i think ali deserved the decision in the FOTC.

Nah, it was an even fight through ten but Frazier took over in the final third and won at least four of those rounds.

 

Reading your comments, one would get the impression that Frazier outlanded Ali at least 3 to 1. klompton2 can't see Ali landing, even with Frazier's head jolting from the impact.

Ali won rounds: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 13 and 14.
Frazier won rounds: 6 ,7, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 15.
A close call, but Ali steals it 8-7.

The official scorecards are horribly inconsistent.

 

Laughable card.

 

Frazier 9-6.

 

You would have to be totally biased or blind to see Ali as the winner of that fight, Frazier had an 10-8 round in the 11th and the 15th and was ahead even without those 2 rds but if you exclude them you may have a half an argument. There were a few close rds that could have gone either way but Frazier was a dominant winner in a rough fought battle.

 

Bummy Davis - Your argument is pretty moot since the FOTC was not scored according to the 10 point-must-system. If it was, this wouldn't be debatable, but it wasn't. So rounds 11 and 15 only bring 1 round each for Frazier.

You say that there were few close rounds that could have gone either way, then how do you explain the inconsistency of the official scorecards (judge and referee disagreed on 7 out of 15 rounds!) ??

 

Frazier clearly won no question. Yes some of the rounds were scored differently by the judges but that happens quite often in a close 15 round fight. Its arguable that about 5 or 6 of the rounds were so close that they could be scored even but of course a judge will only do that if they really cant give the edge to either fighter.

I think rounds 1,4,5,7,9,10 were so close that I could conceivably give all rounds even - hence the inconsistency of the judges scorecard. The judges got it right overall. They gave some close rounds to Frazier some close rounds to Ali. I think Frazier clearly won round 3,6,8,11,12,13,15 which is 7 rounds already and if you throw in 2 or 3 of the close rounds that I mention and you give them to Frazier then you have a clear Frazier win. In my opinion he won with a 9-6 scorecard at the very least. If anything Frazier won by a slightly larger margin and I could easily have it as 10-5 Frazier.

Historically the FOTC is not seen as a controversial result and it wasnt at the time either. The Associated Press scored it 9-5-1 to Frazier.

 

Frazier clearly won the fight; and he gave Ali Parkinson's in the process. Regardless, Ali proved that he was perhaps the toughest heavyweight champion in history, because he was beaten brutally. I'm not sure any other champion would have gone the distance having taken the blows that Frazier unloaded on him that night. Of course, Ali landed plenty too, and fought gamely and valiantly, and as a result Frazier was never the same either. But on that night Frazier was an unstoppable force, with relentless head movement, footwork, pressure, excellent pace, thudding snappy blows to the head and body, and he had the chin, toughness, desire, and intestinal fortitude. One of the greatest heavyweight championship fights in history.

 

This was the first Ali match I ever watched (one of the first boxing matches I watched period) and my first thought was "THIS is the greatest of all time?" I wasn't scoring rounds but I came away thinking Ali got his ass kicked. The memory that sticks out is Ali shaking his head and holding on after being hit with a hook by Frazier.
If that is how you win rounds then I'm not watching boxing anymore.

 

Frazier won convincingly.
The sky is blue on a clear day.
Water is wet.

 

Ali's my favourite fighter, but I can't make a case for him winning the FOC.
As had been said it was a great fight and he fought valiantly against a Frazier who was simply on a mission.
There was no disgrace in it what we saw was two of the greatest heavyweights ever giving their all and some more, but Smokin Joe was the rightful winner.

 

Yeah. That's a good description.

Ali would have to be at least for rounds ahead after the 10th for him to get the decision, and that would only be the case if you give him all the close rounds. Rarely fair to do that.

For what it's worth, though, I think a far better case can be made for Ali winning the FOTC than Duran beating Hagler (since that's another current thread).

 

Well, even Frazier fans say that Joe was more or less ruined that night, and that wasn't by Ali shaking his head and holding. I agree that Frazier was the rightful winner, but if you can't appreciate the work Ali did you probably shouldn't watch boxing anymore.

 

Ali fought brilliantly, but still lost the FOTC.

 

Malcom please continue to enjoy Boxing. While Ali's performance was epic but Frazier suffered from more than just punishment from Ali, . . . hypertension, partial blindness, a bad shoulder and success.