As I write this blog on October 2, 2025, it brings back the memories of the tragic bout on the same date 45 years ago. After having been gone for nearly two years, Muhammad Ali decided to come out of retirement in the spring of 1980. His original plans were to challenge the WBA champ John Tate, however when Tate was knocked out by Mike Weaver on March 31 with a single left hook in the fifteenth round, that idea went out the window. I vividly recall getting Sports Illustrated in the mail, and seeing Ali on the cover talking about his return. It was exciting to me, the thought that I could see him in the ring again. I had no idea how far he had deteriorated as a fighter, and that Parkinson’s had already begun to ravage his body.
There were talks of the Holmes-Ali bout taking place in Rio de Janerio in July of 1980, but they quickly faded. Larry had reluctantly agreed to fight Ali, and it was officially signed and set for October 2 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Holmes fought once more on July 7 vs. Scott LeDoux in Bloomington, Minnesota. Larry stopped him on cuts in the seventh, while Ali ranted and hollered at ringside.
I personally gave Ali no chance in the fight. Holmes to me was an underrated fighter, and had potential greatness soon to be uncovered. My mother and I went to see a show outside of Philadelphia that night, since I had no desire to see Ali get massacred.
As soon as we arrived home in south Jersey after the hour plus drive back from Valley Forge, Pa., I turned on the 24-hour Philadelphia radio station. As soon as the sports report came on, I learned that Holmes had stopped Ali in 11 rounds, with the ex-champ quitting on his stool after the 10th. It was the first knockout loss of his career, and I wasn’t surprised at all.
I saw the whole mess on ABC four weeks later, when they rebroadcast it as part of a boxing show featuring Sean O’Grady vs. Jim Watt from Glasgow, Scotland on Halloween night. Howard Cosell commentated on the fight, with both Ali and Holmes present in the studio. The fight was a one-sided slaughter, with Ali not able to win a single round. It was sad to watch, and I figured it to be the end for Ali. Immediately after the tape of the fight ended, Muhammad insisted, as he had the whole broadcast, that something was wrong with him that night physically, and he could have done ,better.
Most figured those were hollow words, but it wasn’t long after that Ali said he was not going to retire despite the Holmes disaster. Years later the public learned that Ali had in fact been misdiagnosed in training with a thyroid condition he never actually suffered from, by a quack doctor. He was prescribed medication he didn’t need, which caused many side-effects. The most damaging was extreme fatigue, and helped explain Ali’s lackluster performance against Larry. While he still couldn’t have beaten Holmes, he certainly could have done a lot better.
Ali did fight one more time, on December 11, 1981 vs. Trevor Berbick in Nassau, the Bahamas. He certainly performed much better than he had against Holmes, landed a lot of effective punches, and realistically won 3 or 4 rounds in the 10 round decision loss. When I watched it live that night, I was certainly glad to see Ali go into retirement with real effort, and respect from the boxing public.
The only way to describe what happened at the outdoor arena at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas on October 2, 1980 to me is tragic. It’s something that never should have taken place, but unfortunately did, and is the very first thing I think of every October 2nd.
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