone assumed he would be murdered in the ring. When he KOed Foreman, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE PERFECT TIME TO RETIRE. NOBODY WOULD HAVE FAULTED HIM.

But his ego forced him to seek revenge against Ken Norton 2 more times and Joe Frazier one more time. Those 3 fights right there took a heavy toll on Ali's health. Not satisfied, he then had to go on to fight Chuck Wepner, Joe Bugner, Jean Pierre Coopman, Alfredo Evangelista, Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes, Trevor Berbick, etc.....

After the Foreman fight or definitely after the 3rd Frazier fight because that took a huge toll on both guys.

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Originally Posted by Manos de Piedra

After the Foreman fight or definitely after the 3rd Frazier fight because that took a huge toll on both guys.

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Agree, the last fight with Frazier should have been his last.

Anytime before he turned pro.

Nothing from Bill Paxtom yet :confused:

hello Bill??

After the Thrilla in Manilla, he should have set up the 3rd fight with Norton, fought him in early to mid '76 and retired. There was nothing left to prove after complete the trilogy with Frazier and Norton. Jimmy Young, Earnie Shavers, Evangelista... he had nothing to prove against these guys.

Ali retires after completing the trilogy with Norton in early to mid '76 and retires at 34.

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Originally Posted by Beanflicker

After the Thrilla in Manilla, he should have set up the 3rd fight with Norton, fought him in early to mid '76 and retired. There was nothing left to prove after complete the trilogy with Frazier and Norton. Jimmy Young, Earnie Shavers, Evangelista... he had nothing to prove against these guys.

Ali retires after completing the trilogy with Norton in early to mid '76 and retires at 34.

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Ali willfully took tooo mannny shotttts to the head-bone. Not wise. "I'm GOD!" he thought. "Everyone must bow to ME!" he said over and over again.

Dr. Ferdie Pacheco on why he quit being Ali's doctor: "In 1977, I was concerned about potential liver and kidney damage and noticed that Ali's reflexes were slowing down. I recommended that Ali retire, but Ali continued to fight. Due to this difference of opinion, I left Ali's camp."

It'd be interesting to see how he would have turned out if he had retired in '76 and didn't have that extra 5 years of not only 9 more fights, but 9 more training camps of hard sparring, where he would let guys pound on him to toughen himself up for the fight. Maybe he could pull that shit off as a young man but at 35-40 it must have took years off of him.

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Originally Posted by Beanflicker

It'd be interesting to see how he would have turned out if he had retired in '76 and didn't have that extra 5 years of not only 9 more fights, but 9 more training camps of hard sparring, where he would let guys pound on him to toughen himself up for the fight. Maybe he could pull that shit off as a young man but at 35-40 it must have took years off of him.

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youre right he let them pound the PISS out of his kidneys and brain. Tim Witherspoon, Larry Holmes, they would rip shots to his spleen, spleen shots are debilitating because the spleen cannot recover---they would strafe his kidneys for round after round in the gym to "toughen him up" :rolleyes: How about break him down? More like it. Bad move.
Bundini Brown once asked him "Champ why are you letting them hit you so much?" and Ali said what you said about toughening himself up.

Cassius Clay

Should have retired after getting that 'gift' 10-Round Decision over Doug Jones back
in Madison Square Garden on March 13, 1963.

Any good 'highly regarded' Heavyweight fighter, would have acknowledged that he got
his ass whipped by a Light-Heavyweight.

As well we all know, the 'gifts' kept-a-coming.

No one knows.

Its Sod's law.

Ali and Freddie Roach have Parkinson's disease.

Were there any other fighters that developed this after their fighting days were over.

Even if Ali retired after Frazier 1 he still might have got Parkinson's disease.

He wasn't just a boxer and the added stress all the other stuff going on kept him in the ring and he sacrificed so many eyes could be opened.

Immediately after the Thriller In Manila, there was no need for him to continue after that fight.