Holmes and Ali faced off in 1980. At the time, Holmes was the unbeaten WBC champ with a 35-0 record. Ali came out of retirement for the bout, bringing a 56-3 record to the ring. The fight ended when Ali couldn't continue after the 10th round. It was the only time Ali lost by stoppage in his career.
But Holmes doesn't think this fight hurt Ali's health. He points to an earlier match instead. Holmes told Boxing TV:
"Muhammad Ali fought Earnie Shavers. He was OK until he fought Earnie Shavers, and when Earnie started hitting him upside the head, Ali went a little bit like that. And I blame Earnie Shavers for it.
I shouldn't but I do. I said if you hadn't hit him like that he would be walking around, going punchy a little bit. Earnie hit him and hurt him a lot of times. He knocked the hell out of Muhammad."
Holmes refers to Ali's fight with Shavers in September 1977. Ali won that 15-round battle by unanimous decision, but Shavers hurt him several times during the match.
Ali kept fighting after the Shavers bout. His last fight was a unanimous decision loss to Trevor Berbick. He ended his career with 56 wins and 5 losses.
Holmes didn't stop after beating Ali. He kept boxing until 2002, finishing with 69 wins and 6 losses. Along the way, he faced other big names like Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.