Funny. Earnie said Ali turned him away from the ref and put his thumb in his eye from a semi clinched position early in the 1st. I have seen the round without noticing this but will check it out again.
Yeah, you will never see a world class fighter taking such a one-sided boxing lesson without coming up with some excuse. There were somehting wrong with his eye, though, but nothing really shows that Ali did with purpose. The thing about Ali rubbing his face against the ropes is almost funny considering how rough and borderline dirty Terrell was in the clinches. It was more like them both wrestling (and Terrell doing his fair share of rabbit punching) and perhaps Ernie getting into an awkwards position were something affected his eye.