Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier I 40th anniversary is tomorrow

Damn I'm old.I remember watching this on Wide World of Sports a week after the fight took place.Very few fighters would have beaten Joe that night.Thanks Ali.

Best heavyweight fight ever imo.

I'll take the "Thriller" as the best HW fight ever, however the two were better in the first fight. If I watched it again for the millionth time, I'd come away saying it was the best fight I ever saw. I'll admit that I score the fight for Ali every time.

(Note: I hope the writer didn't suggest that Frazier was the only fighter to ever knock Ali down. Ali was knocked down twiced before he met Frazier via "Sonny Banks and Henry Cooper." He also went down against Chuck Wepner, who stepped on his foot and pushed him. Ref Tony Perez made a bullshit, idiotic call and ruled it a knockdown.)

Frank wrote:I'll take the "Thriller" as the best HW fight ever, however the two were better in the first fight. If I watched it again for the millionth time, I'd come away saying it was the best fight I ever saw. I'll admit that I score the fight for Ali every time.

(Note: I hope the writer didn't suggest that Frazier was the only fighter to ever knock Ali down. Ali was knocked down twiced before he met Frazier via "Sonny Banks and Henry Cooper." He also went down against Chuck Wepner, who stepped on his foot and pushed him. Ref Tony Perez made a bullshit, idiotic call and ruled it a knockdown.)

Frazier won the first fight rather easily.I scored it 144-140 for Joe.

WinstonSmith wrote:

Frank wrote:I'll take the "Thriller" as the best HW fight ever, however the two were better in the first fight. If I watched it again for the millionth time, I'd come away saying it was the best fight I ever saw. I'll admit that I score the fight for Ali every time.

(Note: I hope the writer didn't suggest that Frazier was the only fighter to ever knock Ali down. Ali was knocked down twiced before he met Frazier via "Sonny Banks and Henry Cooper." He also went down against Chuck Wepner, who stepped on his foot and pushed him. Ref Tony Perez made a bullshit, idiotic call and ruled it a knockdown.)

Frazier won the first fight rather easily.I scored it 144-140 for Joe.

I think that win over Ali is the single most prestigious win in boxing history....and it must have been the most satisfying too.

Frank wrote:I'll take the "Thriller" as the best HW fight ever, however the two were better in the first fight. If I watched it again for the millionth time, I'd come away saying it was the best fight I ever saw. I'll admit that I score the fight for Ali every time. (Note: I hope the writer didn't suggest that Frazier was the only fighter to ever knock Ali down. Ali was knocked down twiced before he met Frazier via "Sonny Banks and Henry Cooper." He also went down against Chuck Wepner, who stepped on his foot and pushed him. Ref Tony Perez made a bullshit, idiotic call and ruled it a knockdown.)

DUDE!!! Never score fight for me! That was a pretty clear and easy to score Frazier win. Hard for me to even fathom an Ali scorecard.

I still find it great that Frank Sinatra was the professional photographer for that fight.

Here's Kieran Mulvaney's article on the anniversary.

http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/blog/_/name/boxing/id/6193383/the-day-boxing-mothership-landed

Joe's punches make me cringe when I watch it. Wladimir wouldn't last 3 rounds from those body shots.

I respect Joe Frazier as one of the toughest and greatest fighters, pound for pound, in history. That said, has anyone who critisized my card scored the fight on a 10 point must system? I spent almost a month challenging you guys to score the fight with me.

Someone said, "Frazier won rather easily?" How the hell did he spend 30 days in the hospital with a face that was the most damadged I've ever seen with an easy win?? I think you guys are watching HBO and letting their "Ali - Frazier documentaries" influence you. They portray Ali like he was Satan himself. I understand Frazier took a lot of verbal abuse from Ali, but he took a lot of physical abuse too. The following was a quote from the late, great "Don Dumphy" during his call of the fight; "How can Joe take these punches?"

Even though I'm a fan of Ali's, I can easily see how he could rub someone the wrong way, but let's not get carried away.

(Note: No matter how they portray Muhammad, meeting him was one of the greatest thrills in my life. I was lucky enough to meet him 3 times as a kid. He was a really nice guy, and funny as all hell.)

shdavistx wrote:Joe's punches make me cringe when I watch it. Wladimir wouldn't last 3 rounds from those body shots.

Except Frazier be a Cruiserweight today. He was 5'10, 205 pounds the first time he fought Ali. Was 203 when fought Jerry Quarry the first time.

GrantZilla wrote:

shdavistx wrote:Joe's punches make me cringe when I watch it. Wladimir wouldn't last 3 rounds from those body shots.

Except Frazier be a Cruiserweight today. He was 5'10, 205 pounds the first time he fought Ali. Was 203 when fought Jerry Quarry the first time.

I understand your point Grant. Joe was only 205 for the first fight, but that was 205 pounds of solid muscle. Joe was a big heavyweight when you consider that. Also, he put lots of big guys to sleep (see the Buster Mathis fight and many more where that came from.).

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but size has always puzzled me in certain ways. For example, you can have a guy who's 5,7 and 160 but solid muscle. This is actually a very big fellow. A regular male with a large body fat count looks much bigger, however who's really the bigger guy? It's the athlete. Ray Robinson's a great example. From all accounts, the original Sugar Ray looked like a little guy when he walked the streets. I'm told from my father that his shirts used to hang off of his arms. (Ray loved Harlem and my Dad used to play piano at Birdland.). Now look at pictures of Ray punching his opponents. His arms look like tree trunks when he's connecting with those punches. The size of certain men can be deceiving which is why it's good not to start fights with professional boxers from any weight division (smile).

shdavistx wrote:Joe's punches make me cringe when I watch it. Wladimir wouldn't last 3 rounds from those body shots.

+1

Frazier's left hooks were like cinderblocks.