After the narrow win over Ken Norton on September 30, 1976, Ali took a long break from the ring. You could not help but notice how much the champion had slowed, and when he turned 35 on January 17, 1977, you had to wonder how much he had left in the tank.
On May 16, Ali traveled back to the Capitol Center in Landover, Maryland to face young contender Alfredo Evangelista. I watched it live on ABC with Howard Cosell calling the bout as usual. Ali struggled with the challenger at times, and was hurt on a couple of occasions. Even though he had trained in earnest down to 221 lbs., he used the same old rope-a-dope tactics, and jabbed and moved only when necessary. It was dreadful to watch, and even though Cosell was always critical of Ali, in this case he was correct. Ali won the fight via a unanimous decision, but his performance left many fans calling for him to retire.
Ali agreed to fight tough veteran Earnie Shavers on September 29, 1977 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. I rolled the brand new 19 inch color tv my mom had just purchased, into my bedroom to watch the broadcast on NBC. The network planned to show the judge’s scores to the viewing public between rounds, so you could actually know who was officially winning the bout. Ali’s corner wisely had someone watch a tv in his dressing room, and reporting to his corner what the scores were, as the fight progressed,
Earnie Shavers was a thunderous puncher, and hurt Ali badly in the second round. The champion acted as if it didn’t, but it was obvious he was acting. He would later say it was the hardest he had ever been hit in his entire career, and I believe he meant it. Ali survived the attack, and boxed well for a good part of the fight, dusting off skills he hadn’t displayed in a long time. Shavers continued his aggression, and it was clear he was there to win. The judges were giving most of the rounds to Ali, and in some cases, they were wrong in my opinion. Going down the stretch, Ali had the victory in the bag, but Shavers didn’t know it, and hurt the champion in the 13th and 14th rounds. Ali finished strong, and had retained the title in his 10th title defense since his upset of George Foreman in 1974. It would however be his last great fight, and history bears me out.
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