On October 2nd, 1980, 38-year-old Muhammad Ali got absolutely stomped during his final bout in the ring by opponent Larry Holmes.

When you ask yourself “why would a 38 year old man who already hit the peak of achievement in his field, is already viewed as a legend, and has been retired for 2 years, try to get back in the ring?”

To put it succinctly: Ali had 8 million reasons to do so (plus I’m suuuure his ego had nothing to do with it).

Regardless of the reasons, Ali getting back into the ring was a horrible idea. He wasn’t just past his prime, he was probably suffering from early-stage Parkinson’s. When he was examined by Dr. Frank Howard (at the behest of the Nevada State Athletic Commission), Dr. Howard found that Ali couldn’t touch his finger to his nose, couldn’t hop on one foot properly, and ” had difficulty in coordinating the muscles used in speaking” whatever the hell that means.

But even so, Dr. Howard found absolutely no reason at all that Ali shouldn’t fight. So the match was on!

And thus, on October 2nd, 1980, exactly 39 years ago today, Ali stepped into the ring at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas…and received a pretty solid beating by Holmes.

Here’s the full fight if you’re at work and feel like wasting an hour.

While there weren’t any actual knockdowns during the fight, Holmes won each round according to the judges’ scoring. The fight was finally called when Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, threw in the towel after the tenth round.

Unfortunately, after the fight some info about Ali’s visit to Dr. Howard was released and people learned the severity of his situation.

Ferdie Pacheco (Ali’s former ringside doctor) blames boxing for Ali’s eventual struggle with Parkinson’s. He claims to have sent Ali’s medical results and a warning note to those closest to Ali before the fight…but no one did anything. Pacheco is quoted as saying “all the people involved in this fight should’ve been arrested. This fight was an abomination, a crime.”

But at least Holmes went on to have a great career. Silver linings, right?!?

This is Larry Holmes, holding a weird statue of hands. Classic Larry.

(To be fair, Rocky Balboa was 61 years old when he got in the ring with Mason “The Line” Dixon…so why couldn’t Ali compete at 38? Pssshhh)

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