You DO realize that Holmes was holding back a LOT in that fight, right?
Now, the Holmes we know is thee most accurate heavyweight champion we have seen in quite some time. In fact, no other HW comes close to his accuracy, especially with a lame duck in front of him.
But, notice how many times in the early rounds Holmes "misses" shots and glances off of Ali's gloves and head.
The only shots that were telling were the body shots. But the body shots straight on for a man that had scarred abdominal muscles like Ali are nothing. Even the punches to the liver and kidney landed on the hip portion and not his true areas.
While we criticize Holmes for beating Ali up that night, fact of the matter was Holmes held back a great deal and could have REALLY hurt an ailing Ali.
I think in one of the interviews before the fight Holmes said that he knew Ali was ill. I bet a clause in Ali's contract stated that he had to go a certain amount of rounds for him to get his full purse.
Thanks, Dick King!
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