Ali-Frazier II

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Ali-Frazier II was a boxing fight that took place at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, on January 28 of 1974.

Sandwiched in between their two other bouts, The Fight of the Century and The Thrilla in Manila, the fight was considered by many fans and experts the most insignificant and boring fight of their rivalry. But this does not mean the fight was insignificant or boring; quite the contrary: Ali wanted to avenge his loss to Frazier in their first fight, and a world title try at Heavyweight champion George Foreman, who had dethroned Frazier, was at stake. Their first and third fights became part of boxing's lore, but most viewers considered the second fight to be entertaining as well.

Even before their rematch, both Ali and Frazier came to the ABC studios in New York City to review their first fight for ABC's Wide World of Sports. While both fighters were reviewing round 11, Ali began trash talking to Frazier about the hospital stays (according to Ali he spent 10 minutes in the hospital while Frazier stayed there for a month), that didn't sit well to Frazier who got up and then Ali began fighting with Frazier physically in the studios resulting in fines for both Ali and Frazier. the stage was set for a rematch in the ring.

After hurting Frazier with an uppercut in round two, Ali settled into a pattern of jabbing and keeping distance for the rest of the fight, while Frazier pursued, landing some effective punches along the way.

After twelve rounds, Ali was declared the winner by unanimous decision, with the scores of 116-113, 116-112 and 115-114 all in favor of him.

In the fall of that year, Ali recovered the world Heavyweight title by knocking Foreman out in eight rounds.