It is in my opinion, one of the most savage heavyweight title fights ever. They throw so many punches. The pace, for two heavyweights supposedly past their prime was fantastic. Frazier, dragging himself into superb condition for one last great performance and Ali, though in great shape himself, troubled by marital problems in the lead up to the fight pre-fight, and maybe taking the fight thinking it would not be that difficult, kind of 'let's give Joe one more pay day', combined to make a superb rubber match.
They say the heat was near 100 degrees under the lights in that arena. No air conditioning, both boxers wearing 8oz gloves and going at it non-stop for 14 rounds. Great fight.
Matchfixer wrote:
I want to know why the fight took place in the Phillipines of all places?
It was King's method at the time I think.
He'd put a big heavyweight fight show on, and get the country's government to put up most of the money needed - this way their country would be under the spotlight for a month or so and get much needed publicity ( business or tourism I guess ).
Foreman's four title fights were in Jamaica, Venezuela, Japan and Zaire.
King convinced Zaire dictator Mobutu to put up the millions needed for The Rumble In The Jungle by appealing to his vanity - he was going to show the world what a great leader he was, by staging the world's biggest sporting event etc. ( made sure to kill off a few hundred local criminals
first, before the world's press arrived )
The Thrilla In Manila - Like Dirt says, one of most brutal fights of of recent memory. Hard to watch when you know the way Ali paid for it in the end.
Some people reckon Ali would'nt have been allowed out for the 15th, but Joe's corner beat them to it.
Eddie Futch pulled Joe out with the famous line: "It's over. But nobody is going to forget what you did tonight."
Ali thought Joe was shot and barely trained.
There was an interesting thread on BoxRec a while back, concerning what would have happened if Eddie Futch hadn't humanely pulled out Joe Frazier. Joe was embittered for a while at Eddie's decision. He would have carried on for sure, swollen eyes or otherwise.
Here were the views:
Though Ali won fair and square, I woulda liked to see Smokin' Joe
come out for round 15 of the thrilla. I think Joe woulda KO'd him.
Consider that Ali was so exhausted after the ref told him he won, he
immediately collpased and lay on the floor. Also, Ali landed some
ferocious punches and combos, but couldnt put Frazier down. I think
Joe woulda summoned all his strength and rallied to put Ali down. Ali
woulda been so tired, I think he wouldnt be able to get up.
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That's a pretty bold statement considering that Frazier couldn't even
see. I think it's a better thing that the 15th round never happened.
I think all we would have seen is 2 minutes of holding and another
minute of weak jabs. Doesn't alter the fight at all and Ali still
wins.
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I think Joe would've caved to the floor in rd 15. And I like Joe a
lot more than Ali. Joe was finished, but Ali wouldn never have
allowed himself to give in to Joe, unless he dropped dead.
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Exhausted or not, up to that point Ali had never been stopped in his
entire pro career. This is an intriguing topic however. I can see
Frazier hurting him, MAYBE even scoring a knockdown, but Ali would
have gotten up, and still would have won the fight, though I think
the final round of any fight is as important as 3 or 4 rounds.
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Eddie Futch betrayed his own fighter (he stopped the fight).
Revolting. Never would have happened if Yank Durham, Frazier's
longtime manager and trainer, was still alive. Futch allowed the
stooge referee to let give Ali over 100 warnings for pulling
Frazier's head down WITHOUT EVER TAKING A POINT AWAY FROM HIM.
That made the whole "fight" a farce. By the third warning for the
same infraction any referee takes a point away from a fighter in
legitimate boxing. The ref's actions allowed Ali to stall and rest
during the whole fight. Frazier never talked to Futch again.
Futch was there to do his job - to make sure the fight came out
properly according to the script. He betrayed his own fighter. And is
praised by the Ali-selling media for doing that. Georgie Benton was
in Frazier's corner also. Get him to talk publicly about that
sometime, if he will.
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Eddie Futch did what he thought was right. It's not like he wanted
Joe to lose. If that were the case he could have stopped it a couple
of rounds earlier. To call it a betrayal is both harsh and
inaccurate.
I do agree with you about Ali pulling Joe's head down. For some
reason he got away with that his whole career.
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Ali didn't get away with that against Jimmy Young. Young was
thoroughly prepared and negated all of Ali's fouls. Ali was stripped
down in that fight to having to box legitimately - and what did he
look like once he was LIMITED to legitimate boxing?
Young gave a clinic on handling and exploiting all of Ali's flaws.
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The Young fight was one of the worst performances of Ali's
career....he was on the downside of a great career filled with tough
fights agaist top competition. Yes, somtimes he engaged in
questionable tactics in the ring, but so did all of his
rivals...George Foreman, Sonny Liston and Joe Frazier were all rough
customers who would bend the rules too..
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The 15th round would have been a disaster for Frazier. He couldn't
see in either eye. Had the eyes not swolen so bad, Ali would not have
had such a good round 12, 13 or 14. He was behind prior to that.
Frazier always was a sweller, not a bleeder. In this case it might
have been better had he bled. If the swelling hadn't closed his eyes,
Joe could well have knocked Ali out. Frazier still had adequate gas
in the tank.
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Frazier was the type of boxer who would get up and fight back so long
as he was conscious. He was already exhausted and couldn't see. Round
15 would have been a disaster for him. There is even some people who
say that the corner saved his life by pulling him out.
Both fighters were exhausted by the end of the 14th, but Ali had total control of the fight and it had turned into a brutal, one-sided beating. Given Ali's chin and size advantage (which made it very easy for him to keep a smaller, drained Frazier at arm's length if Joe showed signs of life) there was no way Joe was going to win that fight.
to say frazier could have stopped ali in that last rd is wishful thinking i know ali had those big rd in 13 and 14 and u could argue maybe he had shot his load but he still looked less f*cked than frazier at that point.
i had ali 9 rds to 5 up at the time and on his way to a clear pts win.
Truly great post, Eric. I always loved the interview Ali gave - slumped on a stool in the middle of the ring - after the Thrilla in Manila. Don Dunphy mentioned Frazier's effort and an exhausted Ali found the effort to raise his voice and utter possibly the one genuine line he ever uttered in his entire career. "Joe Frazier is the best fighter in the world next to me," said Ali. The way he said it...you knew he meant it.
i know ali had those big rd in 13 and 14 and u could argue maybe he had shot his load but he still looked less f*cked than frazier at that point. 
