40th Anniversary of Fight of the Century / Ali's first loss
downtownrobbrown
446 Posts
By the evening of the match, Madison Square Garden had a circus-like atmosphere, with scores of policemen to control the crowd, outrageously dressed fans, and countless celebrities, from Norman Mailer and Woody Allen to Frank Sinatra, who took photographs for Life magazine. Artist LeRoy Neiman painted Ali and Frazier as they fought. Burt Lancaster served as a color commentator for the closed-circuit broadcast. Even though Lancaster had never performed as a sports commentator before, he was hired by the fight's promoter Jerry Perenchio, who was also a friend of his. The other commentators were play-by-play announcer Don Dunphy and boxing champion Archie Moore.
The fight itself exceeded even its promotional hype and went the full 15-round championship distance.[2] Ali dominated the first three rounds, peppering the shorter Frazier with rapier-like jabs that raised welts on the champion's face. Frazier began to dominate in the fourth round, catching Ali with several of his famed left hooks and pinning him against the ropes to deliver tremendous body blows. Ali was visibly tired after the sixth round, and though he put together some flurries of punches after that round, he was unable to keep the pace he had set in the first third of the fight. His speed and combinations kept him on roughly even terms with Frazier, however, and the fight was very close until late in round 11. During that round Frazier caught Ali, backed into a corner, with a crushing left hook that almost floored Ali, sending him falling into the ropes. Ali managed to survive the round, but from then on Frazier seemed to come back in the next three rounds. At the end of round 14 Frazier held a lead on the three scorecards. Early in round 15, Frazier landed a spectacular left hook that put Ali on his back (for only the third time in his career). Ali, his right jaw swollen grotesquely, got up from the blow quickly, and managed to stay on his feet for the rest of the round despite several terrific blows from Frazier. A few minutes later the judges made it official: Frazier had retained the title with a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.
This was the most crushing defeat for Ali. Although he lost, Ali earned respect from the public as a fighter who possessed endurance. Ali would not win another world title fight until three and a half years later, on October 30, 1974. The only other time that Ali would challenge for the title and lose was in the Larry Holmes fight, when 38-year-old Ali's corner threw in the towel after the 10th round.
Both men spent time recuperating in a hospital following the grueling fight. Rumors circulated that Frazier had died. Upon hearing the rumors, Ali vowed to retire from boxing if they turned out to be true.
I'd post some youtubes but I don't know how.
Comments
Ali is royalty.
http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/56541/never-seen-ali-vs-frazier-1971#index/0
That really is great stuff.
Muhammad Ali
Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.
Muhammad Ali
Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.
Muhammad Ali
I figure I'll be champ for about ten years and then I'll let my brother take over - like the Kennedys down in Washington.
If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you
It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.
My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.
Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
Muhammad Ali (I think he might have been quoting Marian Wright Edelman)
Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.
We have one life; it soon will be past; what we do for God is all that will last
Last month I booktalked an Ali biography to 3 classes of 4th graders.
In every class there was a student, or 2 or 3, who knew I was talking about Ali before I said his name.
I doubt a Jimmy Carter bio, or a bio or any other person who retired so long ago, would have brought the same response.