The Thrilla in Manila Explained - Ali vs Frazier 3 Breakdown

Today's Heavyweights probably couldn't take the punishment ( esp when one considers after a good 5 rds, they're looking for their second wind) And they definitely wouldn't be allowed to absorb the punishment in today's boxing game.

 

The pace would have all of them wilting by the 5th round. The heat was a factor as well.

Ali punched more viciously than I ever saw him that morning in Manila. He was trying to drive Frazier into the canvas to humiliate him.
Joe took all that anger and turned it in to rocket fuel. Just watch Frazier's introduction when he steps out and let's Ali know whats in store for him. He had so much intensity, Joe was flammable. On some level Ali knew he fuked up.

When I think of Manila I think of a hellish pace for any weight division but for heavyweight it was insane.

The difference IMO was that Ali had a dimension in his game where he could rest just enough off the ropes to have something left. He was master of the clock and he could adjust to situations. Ali took a body beating that would have stopped most champions 4 or 5 times in that fight.

 

There will be disagreements (there are always disagreements!), but this is a strong candidate. Granted, neither man was at his peak anymore, but this fight went beyond skill and conditioning. They brought out in themselves, and each other, every last fiber of combat in their bodies. As noted, it wasn't just the fight itself - the conditions were about as bad as any in a boxing match; the temperature in the ring was estimated at 100 degrees, along with oppressive humidity. I don't think two big men hit each other as hard, or as often, or so long under such harsh conditions. And neither one fell.

It's the one fight I can only watch about once every few years or so. It's brutal on its own, and knowing the eventual outcome and long-term consequences only makes it that much harder. But for a contest of will, you won't find many better.

 

A good break down. This one was much more similar to the first than the second. The big difference was that Frazier managed to hurt Ali badly in the 11th in the first and thereby take over the last third of that fight.

In Manilla, Ali didn't present Frazier with those kinds of openings and managed to preserve enough to take over himself instead in the late rounds. He had learned from the first fight that he couldn't afford to be careless and stand on the ropes with low hands. This time he was always in proper guard while on the ropes and that for me was the crucial difference.

 

I find both the first and third fights painful to watch. So brutal both of them.

 

You would be hard pressed to find a heavyweight that took the kind of punishment Ali took. There was talk Ali said to cut his gloves off after the 14th, that he was done, Ferdie Pacheco didn't deny it when asked. Frazier never forgave Futch for stopping it.

 

Joe had to understand why Eddie stopped it. I'm sure that night there was overwhelming emotion. Fraizer had kids himself. Eddie saw 7 or 8 ring deaths in person.
Ali is fortunate that he wasn't in a situation like that were he couldn't see because Angelo was toothless. Herbert only cared so much. No the Holmes fight wasn't even close. Larry was shadow boxing.