BoxRec

THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, 1971

Joe Frazier, current WBA/WBC/NYSAC, 26-0-0 (23)
-Bob Foster, KO 2
-Jimmy Ellis, KO 4
-Jerry Quarry, KO 7
-Dave Zyglewicz, KO 1
-Oscar Bonavena II, W15


Muhammad Ali, former WBA/WBC/NYSAC champion, 31-0-0 (26)
-Oscar Bonavena, KO 15
-Jerry Quarry, TKO 3
-Zora Folley, KO 7
-Ernie Terrell, W 15
-Cleveland Williams, KO 3

Official Scoring of the contest was the following:9-6 Frazier, 11-4 Frazier, 8-6 Frazier

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Round One: Ali edges the round (higher volume; jabs) but ultra competitive round.

Round Two: Ali edges the round (higher volume; jabs) but ultra competitive round.

Round Three: Frazier edges the round; ultra competitive, but Ali clinched/held alot

Round Four: Ali wins the round; ultra competitive, Frazier came on strong at the end

Round Five: Ali wins the round; ultra competitive; Frazier taunts Ali during the round

Overall Analysis of the First Block:

Joe Frazier, to my surprise, and I am sure to the surprise of many back then, is landing the Philadelphia left hook with amazing regularity. At the end of the second round, Frazier spit out blood from his mouth. At the end of round three, Ali had a bloody nose. Both men not giving eachother much room to breathe, let alone defend themselves. On a round scoring system, Ali has won (in my estimation) 4 out of 5 rounds. On a points system, that translates to a score of 50-45. Surprisingly, also, Ali is not fighting off his toes as he done in his "prime", but rather flat footed. Only for short durations do we see the old flash of the 1967 version of Ali.

Round Six: Frazier wins the round; actions slows down a bit, Ali clinching, resting on ropes*

Round Seven: Frazier wins the round; action slows down a bit, Ali clinching still and on ropes

Round Eight: Frazier wins the round big time; Ali content to just lay on the ropes

Round Nine: Even; Ali started strong, Frazier rallied back, both men were hurt

Round Ten: Frazier edges the round; Ali did have moments to rally but hurt at end, very close round

Overall Analysis of the Second Block:

Ali is using more clinching, holding and Jack Johnson-like tactics (holding arm out, thumb in eye). Referee warns Ali from time to time to quit holding the back of Frazier's head. Midway through the tenth, Frazier complained something got into his eye--- and was during this moment of confusion that Ali rallies hard at Frazier. Still, with shocking regularity it is Frazier landing wicked lefts to the head and short punches to the body. Six-Ten, in my view, is 4 rounds and 1 even.

Round Eleven: Frazier, BIG TIME; robbed of a knock down (imho), Ali at the end appears on his way out

Round Twelve: Frazier, won the round decisively; Ali did offer some resistance, face swelling badly

Round Thirteen: Frazier edges the round; Ali started strong, then weakened and Frazier took the remainder

Round Fourteen: Frazier edges the round; both men are tired

Round Fifteen: Frazier wins the round BIG, scoring a knockdown, Frazier goes ballistic on Ali till the end

Overall Analysis of the Final Block:

It is clear from the tenth round onwards, that Frazier was in full control of this contest. Whatever resistance Ali gives back is feeble and infrequent. In the twelth round, Frazier lands at one point either a double or triple left hook to the face of Ali. It is truly remarkable the conditioning of not only Frazier to throw bombs from beginning to end of this entire contest, but for Ali to absorb so many flush, clean, fast, power punches. Ali has quite possibly the greatest "revival" ability of any heavyweight I have seen on film; to come back from such punishment.

Final scores (imho) 10 rounds Frazier, 4 rounds Ali, 1 round even


*Ali predicted he would stop Frazier in the sixth round

Anyone disagree with my scores?

HomicideHenry wrote:Anyone disagree with my scores?

Your question should be "anyone agree with my scoring?" Seriously what fight you were watching? Ali won way more than 4 rounds.
I don't see controversy of giving victory to Frazier because he did have those two big rounds, 11 and 15, he did pressure Ali almost the entire fight, but if you try to score the fight round by round, Ali actually won more rounds. I don't know if any of you know the fact that both judges and the referee gave rounds 3 and 4 to Frazier. None of them gave those rounds to Ali. In the third round Ali is just beating Frazier and hitting him with all punches in the book and then Frazier scored a hook 10 seconds to go and then hit Ali with few body shots as Ali covered. That's just not enough to even the round, but actually he was given that round. In the fourth round Ali is doing the same thing all over again. Frazier hit Ali with a hook 40 seconds to go and maybe with two more hooks, but Ali ended that round well with combinations of one-two of his own. Little closer round than the third but definitely Ali's. Both of those rounds are Ali's because he controlled a very large part of them and he was never really hurt by Frazier's hooks, not yet that early in the fight. This is how I scored the fight. It's 8-6-1 for Ali.
1. Ali
2. Ali
3. Ali
4. Ali
5. Ali
6. Frazier
7. Frazier
8. Frazier
9. Ali
10. Ali
11. Frazier
12. Frazier
13. EVEN
14. Ali
15. Frazier

Ali won the first five rounds, and I don't know how Frazier survived that beating. Frazier started to smoke in the fourth round but really his first round was the sixth, and then the seventh, but that round was close fought, and in the eight Ali was doing nothing. Ali came back in the ninth when he hurt Frazier and won the tenth also, Frazier almost knocked down Ali in the eleventh and that carried him in the 12th, but he started to tire in that round. Ali won the first half of the 13th round and then the best action of the fight on the ropes as they both fire bombs at each other. Frazier got the better of it, but Ali won the first half which makes it an even round. The Fourtheenth was Ali's for sure IDK how tf you gave that round to frazier and it looked like Frazier was really tired and he was missing a lot with his hooks, also tried to rest his head on Ali's chest which he was doing during the fight but you here the comentator only metioning Ali's holding, but Frazier's head pushing forced Ali to hold. And then in the 15th round it looked like Ali was going to whoop Frazier all over again when Frazier suddenly scored a knock down which really saved him. He beat Ali pretty bad for the rest of that round but in the end they were both very tired.
As I said it's not controversy that Frazier won, he had Ali down in 15th, badly hurth in 11th, but if you score the fight round by round Ali won more rounds, especially those two, third and fourth. With those two rounds given to Ali the score would be 8-6-1, 8-7, 6-9, split desicion Ali.

It would have negatively affected the course of boxing history, if that fight would have been given to Ali.

I'm happy they got it right. It would be hard for me to choose between your two scenarios, as my opinion falls somewhere in the middle.

If you honestly think the fight was not close, then I can't trust your judgement.

The 11th and the 15th are the defining rounds I.M.H.O.

It was one of those fights that can be scored quite close but still had a clear winner, kinda like Duran - Leonard I.
While I think 10-4-1 Frazier is too wide, it's a much better score than 8-6-1 Ali. Giving the fight to Ali would have been a robbery.

8-6-1 for Frazier

1. Ali
2. Ali
3. Frazier
4. Frazier
5. Ali
6. Frazier
7. Frazier
8. Frazier
9. Ali
10. EVEN
11. Frazier
12. Frazier
13. Ali
14. Ali
15. Frazier

144-141

I guess, in my view or estimation of the contest, Ali's jabs and combinations became less frequent as time went on. I also have to consider that power punches, aggression, etc. sometimes means more than a high volume of jabs. While both men got hurt at different times---- Ali just seemed so hurt at times, and so damn lethargic at others--- that even when Frazier slowed down, he still stayed on Ali like a bump on a log.

There were some rounds, I had to debate on. The thirteenth was certainly Ali's last good round, and he started off so strong in it, that I had to ask myself "Did he actually win this?", but what made me stick to Frazier was the fact that Frazier had Ali on the ropes and had hurt him a bit at the end. That changed my perspective on that round. Some of those rounds, if on a points system, I would of scored 10-8 because Ali took so much punishment--- such as the 11th. Round nine, I called even, and that was a tough call also for me--- because Ali started so strong, and Frazier rallied in the end of it. But both men were hurt--- so how else could I call it but even?

It was at times hard to score--- but I think my 10-4-1 score is bit better than the 11-4 score that went down on the official score card that night in the Garden. Even if I gave the ninth and thirteenth to Ali, the score would of been 8-6 in favor of Frazier. Probably the 'middle of the round' answer would be that Frazier won 9 solid rounds, Ali won 5, and there was 1 even round in the entire war. Anything else but that conclusion, of Ali winning more, would be a complete fabrication and detachment from reality. 8-6 is generous... 9-5-1 or 10-4-1 is more like it.

I think I'm right in saying that in Mercante's book, he says that round scoring is a flawed concept and had the ten point must system been in place then, he would have scored the bout much wider with the two rounds he would have scored 10-8 Frazier, at least.

I absolutely love that GIF!

It shows the very moment when Joe Frazier ended his own career, and Ali began his remarkable comeback. lol. It's iconic.


Know anyone else that's getting up from that moment and "starting over from scratch"?

That is a career ending punch. And in someways it was the end of part 1 of Ali's career

But in this very unusual scenario, it's more the end of the career of the one who threw it.

Even Ali detractors, have to be impressed with him getting up from that. Joe must have known nobody was gettin up from that.

And yet.....Ali got up, and remained competitive for the rest of that round.


Both of these guys were miracles.

BoxBuzz wrote:I absolutely love that GIF!

It shows the very moment when Joe Frazier ended his own career, and Ali began his remarkable comeback. lol. It's iconic.


Know anyone else that's getting up from that moment and "starting over from scratch"?

That is a career ending punch. And in someways it was the end of part 1 of Ali's career

But in this very unusual scenario, it's more the end of the career of the one who threw it.

Even Ali detractors, have to be impressed with him getting up from that. Joe must have known nobody was gettin up from that.

And yet.....Ali got up, and remained competitive for the rest of that round.


Both of these guys were miracles.

In alot of ways I agree. When Ali returned after three years, he attempted to fight the way he did in his prime. It simply didn't work--- at least against Frazier. He had to adapt and change his style, and the second phase of Ali was born. Both Ali's were great in their own rights--- both all-time greats, but both different styles and abilities.

Well it sorta worked, but not against the likes of Joe Frazier.

I don't remember rbr, but I had it 7-7 going into the final round. The right decision was made, but it was a close fight.

Fight 2 I scored to Ali by a single point

Fight 3 I had Ali up 9-5 before the retirement.

The first fight I scored something like 10-5 or 9-5-1 to Frazier

The second fight I scored 8-4 to Ali

Most of the rounds in the first fight were competitive. At times in the second fight Ali was clearly winning the rounds.

Saw FOTC 8-6-1 for Frazier. Thought HH's score was far off base (like Bill Recht). Certainly rounds 9 and 14 are considered strong rounds for Ali in most scorers' books.

For the record, scored the return bout 8-4 for Ali and had him up 9-4-1 at the time Futch halted the The Thrilla in Manila.

That's pretty close to how I had them. I particularly remember Ali having a big round 14 in the first fight.

Following the time honored Boxrec tradition of giving close rounds to Ali's opponent, here is how I scored it:
Frazier won the first fight 9-6
Ali won the 2nd 8-4.
The 3rd I had Ali up 8-6 after 14. Even after the first 12, then Ali took over.

BoxBuzz wrote:I absolutely love that GIF!

It shows the very moment when Joe Frazier ended his own career, and Ali began his remarkable comeback. lol. It's iconic.


Know anyone else that's getting up from that moment and "starting over from scratch"?

That is a career ending punch. And in someways it was the end of part 1 of Ali's career

But in this very unusual scenario, it's more the end of the career of the one who threw it.

Even Ali detractors, have to be impressed with him getting up from that. Joe must have known nobody was gettin up from that.

And yet.....Ali got up, and remained competitive for the rest of that round.


Both of these guys were miracles.

"competitive for the rest of the round", eh?

Ali was out on his feet from another good left roughly a minute after the knockdown.

Dunphy saw it too. Joe had a hell of a chance to put him away and didn't follow up.

orbtastic wrote:I think I'm right in saying that in Mercante's book, he says that round scoring is a flawed concept and had the ten point must system been in place then, he would have scored the bout much wider with the two rounds he would have scored 10-8 Frazier, at least.

^

This is correct. The 11th and 15th were 10-8 rounds.

BoxBuzz wrote:Well it sorta worked, but not against the likes of Joe Frazier.

When Ali returned in Georgia against Quarry, it was obvious he didn't have the same speed. People assumed, however, that his lower-than-expected performance was due to rust and that in due time the "old Ali" would return.

However, when Ali returned to fight Bonavena, it was quite clear to most everyone (in retrospect) that Ali wasn't the same man. He couldn't dance for fifteen rounds--- his combinations came farther and fewer between--- and in my view going into the last round Bonavena had it in the bag. Of course, the official judges didn't see it that way, and alot of people don't see it that way--- but I'm with the Argentinians when they say Ringo was robbed of a knockdown. It was certainly more of a knockdown than in the FOTC--- who some believe Smokin' Joe was also robbed of. How Ali managed to come up with the tenacity and the power to stop Bonavena in that last round, though, is proof positive of Ali's great regenerative powers.

People at the time, though, blamed the poor performance on Bonavena's awkward style and that Ringo made everyone look like crap or boring in the ring, etc. which is partly true--- but the main factor is, people were wearing colored glasses, ignoring the fact that Ali was only the "champion" in their eyes--- they were ignoring the reality. No man in the history of boxing (until V. Klitschko) has ever been able to be gone for three or more years and successfully win the title back unless they had numerous tune ups (Foreman had well over 20 fights before Moorer).

Ali, great as he is/was, was only "great" in those first five rounds--- and for the remainder of the contest, it was Frazier piling on the points and the punishment. How he was really able to take that much punishment, when for the majority of the contest he was a sitting duck--- is really a testament to Ali's conditioning. He had the physical stamina to withstand it, but lacked the speed and reflexes and timing to continue fighting the way he did when he was in his prime. It may of worked against Quarry and Bonavena, but not with someone like Frazier.

I'd argue the version of Ali in the FOTC, would of also lost to Marciano and Dempsey, and possibly Jeffries. Truth be told, its possible the likes of Holmes and Louis would of also of done it. Maybe alot of guys could have done it. Who knows. But at the end of the day--- even that version of Ali--- had to have someone of near-greatness or greatness to defeat him (and convincingly).

MUHAMMAD ALI vs. JOE FRAZIER, THE REMATCH, JANUARY 28TH 1974

-Neither man was the heavyweight champion of the world at this stage; Ali was the 'NABF' champion which in today's terms would translate into being like our modern NABO title which makes someone a top contender. Ali because of this was rated #1 and Frazier was #2 in the world. Prior to the contest, the two men got into a physical scuffle at the ABC Wide World of Sports studios and were fined $5,000 by the NYSAC.

Frazier's Last Few Contests:
-Joe Bugner, W12
-George Foreman, LKO2
-Ron Stander, WKO5
-Terry Daniels, WKO4
-Muhammad Ali, W15

Ali's Last Few Contests:
-Rudi Lubbers, W12
-Ken Norton, WSD12
-Ken Norton, LSD12
-Joe Bugner, W12
-Bob Foster, KO8*

Betting Odds on This Contest: Ali was a 7-5 favorite going into this contest

*Bob Foster, who failed miserably in his title bid with Frazier, became the first man to ever cut Muhammad Ali.

Official Scoring of the contest was the following: 6-5, 7-4, 8-4

*******************************************************************************************************************************

Round One: Ali won the round widely; Ali even managed to do the famous shuffle in the round.

-Btw, the legendary Don Dunphy is doing commentary, and its his iconic voice that sets the stage.

Round Two: Ali won the round widley; Ali even managed to rock Frazier near the end. Strangely enough referee Perez thought the bell rang, when it did not, and the fight commenced for another ten seconds.

Round Three: Ali wins the round decisively; Frazier starting to have some moments, and Ali begins holding behind Frazier's head more and more when Frazier gets too close.

Round Four: Ali wins the round; but seems Frazier is beginning to close the gap.

Overall Analysis of the First Block:

Ali appears to be in far greater shape and condition than he was in their previous encounter three years before. He is far more aggressive, and using more lateral movement in the ring. Frazier is having a hard time trying to get close enough to maintain an effective attack, and when he does get near Ali clinches or holds behind Frazier's head. But appearances are deceiving, as Ali won the first 4-5 rounds in their first contest. If this was a points system, Ali won these four rounds 40-36.

Round Five: Ali wins the round; Frazier had Ali hurt early, but Ali recovered and took control.

Frazier's eyes are starting to swell. Ali appears to be slowing down.

Round Six: Ali wins the round; appears to outscore Frazier 4-1, arguably his best round.

Anyone who argues Frazier's ability to take punishment needs to take a look at this contest, or the entire trilogy as a whole. As wide open as Frazier is in this fight, he never takes a backward step.

Round Seven: Even Round; Frazier lands many solid hooks, Ali evens it out with combinations of his own. Ali was hurt at moments. Perez warns Ali for holding behind the head.

Round Eight: Frazier (close); Frazier had Ali hurt early with a double left hook, and in the end lands a flush right hook. However, Ali did manage jabs and flurries of his own.

Overall Analysis of the Second Block:

Ali was in complete control of rounds five-six and begins to tire in round seven. By round eight it seems Ali is "arm weary" as Don Dunphy points out in commentary. However, its clear Ali is winning this fight by a rather wide margin. As of this point the contest (by my view) is 6-1-1 for Muhammad Ali.

Round Nine: Ali wins the round; Frazier was careless and allowed Ali to regain control.

Ali's face is beginning to swell and has a bloody nose.

Round Ten: Frazier (close); Ali beginning to clinch and hold behind the head more. Frazier had Ali hurt on two or three ocassions. Both men bleeding from the nose and mouth.

Round Eleven: Difficult round to score; Even; Frazier throwing bombs one at a time, Ali throwing short flurries... Ali "doing the holding" as Dunphy says again and again... hard to judge this round.

Round Twelve: Another hard round to score; Frazier controlled that round until the final 45 seconds of the bout, where Ali came back and landed flurries. But I'll give it to Frazier, because the majority of the round was all Frazier's.

Overall Analysis of the Final Block:

Rounds nine through twelve, are truly give and take affairs, becoming harder and harder to score. Both men sense that "there is no tomorrow" (as Dunphy said in commentary) and trying to establish their dominance and will over the other. Unfortunately, for Frazier, it took way too long for him to close the gap in this fight--- wasn't until the eighth that Frazier starts to do so. This can be blamed on both Ali's superior fitness (in comparison to the first fight). One must wonder, however, considering the tide seemed to be changing, how a fifteen round contest would of ultimately ended up as being.


Final Scores(imho) 7-3-2 for Muhammad Ali; and I will say that this fight is EASILY 99.99% better than most fights on pay-per-view or otherwise in today's world, regardless of weight division. It is truly amazing the sort of work rate and pace these two men, being heavyweights (and arguably no longer in their prime), have put out in this fight.

yancey wrote:

BoxBuzz wrote:I absolutely love that GIF!

It shows the very moment when Joe Frazier ended his own career, and Ali began his remarkable comeback. lol. It's iconic.


Know anyone else that's getting up from that moment and "starting over from scratch"?

That is a career ending punch. And in someways it was the end of part 1 of Ali's career

But in this very unusual scenario, it's more the end of the career of the one who threw it.

Even Ali detractors, have to be impressed with him getting up from that. Joe must have known nobody was gettin up from that.

And yet.....Ali got up, and remained competitive for the rest of that round.


Both of these guys were miracles.

"competitive for the rest of the round", eh?

Ali was out on his feet from another good left roughly a minute after the knockdown.

Dunphy saw it too. Joe had a hell of a chance to put him away and didn't follow up.

You just keep on believin' that. I know it's comforting. But it's hogwash. Ali was back up ....for good.

And like I say he remained competitive.

HomicideHenry wrote:

BoxBuzz wrote:Well it sorta worked, but not against the likes of Joe Frazier.

When Ali returned in Georgia against Quarry, it was obvious he didn't have the same speed. People assumed, however, that his lower-than-expected performance was due to rust and that in due time the "old Ali" would return.

However, when Ali returned to fight Bonavena, it was quite clear to most everyone (in retrospect) that Ali wasn't the same man. He couldn't dance for fifteen rounds--- his combinations came farther and fewer between--- and in my view going into the last round Bonavena had it in the bag. Of course, the official judges didn't see it that way, and alot of people don't see it that way--- but I'm with the Argentinians when they say Ringo was robbed of a knockdown. It was certainly more of a knockdown than in the FOTC--- who some believe Smokin' Joe was also robbed of. How Ali managed to come up with the tenacity and the power to stop Bonavena in that last round, though, is proof positive of Ali's great regenerative powers.

People at the time, though, blamed the poor performance on Bonavena's awkward style and that Ringo made everyone look like crap or boring in the ring, etc. which is partly true--- but the main factor is, people were wearing colored glasses, ignoring the fact that Ali was only the "champion" in their eyes--- they were ignoring the reality. No man in the history of boxing (until V. Klitschko) has ever been able to be gone for three or more years and successfully win the title back unless they had numerous tune ups (Foreman had well over 20 fights before Moorer).

Ali, great as he is/was, was only "great" in those first five rounds--- and for the remainder of the contest, it was Frazier piling on the points and the punishment. How he was really able to take that much punishment, when for the majority of the contest he was a sitting duck--- is really a testament to Ali's conditioning. He had the physical stamina to withstand it, but lacked the speed and reflexes and timing to continue fighting the way he did when he was in his prime. It may of worked against Quarry and Bonavena, but not with someone like Frazier.

I'd argue the version of Ali in the FOTC, would of also lost to Marciano and Dempsey, and possibly Jeffries. Truth be told, its possible the likes of Holmes and Louis would of also of done it. Maybe alot of guys could have done it. Who knows. But at the end of the day--- even that version of Ali--- had to have someone of near-greatness or greatness to defeat him (and convincingly).

Ali in the FOTC would have defeated damn near any heavyweight in history. He fought a hellacious fight, one of his best. I commend him.

Also, Ali was never, ever going to dance all 15 rounds with someone like Frazier. He could not steal moments of rest against an aggressor like JF like he could against all those '60s stiffs.

Bonavena had it "in the bag" going into the last round against Ali? Ludicrous.

BoxBuzz wrote:

yancey wrote:

BoxBuzz wrote:I absolutely love that GIF!

It shows the very moment when Joe Frazier ended his own career, and Ali began his remarkable comeback. lol. It's iconic.


Know anyone else that's getting up from that moment and "starting over from scratch"?

That is a career ending punch. And in someways it was the end of part 1 of Ali's career

But in this very unusual scenario, it's more the end of the career of the one who threw it.

Even Ali detractors, have to be impressed with him getting up from that. Joe must have known nobody was gettin up from that.

And yet.....Ali got up, and remained competitive for the rest of that round.


Both of these guys were miracles.

"competitive for the rest of the round", eh?

Ali was out on his feet from another good left roughly a minute after the knockdown.

Dunphy saw it too. Joe had a hell of a chance to put him away and didn't follow up.

You just keep on believin' that. I know it's comforting. But it's hogwash. Ali was back up ....for good.

And like I say he remained competitive.

Not one bit of hogwash. Dunphy called it too. Ali was definitely ready to go down for the second time midway the 15th.

A good follow up from JF and Ali goes down. With a minute plus left and the three knockdown rule in effect, a different ending could have definitely been in play.

If Frazier could have finished Ali off he would have.

yancey wrote: Ali in the FOTC would have defeated damn near any heavyweight in history. He fought a hellacious fight, one of his best. I commend him.

Also, Ali was never, ever going to dance all 15 rounds with someone like Frazier. He could not steal moments of rest against an aggressor like JF like he could against all those '60s stiffs.

Bonavena had it "in the bag" going into the last round against Ali? Ludicrous.

#1- That is your personal opinion. What I seen was a man who had remarkable conditioning to withstand the sort of punishment he took. I saw a man who wasn't nowhere near the fighter he was in 1967. I saw a man who was defeated not only by an equally great opponent--- but that his style was defeated by the great Yank Durham, who told Frazier to dip low to force Ali to throw the uppercut, and to counter with the left. Durham knew, far better than anyone else, that Ali would not change his ways, not for one fight. After the FOTC, Ali made the necessary changes to be the man capable to defeat Frazier and others, despite his speed and reflexes slowing down.

#2- The 1960's Ali did indeed dance, and throw aggressive flurries, against the likes of Patterson and Terrell and Chuvalo and others. So, I disagree with your personal opinion that Ali wouldn't of danced fifteen rounds--- if he were capable of it in 1971, as he was in the 1960s. If he was as fast as he was in '67, you bet your ass he would of.

#3- As I stated in my previous comments, it is MY OPINION and that MOST DISAGREE WITH THAT OPINION. I am aware of this. I believe it was a year or two ago I did a "round by round" scoring of the Ali/Bonavena fight and found it to be one of two ways: Draw, or Bonavena was ahead. Alot of the rounds were incredibly difficult to score, because Ali didn't do much and Bonavena's style was so awkward. It's for that reason you seldom ever see Ali's fight with the Spaghetti Man on television, because it wasn't your typical Ali fight with excitement. And yes, I do feel Bonavena was robbed of a knockdown in the fight; and yes, I'm aware alot of people disagree, but as I said before there are a few million Argentinians who would agree with me.

Anyways, does anyone find my score of 7-3-2 of Ali/Frazier 2 to be inappropriate, or to be about right?

Broomhall wrote:If Frazier could have finished Ali off he would have.

Ditto.

Frazier had a few chances or opprotunities in that fight to of "followed up" and of 'finished' Ali.

But he wasn't able to. Either because he simply was worn out and tired, or got careless, or because Ali simply was able to recover at an unbelievable rate and started fighting back himself.

I have a feeling, even if the fight was 20 rounds, Ali would of been standing at the end of 20 rounds, though he would of been the worse for wear almost certainly.