December 11, 1981

The debate over whether the condition of Muhammad Ali is directly related to his boxing career seems these days to be resolved, although not highly publicized. Where once his camp was clearly invested in assuring the world that he had Parkinson's syndrome, that he most likely would have suffered from this disease no matter what his profession, now it is widely understood by the medical community that Ali suffers from a condition known as pugilistic Parkinson's disorder. This is a disease of the brain that affects boxers who have been visited with too many severe concussions and ultimately expresses itself in degenerative, Parkinson's-like symptoms - the staggered gait, the tremors, the problems with speech.

It's hard not to look back at Ali's career and wonder what would have happened if he'd retired, say, after the Rumble in the Jungle. Yes we wouldn't have had the Thrilla, and that would be quite a loss, but certainly we would trade that for a healthy, vibrant Ali.

Without a doubt, we would trade the debacle that took place in the Bahamas 25 years ago today, Ali's last fight, a sad spectacle against Trevor Berbick. Just over a year after getting embarrassed by Larry Holmes, Ali was weak and flabby in this utterly useless fight with Berbick, trying at times to dance on his heavy feet, pawing with his snapless jab while Berbick bored in on him and landed one big left hook after another. The Champ gives a better account of himself than he did in the Holmes debacle, which was obviously the point - he needed some measure of redemption from that fight before he could walk away for good. Watching it though, you have to ask yourself - what price this meagre redemption? Below are the last three rounds: