What if Futch had let Frazier go one more?

And he may have, but by that point Dundee had probably heard variations of that statement enough from Ali to know what to say, in much the same way that he did when Ali was blinded against Liston in the first fight. Something tells me he knew Muhammad had three minutes of fighting left in him, and would have been able to convince his charge of that as well with a few simple words.

 

Round 15, great post!

 

Frazier was smoked by that point, putting him in for another round would have been reckless. He might have been stopped if he'd been put in for another round.

 

Frazier stood a good chance of getting seriously injured if allowed to continue and futch knew it. He was target practice for 2 straight rounds and it wasn't going to get any better because fraziers left eye was swollen shut and he could no longer see the right hands coming.

 

Both men were completely exhausted at that point. In a 15th round I doubt if either would have been able to stop the other. So, if they had continued, Muhammad Ali would have won the unanimous decision...in my opinion.

With Joe Frazier nearly blind, I think it was a good stoppage.

 

Janitor, if Smokin' Joe had Dundee in his corner, the limited visibilty would have been the same. Whats Dundee going to say??? Dance??

Nothing can return time, or change history unfortunately.

This fight is an absolute killer, and deserves the nostalgic gratitude it recieves.

From this fight alone, we see Ali in control, yet totally exhausted, Frazier relentless, punished to dullness, totally exhausted and nearly blind, and both cornermen being put into the position at the end of the 14th to determine the final result.

Its a Hollywood script, the works of Shakespeare and the romance of Cartland in less than an hour without a script.

I doubt a change of trainers would have changed the outcome.. if the fight went ahead for another 3 minutes, the games history MAY have been changed, with dire result.

 

No, it's not. It ignores several valid point that have been in this forum already.

1. The version of Ali saying he wanted to quit after the 14:th came 15 years later. THAT'S NOT RELIIABLE SOURCE MATERIAL. Right after the fight the reports in articles was that Ali uttered the words after the 10:th. This is also what's said in Ali's autobiography if I remember correctly, and in the post-fight interview Ali said that it was in the 10:th that he felt doubt about winning but that it then started to turn around.

One should also keep in mind that the whole Cooper thing is a myth as well. The delay was not 3-5 minutes, but actually only 10-15 seconds.

2. Ali was ahead on points. Doesn't matter what effing Red Smith or anyone else say, on the judges cards Ali was well ahead. Futch names this as one of the reasons for throwing in the towel, and in Champions Forever Frazier himself said "on points I was behind in that fight".

End of fukking story. The notion that Ali would quit when clearly leading and pummeling a nearly blind Frazier is not only implausible, it's downright laughable. What ever Monroe and Pacheko (that most here normally treat as a joke) says 15 years after the fact doesn't change this one bit.

 

Yeah, Ali collapsed for a while, but he did the same after beating Foreman. Was he saved by the perhaps too quick count that time you think?

Ali didn't want to quit after acting punching bag against Holmes for 10 rounds in a fight he had absolutely no chance of winning, but he would concede his title with just 3 minutes to go when clearly on top? Don't you yourself see how absurd this claim is? That it's based on information that suddenly surfaced some 15 years after the fact, doesn't really help matters either.

The Cooper fight is an excellent example of how the Ali myth warps memories. Dundee and others claim without hesitation that it was a 3-5 minute break because glove had to be siwtched, when actual footage shows that this is very untrue. You do know that Ali never threw his Olympic medal in the river either, don't you?

There's so many legends about Ali that one should always be quite sceptical to the more popular myths, and this is one legend that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

 

????? What do ya mean he never threw the Gold Medal away??? It a first time news for myself.

 

Good joke.

 

both men were ready to die....Ali said he did not know if he could go another round...for me Frazier was getting hit too much but we really dont know....I think it would have been worse for Joe

 

Based on Ali's actions DURING the 14th round,I think he would have stopped Frazier in the last round and maybe permanently injured him.