Earlier this year, the satin white shorts Muhammad Ali wore in his third and final fight (see war) with arch-rival Joe Frazier were placed up for bidding at auction, expected as they were to fetch around $6 million. The man who wore the shorts came “as close as I’ve ever known to dying” during the fight. Someone, somewhere, now owns a piece of history from a fight in which both ring warriors (with one massive ‘W’) gave a piece of themselves.
It was 49 years ago today when the fight that never gets old, that never becomes one that cannot be written about……again and again…… went down in Manila in the Philippines. And the 14 rounds of pure hell Ali and Frazier endured, with the fight so crammed full of almost unimaginable action, drama, and switching momentums, remains at the top when it comes to the bar standard of the great ones when it comes to the truly great fights.
Together, with genuine bad blood being felt, these two kings gave their all in a fight that contested the world heavyweight title but also a heck of a lot more. The loser of this especially savage rivalry (savage in and out of the ring) would forever have to carry the pain of knowing they were bested by the fighter they were most severely matched against, the fighter they most HAD to defeat to ensure everlasting greatness.
And though Ali, 48-2(34), made the mistake of thinking Joe was almost shot and he therefore had to train less than diligently, this while “Smokin’ Joe” worked his ass off in training camp, his mind on the fight and on nothing like the, shall we say, fun Ali was having as he was able to spend quality time with his mistress, “The Greatest” was able to reach deep within his reservoirs when the time came. And how Ali needed to do just that.
It was a fast start from Ali, determined as the 33-year-old was to get Frazier, 32-2(27), out of there and go home (or back to his hotel). But Frazier, though he buckled a few times, stuck in there. And then Joe came back. It was, from rounds 6 through 10, Frazier’s fight. A couple of years younger than Ali, yet more torn up and more worn out, Joe’s eyesight in question, the former champ went to his own well, and the stuff down there was full of hate for Ali.
Frazier, quite simply, beat Ali up during these rounds, the challenger’s hooks and more hooks doing particular damage to Ali’s body. At times when he was sat in the corner, afforded a brief respite from the hell of Frazier’s ever-coming, threshing, and thrashing punches in bunches, Ali was close to passing out. Ali later said he wanted to quit by round 10. But Ali could never, ever quit, and eventually, after Frazier’s face had swollen up in grotesque fashion, his ‘good eye’ now compromised, the greatest to ever do it at heavyweight clawed his way back on top.
Famously, Eddie Futch refused to let his almost begging fighter come out for the 15th and final round. To this day, fans wonder what might have happened had those last three minutes been fought. Frazier was almost totally blind, yet he may have been less physically shattered than Ali was. Ali, when informed by Angelo Dundee that the fight was over, briefly stood up, he then gave a weak, open-mouthed raise of an arm in triumph, before collapsing to the mat, leaving his most testing adversary to forever snarl and sneer that he was in fact the better fighter of the two.
There has never been a more epic, more savage, and, sadly, more damaging heavyweight title fight since. Whoever owns Ali’s shorts, covered in blood, sweat and tears as they may be, had better fully understand and appreciate the levels of bravery – of pushing human endurance to its limits – the man who wore them was capable of that early morning (Manila time) 49 long years ago.
Both greats made the critical mistake of fighting on after Manila when in truth, neither man had much of anything left to fight with. Or to fight for. Together, Ali and Frazier should have closed the show on each other.
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