50 years ago today - anybody else remember this fight?

The fight was absolutely brutal.

 

Still an incredible fight after so many decades. Absolutely brutal Heavyweight fight. One has to wonder what would have happened if Joe Frazier's corner still allowed him to continue.

 

Fifty years!?
Man how time flies.
We've lost loads from the golden era of the 70 s lately, it's gutting.

 

I as well always wondered what a 15th round might have looked like. Ali looked like he was beyond exhausted when that was stopped. Would have been borderline inhumane to allow that to continue though. That was about as grueling a Heavyweight fight as I've seen.

 

Carlos Padilla the referee was recently interveiwed, he's like ninety and living in Las Vegas, said if Futch didn't stop the fight he was going to, "because Joe Frazier was no more."

 

As the referee, Padilla was one of the three people who submitted an official scorecard for the fight. All three had Ali up by a healthy amount going into the 15th round. Padilla said that even if Futch hadn’t told him to do so, he probably would have called the fight. “Because Frazier was no more.”


Fifty Years After History’s Most Brutal Boxing Match - The Atlantic

 

Maybe Padilla would stop but I wouldn't be betting the house on it. Padilla was the most indecisive referee I've ever seen, so there's no way to be sure. For now, let's just say thank God for Eddie Futch.

 

Ali threw 917 punches of which 443 landed. That's incredible output for a heavyweight. Joe threw 674 punches of which 354 landed. That's also incredible output. Mark Kram said they came into a fight as an is and came out as a was.

 

In the link I provided the author went back to the arena where it was held to try to recapture the magic. He also went to Vegas to interview Jerry Izenberg who covered the fight at ringside and Carlos Padilla who refereed it. Ferdinand Marcos told Ali if he was a Filipino he'd have to shoot him because he was so popular.

 

I remember the two left hooks Frazier landed in the 6th round of the Thrilla--they were almost as hard as the one that floored Ali in the 15th round of the FOTC! Any other fighter would probably have been on the canvas after taking those shots. Ali's chin and toughness were otherworldly--and they were on full display that night!!

 

Joe would have got seriously hurt in my opinion. Both men went above and beyond that night.

Muhammad and Joe - I salute you.

 

Great thread. Thank you all!

 

The article I cited is great. It's about the fight and everything going on around it
Carlos Padilla said Ali was saying nursery rhymes to Joe Frazier, " Ah one, a two, and a three. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Jack jumped over the candlestick." The onions on that guy.

 

You should see Chisora’s stats!