...that he was a big puncher and was gonna knock Joe Frazier out? Check out this video of an interview, pre Ali vs Frazier I: [yt]l7QUS1kg-5c[/yt] "All of Frazier's sparring partners land plenty. That's all i need to know." "When i hit a man for 3 rounds, something's gotta go.... cut, bruise, or a knockout". I know that Ali talked a lot of smack in proposition of promoting his fights or to get an egde over his opponents. However, you gotta wonder. Maybe it was a form of self-believe. At that moment it was not even so crazy; he stopped nearly all of his opponents during his first career and in his recent comeback, he stopped Quarry in 3 (cuts, but still) and Bonavena in 15. Do you think he pumped himself up by repeating it to himself or did he know he wasn't a big puncher but promoted the fight? An interesting sidenote is that watching the fight, he really did throw tons of hard punches during the first 5 rounds, going for a knockout.
I saw lot of his interviews on TV back in late 1970,early 1971. Yeah he believed it....when you never been whupped, you believe most anything. He did the same psyching job on himself for Liston, Frazier & Foreman. Thanks for posting up the interview...that was Ali at his very best.
It sure was funny. This is one of my favorite Ali video's. I thought his trash/funny talking in the mid/late 70's was not as amusing anymore, but this one is great for sure.
I think Ali believed he could knock Frazier out. I think Ali punched very hard when he really needed to, and it's a testament to Frazier's durability that Ali never really came close to knocking him out. Ali had a habit of flicking out weak shots at flashy speed, but he proved he was capable of banging too. The shots he hit Cleveland Williams, Oscar Bonavena and Ron Lyle with seemed to do the trick. Hard shots surely. He was rocking Foreman with crisp hard right hand leads all through their fight, solid shots.
