How Many Gifts Ali REALLY Received...

[man]

ali lyle ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9-7Qrr759o

no gift. as simple as that.

[yancey]

yancey, if Oscar would have been left standing at the end, would he have won the fight in your opinion? I was thinking he'd still end up on the short end of the decision.

Ali by UD.

I know that makes my point somewhat moot, but I still wanted to point that fight out as ANOTHER time where Ali got away bending the rules.

To my knowledge, not much hue and cry was heard after this fight, but imagine the uproar in the press had someone else gotten away with it against Ali. I really think had Ali gone and stayed in a neutral corner, Bonavena may have had a viable chance to gather himself and avoid one of the last two knockdowns and therefore survive the round.

btw, put me in the camp who believe the ref would have NOT stopped the fight as quickly in Ali-Lyle had the roles been reversed.

[yancey]

Another gift from the referee....

The ref in Ali-Frazier II letting Ali get away THROUGHOUT the fight pulling Frazier's head down and holding. It definitely limited the infighter's effectiveness that night and it should have been stopped immediately.

And before someone brings it up, Ali was NOT going to put Frazier away in that momentary mixup in rd 2. Ali had 41 rounds with Frazier and never came close to putting him down.

[BoxBuzz]

However there was a brief unannounced intermission that favored Frazier

[jrc26]

Another gift from the referee....

The ref in Ali-Frazier II letting Ali get away THROUGHOUT the fight pulling Frazier's head down and holding. It definitely limited the infighter's effectiveness that night and it should have been stopped immediately.

And before someone brings it up, Ali was NOT going to put Frazier away in that momentary mixup in rd 2. Ali had 41 rounds with Frazier and never came close to putting him down.

I agree with you about II, but you are going a bit far saying Ali never came close. You really need to watch III again if you believe that. Frazier's knees buckled several times in the later rounds. The announcer even makes reference to it. Granted Frazier had a massive heart, but he was close to going down at least twice in that fight.

[Goodnight, Irene]

ali lyle ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9-7Qrr759o

no gift. as simple as that.

...& Coley Wallace is a ringer for Larry Holmes!

[Goodnight, Irene]

However there was a brief unannounced intermission that favored Frazier

Yes, there was --- but entertaining that Ali might've stopped Frazier is on-par with saying Bonavena might have gotten on with it & stopped Ali, had he not been knocked down repeatedly from Ali taking illegal positions in the ring.

[man]

ali lyle ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9-7Qrr759o

no gift. as simple as that.

...& Coley Wallace is a ringer for Larry Holmes!

exactly. finally someone who understands me ...

[man]

Bonavena would have stopped him if the fight was allowed to go on.

now that is some stretch ...