Tweet
This is not one of those fights that were overhyped cuz of the names involved. This was a truly brutal fight. It had everything, the bad blood, 2 great heavyweights fighting gor more than a belt; they fought for the heavyweight championship of each other. What made it even more great of a trilogy is that they didn't fight each other backtobacktoback. These 2 men were at a different stage of their career and both turned in one of their best performances,actually it was the last performance either of them would look good in.
The back and forth action was something to behold as this was Muhammad Ali, the impossibly quick hotshot that ran through the feared Sonny Liston, now a mere mortal taking shots from Joe Frazier. I swear, the kind of huge homerun left hooks and spiraling body shots that Frazier landed on Ali would've fallen most heavyweights. Honestly, I don't know how many fighters would be able to beat Joe's game that night, he was serious.
I used to not agree with the stoppage, that it was something I couldn't understand and was a private issue with Frazier and Eddie Futch. In hindsight, I totally agree with the stoppage. In the 14th, Frazier was taking some serious damage from Ali. He was on the verge of going down. It was a serious matter that Frazier not be allowed to come out for the 15th, even though he wanted to really bad. Ali was landing target practice on him and he couldn't see Ali and was badly fatigued. Neither of these guys had anything after this fight, they truly left it all in the ring that night in Quezon City.
The back and forth action was something to behold as this was Muhammad Ali, the impossibly quick hotshot that ran through the feared Sonny Liston, now a mere mortal taking shots from Joe Frazier. I swear, the kind of huge homerun left hooks and spiraling body shots that Frazier landed on Ali would've fallen most heavyweights. Honestly, I don't know how many fighters would be able to beat Joe's game that night, he was serious.
I used to not agree with the stoppage, that it was something I couldn't understand and was a private issue with Frazier and Eddie Futch. In hindsight, I totally agree with the stoppage. In the 14th, Frazier was taking some serious damage from Ali. He was on the verge of going down. It was a serious matter that Frazier not be allowed to come out for the 15th, even though he wanted to really bad. Ali was landing target practice on him and he couldn't see Ali and was badly fatigued. Neither of these guys had anything after this fight, they truly left it all in the ring that night in Quezon City.
Comment