There is no denying that Muhammad Ali is one of the most iconic faces in the sport of boxing. He has often awed audiences with his stellar performances inside the ring. However, one of the biggest fights of his life was his battle with Parkinson’s. It was reported that Ali showed signs of the illness years before his diagnosis.

Jonathan Aig is an American author, who is known for writing an autobiography on Ali‘s life. Aig had reportedly conducted a study on Ali’s speech patterns, to determine the timeline of his Parkinson’s.

Ali’s public speaking from 1968 to 1981 was analyzed. And it was found that he was in his early to mid-30s when he first started exhibiting signs of slowed and slurred speech. It was even reported that his speech slowed by 16 percent after his fight with Earnie Shavers in 1977.

Moreover, by 1978, his words were noticeably slurred. It is worth mentioning that this was three years prior to his retirement from the sport and six years prior to his diagnosis.

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Aig also mentioned that Ali had done the damage to himself because of the repeated punishment he received inside the ring. But it should also be said that the information available now was not commonly known at that time.

When Muhammad Ali fought Larry Holmes while battling Parkinson’s

One of the fights that showed the effect of Parkinson’s on Muhammad Ali was his bout with Larry Holmes. Ali faced Holmes at the Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 2, 1980. However, the bout titled, ‘The Last Hurray’, was marred by controversy.

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It was reported that he was examined by Mayo Clinic prior to the fight. Ali had admitted to experiencing tingling in his hands and slurring of speech. In fact, his condition was so bad that his former ring doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, even quit the camp. Talking about the fight, Pacheco said, “All the people involved in this fight should’ve been arrested. This fight was an abomination, a crime.”

Boxing fans were distraught to see the once skilled champion heave himself through the rounds. The person in the ring was a far cry from the fighter, who once personified the phrase, ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’. At the end of the fight, Holmes emerged the victor via a 10th-round TKO.

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