Fight of the Century
| Date | March 8, 1971 | |
| Location | Madison Square Garden New York City | |
| Title(s) on the line | Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship WBC/WBA Heavyweight Championship | |
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 Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali | ||
| Smokin' Joe | The Greatest | |
| Tale of the tape | ||
|---|---|---|
| Beaufort, South Carolina | From | Louisville, Kentucky |
| 26–0 (23 KOs) | Pre-fight record | 31–0 (25 KOs) |
| 5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m) | Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| 205 lb (93 kg) | Weight | 215 lb (98 kg)[1] |
| WBC/WBA Heavyweight Champion Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion | Recognition | Lineal Champion |
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| Result | Frazier won in 15 rounds via unanimous decision | |
The Fight of the Century (also known as The Fight) is the title boxing writers and historians have given to the boxing match between champion Joe Frazier (26–0, 23 KOs) and challenger Muhammad Ali (31–0, 25 KOs), held on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.[2][3][4]
Background and cultural significance
In 1971, both Ali and Frazier had legitimate claims to the title of World Heavyweight Champion. An undefeated Ali had won the title from Sonny Liston in Miami Beach in 1964, and successfully defended his belt up until he had it stripped by boxing authorities for refusing induction into the armed forces in 1967. In Ali's absence, the undefeated Frazier garnered two championship belts through devastating knockouts of Buster Mathis and Jimmy Ellis. He was recognized by boxing authorities as the World Champion. Unlike Mathis and Ellis, Frazier was plausibly Ali's superior, which created a tremendous amount of hype and anticipation for a match pitting the two undefeated fighters against one another to decide who was the true heavyweight champ.[5]
Ringside seats were $150, each man was guaranteed 2.5 million dollars, in addition to the millions who watched this amazing hour of sporting history unfold on closed-circuit screens around the world the Garden buzzed with a sell-out crowd of 20,455 that provided a gate of 1.5 million dollars.[6]
Prior to the layoff, Ali had displayed remarkable, indeed uncommon speed and dexterity for a man of his size. He had exhibited a mastery over most of his opponents, often calling the round he was to stop them in prior to the fight. However, in the fight preceding the Frazier fight, Ali struggled at times during his 15th round TKO of Oscar Bonavena, an unorthodox Argentinian fighter who was prepped by Hall of Fame trainer, Gil Clancy.[7]
Frazier had an outstanding left hook, and was a tenacious competitor who attacked the body of his opponent with a ferocity that few before him, or since, have exhibited. Despite suffering from a serious bout of hypertension in the lead-up to the fight, he appeared to be in top form as the face-off between the two undefeated champions approached.[5]
The fight became an extension of the strife that existed within the country, as Ali had become a symbol of the left-wing anti-establishment movement during his government-imposed exile from the ring,[8] while Frazier, as a matter of convenience, was adopted by the conservative, pro-war movement. According to the 2009 documentary Thriller in Manila, the match, which had been dubbed "The Fight", "gripped the nation, but also split it down the middle. If you were rooting for Ali you were black, liberal or young, against Vietnam and for the Civil Rights movement. If you backed Joe Frazier you were a representative of white, conservative America."[9] "Just listen to the roar of this crowd!" thundered Burt Lancaster, the play-by-play man. "The tension, and the excitement here, is monumental!"[10] The Fight was one of the most anticipated events of the 20th century, and transcended boxing.[5]
Fight
On the evening of the match, Madison Square Garden had a circus-like atmosphere, with scores of policemen to control the crowd, outrageously dressed fans, and countless celebrities, from Norman Mailer and Woody Allen to Frank Sinatra, who, after being unable to procure a ringside seat, took photographs for Life magazine instead. Artist LeRoy Neiman painted Ali and Frazier as they fought. Burt Lancaster served as a color commentator for the closed-circuit broadcast. Though Lancaster had never performed as a sports commentator before, he was hired by the fight's promoter, Jerry Perenchio, who was also a friend. The other commentators were play-by-play announcer Don Dunphy and boxing champion Archie Moore.
The fight itself exceeded even its promotional hype and went the full 15-round championship distance.[11] Ali dominated the first three rounds, peppering the shorter Frazier with rapier-like jabs that raised welts on the champion's face. In the closing seconds of round three, Frazier connected with a tremendous hook to Ali's jaw, snapping his head back. Frazier viciously attacked Ali's body as the obviously hurt former champion covered up for the first time. Frazier began to dominate in the fourth round, catching Ali with several of his famed left hooks and pinning him against the ropes to deliver tremendous body blows.
Ali was visibly tired after the sixth round, and though he put together some flurries of punches after that round, he was unable to keep the pace he had set in the first third of the fight. His speed and combinations kept him on roughly even terms with Frazier, however, at 1 minute and 59 seconds into round eight following his clean left hook to Ali's right jaw, Frazier, tired of Ali's leaning on the ropes and clinching to avoid fighting, grabs Ali's wrists and swings Ali into the center of the ring; however, Ali immediately grabs Frazier again until they are once again separated by Mercante. Some thought the fight was very close until early in round 11.
During the opening seconds of round 11, Frazier caught Ali with a left hook at nine second into the round. At 10 seconds into round Ali falls to the canvas with both gloves and his right knee on the canvas with the film clearly showing Ali down at the 10.5 – 11 second mark into the round. Mercante steps between Ali and Frazier separating them as Ali rises from the canvas. Mercante wipes Ali's gloves but fails to call the knockdown. At 18 seconds into round 11, Merchant signals the fighters to engage once again. Round 11 winds down with Frazier staggering Ali with a crushing left hook, and Ali stumbles and grabs at Joe to keep his balance and finally stumbles back first to the ropes before bouncing forward again to Frazier and grabbing on to Frazier until the fighters are separated by Mercante at 2:55 into the round. Ali spent the remaining 5 seconds of round 11 clowning his way back to his corner. Ali managed to survive the round, but from then on Frazier seemed to control the fight.
At the end of round 14 Frazier held a lead on all three scorecards (by scores of 7–6–1, 10–4, and 8–6). Early in round 15, Frazier landed a spectacular left hook that put Ali on his back. Ali, his jaw swollen grotesquely, got up from the blow quickly, and managed to stay on his feet for the rest of the round despite several terrific blows from Frazier. A few minutes later the judges made it official: Frazier had retained the title with a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.[12]
Scorecard
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Total [4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artie Aldala (judge) | A | A | F | F | F | F | F | A | A | F | F | F | A | A | F | Frazier, 9–6–0 |
| Bill Recht (judge) | F | A | F | F | A | F | F | F | A | F | F | F | F | A | F | Frazier, 11–4–0 |
| Art Mercante (referee) | A | A | F | F | F | A | A | F | A | A | F | – | F | F | F | Frazier, 8–6–1 |
Aftermath
Frazier surrendered his title two years later in January 1973, knocked out in the second round by George Foreman, the sixth knockdown of the brief title bout in Kingston, Jamaica.[13][14]
Ali, for his part, refused to publicly admit defeat (while privately doing so to friends, such as George Plimpton[15]) and sought to define the outcome in the public's mind as a "White Man's Decision". He split two bouts with Ken Norton in 1973, and was widely viewed as a has-been before coming on in 1974 to win a rematch with Frazier in January. Ali Later went on to defeat Frazier for their third and final bout, The Thrilla in Manilla. By the time of the rematches the social climate in America had settled down, with The Vietnam War coming to an end many dismissed the notion that Ali was a traitor and he was once again accepted as an American hero. Without either fighter representing the social divide in the country, neither their second or third fight lived up to the hype of the first.[16] Ali shocked the world for a second time with a victory in October over the heavily favored Foreman to regain the heavyweight title in The Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire.[9]
See also
- Ali–Frazier II – second bout, January 1974
- Thrilla in Manila – third bout, October 1975
Video
References
- ↑ "Weigh-ins held". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. March 8, 1971. p. 10.
- ↑ "The Great Fights: Ali vs. Frazier I". Life. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
- ↑ Kram, Mark (March 15, 1971). "The battered face of a winner". Sports Illustrated: 16.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Zavoral, Nolan (March 9, 1971). "Frazier bores in and Ali is kaput". Milwaukee Journal. p. 11.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ali-Frazier I: One Nation... Divisible. HBO Sports. 2000. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
- ↑ Mee, Bob (2006). The Heavyweights; The Definition of the Heavyweight Fighters. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus. pp. 107, 108.
- ↑ Anderson, Dave (1992). In the Corner: Great Boxing Trainers Talk About Their Art. William Morrow & Co. ISBN 978-0688119041.
- ↑ George, Thomas (February 24, 2011). "Fight of the Century: Muhammad Ali's legacy grows in defeat". AOL News.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Thriller in Manila". Top Documentary Films. 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
- ↑ Rosen, James. "The Fight of The Century". nyp.com. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ Orlando, Joe. Collecting Sports Legends: The Ultimate Hobby Guide. Zyrus Press, 2009. ISBN 1793399021X, 9781933990217. Page 361.
- ↑ "From the Vault: Joe Frazier v Muhammad Ali, part one". The Guardian (London). November 8, 2011.
- ↑ "Foreman beats Frazier to win heavyweight title in Jamaica", "This Day in History – 1/22/1973". History.com. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
- ↑ "Foreman stops Frazier in 2nd". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. January 23, 1973. p. 1-part 2.
- ↑ Plimpton, George (1977). Shadow Box. Putnam. p. 351. ISBN 0399119957.
- ↑ Hudson Jr, David (2006). Combat Sports; An Encyclopedia of Wrestling, Fighting, And Mixed Martial Arts. Westport CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 6, 7.
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