HBO's One Sided Thrilla

[trainhard_187]

This documentary was good. Thats a pretty crazy voice message on Joe's phone too. Joe still has hard feelings to this day.

[RightCross94]

i love ali but it was nice to hear joes side of the story too

[dans]

You know, there may have been a lot of truth to the claims made by Frazier. But when watching the documentary you never got Ali's take on the whole thing. Obviously Ali was the instigator and said some bad things that I'm sure he regrets. But it's sad that Joe Frazier can't swallow his hatred thirty years later. I can't imagine living that long with a personal grudge. It's almost as sad as Ali's physical problems.

Either way, it was still a great documentary and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Just watched the end again this morning.

[RapidFire_Royce]

good documentary

I agree this was a good documentary. I think if anything it shows that even though the affects of boxing weigh heavily on Ali physically they way just as heavy on Frazier mentally. Their trilogy has often been compared to a war. And as its been seen in a war neither the winner or loser of it emerges unscathed.

[Robzilla]

I remember watching another HBO documentary on Ali and Frazier a while back and it also showed how Ali mocked and taunted Smokin' Joe. Ever since then my opinion of Muhammad Ali has changed and now after seeing the Thrilla in Manilla documentary it's hard not to come away with a strong dislike for Ali. He constantly belittled Frazier by calling him ignorant and uneducated, but to me Ali was more ignorant than Frazier. He blindly followed the Nation of Islam and spread their message of hate due to his personal issues with the opposite race.
How could Ali call Joe an Uncle Tom because he was being backed by a company of predominately white men? Joe just didn't care what color his backers were as long as he was gettin' that paper. If anything, Black America should have gravitated to Joe Frazier because he was a true underdog who rose up from the depths of poverty in South Carolina and became heavyweight champion of the world, all the while maintaining a humble and gracious attitude. But unfortunately the rebellious attitude of the day had everybody drinkin' the Ali Kool-Aid, blinded by his flamboyance and wit. Muhammad Ali was a great champion and a hell of a warrior. He did a lot for boxing and for this I'll always love him, but he wasn't all he was cracked up to be.

Notes

WTF was up with Ferdie Pacheco? He's an old ass arrogant SOB.

Ali's ATG status was set in stone after he got up like nothing from that Frazier left hook in their first fight. DID YOU SEE THAT SHOT?!?! Unfortunately Ali's pride is one of the reasons he is the way he is today.

Morbid or not, I got a kick out of Frazier's cell phone message. Does anybody remember it word for word?

[GJC]

Read Ghosts of Manilla by Mark Kram a couple of years back so kind of knew what to expect. Well worth reading and does have other bits that didn't make the documentary.
Ali doesn't come over very well and this should be watched with When They Were Kings to give a fuller picture. Ali was a man with the all faults of a man not a diety. There is a phrase, there is bad in the best of us and good in the worst of us. Would like to see Joe let it go though, Ali has apologised and the bitterness doesn't do him any good. I wonder whether Frazier thinks that had Ali not been around at the same time his legacy would have been greater and that is a reason? Guess he would just move onto Foreman then. I remember when some company was doing dvd's of boxers greatest fights and for Frazier it was Manilla, a fight he lost! Guess the fire that took him out for those last 2 rounds in Manilla has got to come from somewhere. Such a shame because they enhance each others legacy.

[iskupaldi]

Liked the Show. Now I know Why my late Father never liked Alli then. Oh, and by the way Ronnie Nathanielz was Alli's liason back then. He was the biggest Chronie of Marcos during that time. LOL

[larry x]

thats what i was saying...frazier talked about ali...but hell i could hardly understand what he was saying..he aint the picture of health

[TintaBoricua]

everyone has heard Ali's side of the story, there are many documentaries on it. No one's really heard the story from Joe Frazier's point of view though.. this is what the documentary was about, I doubt the writter of this article wasn't nagging when other documentaries where presenting the fight from the point of view of Ali.

...and shows highlighting his fights, too.

I'm sure there are much more, but I (for example) started a tape collection on boxing and I have:

Ali's 65 (a documentary on ESPN that showed Ali's life and career in general all the way to the present)

Ali's Dozen (the twelve most signficant fights of Ali's career)

Ali's Rap (series of highlights about Ali's remarks, trashtalking and quips)

Muhammad Ali on Sportscentury (self-explanatory)

When we were Kings (a documentary about "The Rumble and the Jungle" and lots of great footage leading up to the fight)

There's another documentary I had on the DVR that I deleted. It was a different documentary about Ali with a lot of footage that I hadn't seen before. I think it was just called "Ali". There wasn't a narrator or bits of people being interviewed or anything. It was just a lot of compiled footage of Ali's life and career, but it also included footage when he was outside the ring, talking with people and a lot of things I hadn't really seen before...it aired on the Sundance show and haven't seen it again ever since.

But anyway, getting back on the subject. I noticed that the documentary was favored towards Joe since, by the end of the program, I was actually upset with my new perspective on Ali. But then I cooled down, and thought, well...there's two sides of the story. I'm sympathetic to Frazier, but at the same time sad that he carries that grudge with him. Great program regardless.

[Mr. Ryan]

I wanna know wat Larry Holmes is smoking saying Ali was overrated...he must think the Ali he fought was the prime one...

It wasn't, but Larry Holmes was the chief sparring partner of a prime Ali.