The first titanic battle between heavyweight kings of the ring, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, is an old fight now; 54 years old today in fact. Though it’s likely the few remaining people who were there that historic night in New York will find it pretty hard to believe that over half a century has gone by since that Monday night at Madison Square Garden, “The Fight Of The Century” is indeed that old. But never does this fight, or the third, even more violent fight between Ali and Frazier, ever get old. The thrill is not gone when it comes to watching the first and the third fights/wars/battles for supremacy between Ali and Joe.
Fifty-four years ago this very day, we saw Ali, unbeaten and recognised by many millions as THE heavyweight champion of the world. And we saw Frazier, unbeaten and recognised by many millions as THE heavyweight champion of the world. Together they sorted out the mess, they punched it out in an effort to prove who was THE man. Never before had two unbeaten heavyweight champions met in the ring. But the fight was much more than just sport. With the Vietnam war still raging, people were choosing sides, they had chosen sides. If you were an Ali supporter, you were anti-war and anti-establishment. If you hoped like hell Frazier would win, you were pro-establishment. The Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fight of 1938 aside, no world title fight carried as much political significance. Neither fighter could afford to lose, for a whole bunch of reasons.
The fight was also a classic clash of styles: The Boxer (Ali) Vs. The Puncher (Frazier). Ali, just two rust-removing wins removed from his 3 years and seven months of enforced idleness, this his punishment for refusing to serve in Vietnam, said Frazier was too dumb, too ignorant, too ugly to defeat him or to be world heavyweight champion. “He’s too short,” Ali declared. But Frazier was a giant of a man where it counted: inside, his heart as big as a lion’s and his sheer fighting pride, attained during the many hard and lonely years he spent honing his craft, easily equal to that of Ali’s. Ali underestimated Joe, he fought him too soon after all those long months out. “You’ve got to be sharp to fight Frazier,” Ali would later say. Now he knew, as did the world.
It took Frazier all 15 rounds to get the win; that and the single finest fighting performance of his entire career. But after sealing the deal with that famous left hook knockdown in the 15th and final round, the tough kid from the mean streets of Philadelphia had done it. Frazier was king, Ali had lost for the very first time. Both men went to the hospital (later, arguments erupted over who spent the longest amount of time healing up and recovering; the two even getting into a scuffle in the ABC studio, the scuffle that preceded the rematch easily one that could have developed into something far nastier), while fight fans everywhere were already calling for the rematch.
This, of course, came in time, as did the third and deciding fight a year after that, but for many people, the first fight between these two genuinely bitter, genuinely evenly matched greats stands alone. It was special, it IS special. It’s Ali Vs. Frazier, and today, many fans will be giving the fight yet another airing as they remember. Two men who brought out the very best in each other the way nobody else could ever do. Ali and Frazier, the TWO greatest heavyweights of all time. As great boxing writer Jerry Izenberg has said, even after those three epic fights, those 41 rounds (fight-II not being as epic as fights I and III), the argument over who was the superior fighter of the two was still not settled. That’s how hard, how close, how punishing those fights really were for both legends.
But as far as the never to be forgotten night of March 8, 1971 goes, this was Frazier’s day. “Smokin’ Joe” had scored first blood. As has been written, Frazier reached the top of the mountain on this day back in 1971, and he was a great as he ever would be as a fighter. Imagine, if you can, how Joe Frazier would be remembered today if he had walked away and retired after scoring his most important win! Frazier instead fought on, yet as it turned out, he had just one great fight left in him. The one that took place in Manila. This October 1 will of course mark the 50th anniversary of “The Thrilla.” But today, it’s all about Frazier’s huge win over Ali.
