It probably should have never happened. But as Muhammad Ali made his way to the ring on the night of December 11th, 1981, no one knew what to expect. A year prior, Ali faced off against Larry Holmes in a fight that was not only hard to watch but resulted in Ali's trainer stopping the fight.

That should have been it--but Ali didn't want to go out like that. This led to the 'Drama in the Bahamas,' Muhammad Ali's very last professional fight. Today, we look back on how this event came to be, why no one in the U.S. would hold it, all the problems leading up to the event, and how The Greatest managed to surprise everyone.

Bonus 1980s audio content: Patreon.com/80s