10.03.06 – By Kevin Kincade: It all came down to this moment; the taunts, the insults, the hurtful words: “You’re too Ugly to be Champion!”, “Here’s what he sounds like….Duh, duh, duh, duh, duhhh.”, “He’s Not The Real Champ!!”, “He’s just an old Uncle Tom!”, and worse. But now, all of the talking was done. Now, it was down to two men in a circle square. Forty-five minutes to settle the argument and quench the anger that had been brewing for months. Two men on the stage with 300 million people watching around the world, holding their collective breaths for the sound of the gong. In the ring, surrounded by a wall of sound, Joe Frazier stared deep into the soul of the man who had made his life a living hell for far too long. His tormentor was a mere four or five steps away. So long had he waited. So much he had endured; but now it was here…..the hour of truth had arrived.
Sometimes it’s about more than just two men; but sometimes, inside, it’s not. “The Fight” was hyped to epic proportions and had far reaching implications in the boxing world but; ultimately, it boiled down to a sharecropper’s son from Beaufort, South Carolina and an ambitious and vociferous son of a sign maker from Louisville, Kentucky. It may have been a super-event to us; but to them, as it is with any fighter, it was much more personal….one man against another. And in the Case of “The Fight of the ‘Twentieth’ Century”, it was more personal than any of us could imagine, in particular for the Philadelphia fire plug affectionately known as Smokin’ Joe.
March 8th was the 35th Anniversary of Frazier-Ali I, “The Fight of the Century”, as many have come to call it…..and it truly was. Muhammad Ali had been forced into exile for refusing the draft in 1967, at the age of 25 and with a professional record of 29-0. He had not even reached his peak when his career was taken away from him on a moral stand.
At the time of Ali’s forced exile, Joe Frazier was a budding young contender with a 16-0 record and his biggest name opponent was Oscar Bonavena, who floored Joe twice and nearly knocked him out. Bonavena was Joe’s baptism of fire into the pro ranks, and he grew from his survival that night, going on to stop Doug Jones, the same man who had taken a young Clay the distance only to lose a disputed decision; and also to become the first man to beat George Chuvalo inside the distance.
Frazier had an opportunity to fight in a heavyweight tournament for the vacated WBA title; but declined. He opted instead to face off against the man who had defeated him in the Olympic trials in his amateur days, Buster Mathis Sr., for the NYSAC recognition as World Heavyweight Champion. After beating Mathis down in 11, Joe took on Bonavena again, beating him over 15 this time, went to war with Jerry Quarry and eventually met the WBA Titlist, former Ali sparring partner, Jimmy Ellis in February of 1970 and stopped him in 4. Joe Frazier was now the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World…..well, almost.
During his exile, Ali had been speaking on college campuses, talking about race relations, the Vietnam War; and, of course, protesting his forced removal from the world of boxing. “Can anybody take my title without me being whupped?!” shouted Ali. “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!” yelled back the droves of young people surrounding him. “Who’s the Champ of the World?!” “MUHAMMAD ALI!!!!!!!!” “One more time, they might say the film was bad or the camera was broke! WHO’S THE CHAMP OF THE WORLD??!!!” “MUHAMMAD ALI!!!!!!!!!!!” Ali, with a Cheshire cat grin, looked at the reporter, “That’s all I can do.” The master of self promotion was making an impact on all who would listen, even inspiring a small group of protestors outside MSG when Frazier fought Ellis for the title he no longer technically owned.
As you know, Ali was eventually reinstated while awaiting his final appeal to be ruled upon by the Supreme Court. He defeated the #2 contender Jerry Quarry in 3 and became the first man to stop Oscar Bonavena when he scored a technical knock-out in the 15th round of their December 7th, 1970 bout. The stage was now set for the ultimate showdown between two undefeated men who both had legitimate claims to Sport’s biggest prize.
What isn’t known by all is the lengths to which Joe Frazier went to help Ali get his boxing license reinstated; how he personally took it to the federal level, how he helped Ali promote a possible match-up with himself during the time when Ali wasn’t even allowed to fight just to drum up public interest, how he went along with practically every single suggestion Ali made, how when Ali was in financial trouble due to impending court costs, he put some “love” in Ali’s hand…anything to help a brother out.
Can you imagine his surprise, when Muhammad “turned on him”? Can you imagine the utter shock and disbelief and deep hurt Joe must have felt when this man, this brother in need, whom he had gone to such great lengths to help, began calling him names, began taunting him, belittling him to great length, questioning his intelligence, insulting his appearance, and questioning his very blackness? The hurt, the betrayal, the words on swords dipped in alcohol must have cut him to his very core. To Ali, to be sure, it was nothing personal; it was the business of promoting possibly the last fight of his life before he went to jail. But to Joe, nothing could have been more personal than to have the man he had reached out to help from a pit of despair and give him his livelihood back, in return, paint such a demeaning picture of him that his own children were being tormented at school. This man, whom he helped, was now destroying the character and the good name he had worked so hard to build his whole life. It must have felt as if no good deed goes unpunished.
How hard Joe must have trained, the dreams of violence he must have had, the anticipation that must have grown within him approaching his date with destiny. By the time fight night arrived, Joe had been portrayed as the White Man’s champion, the establishment’s champion, the pro-Vietnam champion while Ali was the hippie’s champ, the Black Power Champ, the anti-establishment’s champion or, more cruelly, “The People’s Champion”. Two worlds were about to collide in Madison Square Garden; but more importantly, two men. For Ali, it was his return to the spotlight, his moment to show he was the one and only Heavyweight Champion of the World and kick the political bigots who brought him down. For Frazier, it was far more personal; it was a chance to finally get his hands on that Son of a Bitch.
Make no mistake about it, No One Deserved to get their ass kicked more than Muhammad Ali on March 8th of 1971…..and No One deserved to kick his ass more than Joe Frazier. We remember “The Fight” as the night two courageous gladiators clad in red and green battled it out for the entire world to see and we never took a breath for the entire 15 Rounds. Joe Frazier, more than likely, doesn’t see it quite that way. For, to him, it was a vindication, it was revenge, and, more importantly, it was poetic justice, especially when he landed that “thing of beauty”, to quote the late great Eddie Futch, on Ali’s chin in the 15th and final round and sent his tassels dancing three feet above where they normally would be. No, I imagine Joe doesn’t put such a lofty description on that night as we do. I imagine he just smiles as he reminisces about March 8th of so many years ago as the night he simply buttoned the Louisville Lip and kicked Muhammad Ali’s ass.
Frazier-Ali I will forever be remembered by most as the True “Fight of the Century”……just don’t forget WHO won it.
I love Muhammad Ali for who he was and what he meant to the sport and to all of us who want to kick back at the establishment and believe him to be a truthfully good man in every sense of the word. However, there’s no rule saying good men are incapable of bad acts; and I truthfully can relate to what Joe Frazier must have felt going into that ring so many years ago. Ali, as great as he was, wasn’t perfect and it’s readily apparent how much he hurt Joe in the build up for that fight, which is why it’s emotionally satisfying that Joe won and won in dramatic fashion on what would become the highlight of his professional career. What better statement can one make about a fighter than to say he won “The Fight of the Century”?
Happy Anniversary, Joe….and thanks for the memories.
Questions or Comments: kevin.kincade@citcomm.com