Fight of the Century

This article is about the Fight of the Century between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. For other Fights of the Century, see Fight of the Century (disambiguation).

The Fight of the Century

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Date	March 8, 1971
Location	Madison Square Garden New York City
Title(s) on the line	Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship WBC/WBA Heavyweight Championship
Joe Frazier vs.  Muhammad Ali
Smokin' Joe		The Greatest
Tale of the tape
Beaufort, South Carolina	From	Louisville, Kentucky
26–0 (23 KOs)	Pre-fight record	31–0 (25 KOs)
5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m)	Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
205 lb (93 kg)	Weight	215 lb (98 kg)
WBC/WBA Heavyweight Champion Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion	Recognition	Lineal Champion
Result	Frazier won in 15 rounds via unanimous decision

The Fight of the Century (also known as The Fight) is the title boxing writers and historians have given to the boxing match between champion Joe Frazier (26–0, 23 KOs) and challenger Muhammad Ali (31–0, 25 KOs), held on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Frazier won in 15 rounds via unanimous decision.

Background and cultural significance

In 1971, both Ali and Frazier had legitimate claims to the title of World Heavyweight Champion. An undefeated Ali had won the title from Sonny Liston in Miami Beach in 1964, and successfully defended his belt up until he had it stripped by boxing authorities for refusing induction into the armed forces in 1967. In Ali's absence, the undefeated Frazier garnered two championship belts through knockouts of Buster Mathis and Jimmy Ellis. He was recognized by boxing authorities as the World Champion. Unlike Mathis and Ellis, Frazier was plausibly Ali's superior, which created a tremendous amount of hype and anticipation for a match pitting the two undefeated fighters against one another to decide who was the true heavyweight champ.

Ringside seats were $150 and each man was guaranteed 2.5 million dollars. In addition to the millions who watched on closed-circuit broadcast screens around the world, the Garden was packed with a sellout crowd of 20,455 that provided a gate of $1.5 million.

Prior to his enforced layoff, Ali had displayed uncommon speed and dexterity for a man of his size. He had dominated most of his opponents to the point that he had often predicted the round in which he would knock them out. However, in the fight preceding the Frazier fight, Ali struggled at times during his 15th round TKO of Oscar Bonavena, an unorthodox Argentinian fighter who was prepared by Hall of Fame trainer, Gil Clancy.

Frazier had an outstanding left hook, and was a tenacious competitor who attacked the body of his opponent ferociously. Despite suffering from a serious bout of hypertension in the lead-up to the fight, he appeared to be in top form as the face-off between the two undefeated champions approached.

The fight held broader meaning for many Americans, as Ali had become a symbol of the left-wing anti-establishment movement during his government-imposed exile from the ring, while Frazier had been adopted by the conservative, pro-war movement. According to the 2009 documentary Thriller in Manila, the match, which had been dubbed "The Fight", "gripped the nation, but also split it down the middle. If you were rooting for Ali you were black, liberal or young, against Vietnam and for the Civil Rights movement. If you backed Joe Frazier you were a representative of white, conservative America." "Just listen to the roar of this crowd!" thundered Burt Lancaster, the play-by-play man. "The tension, and the excitement here, is monumental!"

Fight

On 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, after being unable to procure a ringside seat, took photographs for Life magazine instead. Artist LeRoy Neiman painted Ali and Frazier as they fought. Burt Lancaster served as a color commentator for the closed-circuit broadcast. 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. The other commentators were play-by-play announcer Don Dunphy and boxing champion Archie Moore. The referee for the fight was Arthur Mercante, Sr.

The fight itself exceeded even its promotional hype and went the full 15-round championship distance. Ali dominated the first three rounds, peppering the shorter Frazier with rapier-like jabs that raised welts on the champion's face. In the closing seconds of round three, Frazier connected with a tremendous hook to Ali's jaw, snapping his head back. Frazier viciously attacked Ali's body as the obviously hurt former champion covered up for the first time. 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, at 1 minute and 59 seconds into round eight following his clean left hook to Ali's right jaw, Frazier, tired of Ali's leaning on the ropes and clinching to avoid fighting, grabbed Ali's wrists and swung Ali into the center of the ring; however, Ali immediately grabbed Frazier again until they were once again separated by Mercante. Some thought the fight was very close until early in round 11.

During the opening seconds of round 11, Frazier caught Ali with a left hook at nine seconds into the round. At 10 seconds into round Ali fell to the canvas with both gloves and his right knee on the canvas with the film clearly showing Ali down at the 10.5 – 11 second mark into the round. Mercante stepped between Ali and Frazier separating them as Ali rose from the canvas. Mercante wiped Ali's gloves but failed to call the knockdown. At 18 seconds into round 11, Mercante signaled the fighters to engage once again. Round 11 wound down with Frazier staggering Ali with a crushing left hook, and Ali stumbled and grabbed at Joe to keep his balance and finally stumbled back first to the ropes before bouncing forward again to Frazier and grabbing on to Frazier until the fighters were separated by Mercante at 2:55 into the round. Ali spent the remaining 5 seconds of round 11 clowning his way back to his corner. Ali managed to survive the round, but from then on Frazier seemed to control the fight.

At the end of round 14 Frazier held a lead on all three scorecards (by scores of 7–6–1, 10–4, and 8–6). Early in round 15, Frazier landed a spectacular left hook that put Ali on his back. Ali, his 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.

Scorecard

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Total
Artie Aldala (judge)	A	A	F	F	F	F	F	A	A	F	F	F	A	A	F	Frazier, 9–6–0
Bill Recht (judge)	F	A	F	F	A	F	F	F	A	F	F	F	F	A	F	Frazier, 11–4–0
Art Mercante (referee)	A	A	F	F	F	A	A	F	A	A	F	–	F	F	F	Frazier, 8–6–1

Aftermath

Frazier surrendered his title two years later in January 1973, knocked out in the second round by George Foreman, the sixth knockdown of the brief title bout in Kingston, Jamaica.

Ali, for his part, refused to publicly admit defeat (while privately doing so to friends, such as George Plimpton) and sought to define the outcome in the public's mind as a "White Man's Decision". He split two bouts with Ken Norton in 1973, and was widely viewed as a has-been before coming on in 1974 to win a rematch with Frazier in January. Ali later went on to defeat Frazier for their third and final bout, The Thrilla in Manila. By the time of the rematches the social climate in America had settled down, with The Vietnam War coming to an end many dismissed the notion that Ali was a traitor and he was once again accepted as an American hero. Without either fighter representing the social divide in the country, neither their second or third fight lived up to the hype of the first. Ali shocked the world for a second time with a victory in October over the heavily favored Foreman to regain the heavyweight title in The Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire.

See also

• Ali–Frazier II – second bout, January 1974
• Thrilla in Manila – third bout, October 1975

Video

• Round 15 on YouTube