BoxRec

Congrats, Big George, on perhaps your finest hour as a Boxer & sportsman! Thirty-seven years to the day (American-time) since The Showdown At Sundown!



Jamaican Joe crazy wit dose bombs, mon! D

37 years.

Seamus wrote:37 years.

Damn, where do the years go, eh? ;)

It's also The Sunshine Showdown, but that just doesn't sound suitably sinister. Hard to believe this fight, from the, "modern era" was nearly forty years ago

I was 12, and I think I learned about it from the morning paper. Fight was on a Monday night ? That's odd, I could have sworn it was Friday. We got the whole 2 rds on the Wide World of Sports by the following Saturday, I think.

Seamus wrote:I was 12, and I think I learned about it from the morning paper. Fight was on a Monday night ? That's odd, I could have sworn it was Friday. We got the whole 2 rds on the Wide World of Sports by the following Saturday, I think.

Hey I was 12 too when this fight took place and I was very much into boxing at that time. As a matter of fact I was boxing as an amateur and you will never in a million years guess what my weight class was at that time.

I know the fight was on closed circuit but was it also broadcast live on HBO?
Which was brand new in 1973 and did not have a whole lot of subscibbers then.
I think its listed as being shown on their web site.
They were involved in the event im but not sure if you would have seen it live on your own television set in your own living room if you had HBO then or just saw the replay on it later,
like their pay-per-view events.

Brutu wrote:I know the fight was on closed circuit but was it also broadcast live on HBO?
Which was brand new in 1973 and did not have a whole lot of subscibbers then.
I think its listed as being shown on their web site.
They were involved in the event im but not sure if you would have seen it live on your own television set in your own living room if you had HBO then or just saw the replay on it later,
like their pay-per-view events.

I read where it was only shown on experimental home systems in Pennsylvania and Florida on HBO.
eVERYWHERE ELSE U HAD TO GO TO THEATER

Seamus wrote:I was 12, and I think I learned about it from the morning paper. Fight was on a Monday night ? That's odd, I could have sworn it was Friday. We got the whole 2 rds on the Wide World of Sports by the following Saturday, I think.

What did you (& adults at the time) say of it?

At the time I was shocked. Frazier was still the guy who beat Ali, and Foreman was just the Olympic Gold medal winner with hardly a big name on his resume. I'm sure everyone knew as soon as they watched the fight though, that it was no fluke.

I've always have been impressed that Foreman, at what must have been his physical peak, could not keep Frazier down for the count after hitting him with some hellacious punches.

That right uppercut on the second knockdown was a brutal punch.

Frazier did go out on his shield, like champions should do. He made that same mistake so many champions have made through the ages---underestimating his opponent and not being in prime shape. But based upon the punishment he took in the FOTC and his showing against Daniels and being staggered by Stander, he was clearly on the slide and his time as champ was coming to an end.

Who would have believed at that point that less than two years later Foreman would have been counted out on one knockdown by a less than impressive puncher like Ali?

What did Ali call him, the Mummy or something like that?

Collins2000 wrote:

Frazier's shoulders look relatively puny in that shot.

He sure got every ounce out of his ability that his talent and build would allow him, one of the reasons he is my favorite all-time fighter.

Wonder who has the boxing gloves the men wore that night?

..saw that on closed circuit in cleveland. right before the fight the announcement was made saying lyndon johnson had died. the boos and cheers were about equal....but i couldn't figure out if they were booing johnson or the fact that he had died. same with the cheers.

jaclem2 wrote:..saw that on closed circuit in cleveland. right before the fight the announcement was made saying lyndon johnson had died. the boos and cheers were about equal....but i couldn't figure out if they were booing johnson or the fact that he had died. same with the cheers.

Sounds like you may have seen the closed-circuit event in a swank neighborhood after a Republican convention.
Because President Lydon B. Johnson did a lot for poor Americans.
I remember President Harry S. Truman had died about a year before.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Congrats, Big George, on perhaps your finest hour as a Boxer & sportsman! Thirty-seven years to the day (American-time) since The Showdown At Sundown!



Jamaican Joe crazy wit dose bombs, mon! D

Looks like Frazier on the poster but nothing like Foreman.
Actually now I think of it it looks more like reggae singer Jimmy Cliff!
Perhaps the painter of it was a Jamaican who did not even know who George Foreman was(its possible).

i wasnt even born,
But have seen the fight many times,

Reminds me of a poster for "The Harder They Come".

brutu.....i saw it in arena in downtown cleveland. there have never been more than 17 democrats in downtown cleveland at one time. as i said., i didn't know who was booing whom. fight fans like to boo. in one fight i saw in cincinnati the ring announcer asked for ten seconds of silence (i forget wjho for) and while the bell was rung for the traditional ten counf about a third of the crowd booed while the bell was ringing.

lyndon johnson was one of our great domestic presidents and he would be remembered that way if it hadn't been for viet nam.

Forgot to post it,but yesterday was the anniversary of another great fight,
Foreman vrs Lyle.
Its sort of lost its impact with it being available on youtube tho,were u can see it whenever u want to.

Is there any video of the Frazier-Foreman weigh-in from Jamacia in 1973?
when Frazier elbowed Foreman when he was standing on the scale.

i'd like to see that.

Not that I know of. I hope so.

I used to have about a 1-minute recording on Napster years & years ago of Frazier singing a derogatory song of Foreman, before their first fight.

Lyrics I recall included, "Big shot is all you got," "Hey, George, what's goin', man?" &, "George Foreman got you now..."

It was actually a halfway catchy-tune

thats right - his corner sang it to joe very loudly in his ear after the first round in jamaica but it did no good