Muhammad Ali: What happens when you receive 200,000 punches to the head?

Muhammad Ali is hailed by the boxing world as the best boxer the sport has ever had. Ali had an incredible career as the world watched him become a top heavyweight. However, Ali had an extremely violent fighting style. That style caused him to suffer many injuries. During his career, Muhammad Ali was punched in the head more than 200,000 times...

Muhammad Ali's fighting style
During Muhammad Ali's career, his approach to opponents always had only one tendency: to approach and attack. In the early stages of his professional career, he had youthful energy. He is also very agile with movement. His lightning-fast feet and hands helped him find a lot of success. That was an important factor that helped him overcome Sonny Liston to win his first heavyweight championship.

During that time, Ali used the speed of moving around the ring to find angles to deliver difficult KO blows. He also has strong defense ability to avoid dangerous punches. Most of his offensive and defensive techniques do not follow any pattern. Those techniques were Ali's freedom to create.

However, there was a notable difference when he returned from a three-year hiatus in 1970; he is considered a bit slower and more vulnerable to power punches. He doesn't have the same speed and stamina as he used to. That absence cost Ali three years of his prime.

Ali still maintained very impressive movement in the middle of the ring with his opponent. Defensive talent is Ali's most valuable technique. It helped him regain his form after 3 years of leaving the ring.

Received 200,000 Headshots in Muhammad Ali's career
Although Ali had quite an impressive boxing career. But clearly he also had to pay the price for those days of battle. His fighting style has caused him to "receive" more than 200,000 punches to the head.

According to author Jonathan Eig, who wrote the biography of the famous boxer named Ali: A Life, the total number of punches Ali received was 200,000 headshots. “I think when this was revealed in the book, there was going to be a lot of negative reactions at first,” Eig told Jeremy Schaap on ESPN's E:60 in a recent interview. But during Muhammad Ali's career he received 200,000 punches to the head.

He soon suffered brain damage. That disease came on much faster than we thought. In addition, he also mistreated women. But at the same time, I hope that this book will also help us appreciate him in a broader sense. Look at his achievements and see how he lived.”

Ali suffered many physical injuries throughout his illustrious career. Three years after his last fight, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. From that point on, his health became weaker and weaker and he always needed someone to take care of him. Ali lived another 32 years after being diagnosed. But the physical injuries he suffered during his career took a toll on him.

How great was Muhammad Ali's career?
Ali is one of the most famous advocates for dealing with Parkinson's disease. That brings more awareness and more understanding about the disease. In the 1990s, his influence created a major wave for the government to pay attention to the treatment of Parkinson's disease. He started hosting Celebrity Fight Night every year to help raise money. His efforts paid off when the amount of advice raised reached $100 million

That helped Ali establish the Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Center at Barrow Neurological Institute. It is a clinic and research center dedicated to people with Parkinson's disease. Ali may have been facing a harsh physical condition. But he did everything he could to draw more attention to the disease.