Ali-Frazier (3/8/71) HAD to be the greatest fight, all things considered...if the fight itself wasn't the absolute best action fight (and it really wasn't), the pre fight hype MORE than made up for it. This was the one boxing match (in my lifetime, anyway) that EVERYONE was aware of. Two undefeated, undisputed Heavyweight Champions (Almost impossible to re-create a situation that duplicates that.) You didn't have to be a boxing fan, or even a sports fan in general...you KNEW about it...not to mention the political overtones at a time when our country was very much divided on the Viet Nam war. All anti-war people had adopted Ali as a hero and the older, more conservative element had adopted Frazier (at least for the day) as their hero...hoping that he would 'shut up the loud-mouthed draft dodger'...
As an Ali fan, and a liberal college student of draft age, I can't tell you how utterly disappointed I felt after watching the fight on closed circuit in a sports arena...I never felt as bad before or since about the outcome of a sporting event...although after watching the Ali-Bonavena fight the previous December, I knew Ali was going to have a rough time...the Bonevena fight revealed the loss of perpetual motion foot movement (Ali's trademark before the exile) as well as a loss of 'timing' when throwing combinations...missing more often than ever before...
Ali-Frazier I is also the only fight that I can remember, that they played the highlights of at the movie theaters...I vaguely remember the movies showing about half of the rounds (the rounds with the bulk of the action) for weeks after the fight...I didn't go to the movies to see the highlights...I was still depressed.... :( :( :(
Funny thing though...I lived in Pittsburgh at the time, and I remember Billy Conn & Fritzie Zivic being interviewed in the newspaper about the fight...both of them giving SCATHING reviews...they didn't like the action, they didn't like Ali, they belittled Frazier...Conn said something to the effect that 'Joe Louis was ten times the fighter of either of them'...(I always thought Conn & Zivic's biggest problem was jealousy in that Ali & Frazier both got $2.5 million)...the newspapers also 'editorialized' that Ali would never beat Frazier in a rematch
, as he would never regain his old foot speed...and that Joe Frazier was unbeatable for years to come...
Except they didn't realize that this was Frazier's finest hour, and that would never fight at quite that level again...
Sports Illustrated cover shot was the picture of Frazier following through with the 15th round left hook with Ali falling backwards on his way to the floor with the caption, "The end of the Ali legend"...
On the inside of the magazine where the article covering the fight was, there was a full page picture of Frazier's face immediately after the fight captioned, "The battered face of a winner"...Joe looked more like a loser in that picture, face all covered with lumps & swelling...
All in all...one hell of a fight with UNMATCHED pre fight hype & interest...
Stick Tyson v Douglas in there instead - it belongs as it's probably the greatest upset of all time and was a truly exciting fight to see - as no-one could believe what they were seeing.
