Fight of The Century?

It sounds like to me you are talking about the most anticipated fights instead of how the fight played out. In that respect Jeffries v. Johnson was the fight of that era. In our lifetimes there is no doubt that Ali-Frazier 1 could never be beat. The hype for that fight was just incredible.

Anyone who is not old enough to remember that fight would have a hard time understanding the level of anticipation. That is probably the same for Jeffries / Johnson.

I would give an honorable mention to Dempsey / Tunney 2. Also, since we are talking about all of heavyweight history maybe Heenan / Sayers.

 

All Time??...Louis vs Schmeling-1938........
In my lifetime?-Ali/Frazier 1-1971.....

 

I would say Louis-Schmeing II. It was country against country at that point. You had politics drawn in and the question of which way the world was gonna go. That's much bigger than any other fight's theme, IMO.:good

 

Agreed.

 

I think you guys are forgetting that Ali Fraizer and Louis Schmeling took place in BIG citys. They were going to get a sell out no matter what. But Johnson Jeff took place in a small town. And yet it drew the biggest largest crowd ever at that time(I belive Dempsey Carp surpass it) That fight was news, and it was evey were. Even People in Church were praying for a Jeff win. ete. Yeah it was big for all the WRONG reasons of couse. And the outbreaks in the after math prove it. But that still does not stop it from having a impact on America's socal status. That fight imo should be number 1 in historic impact. If Fraizer lost, there would have been no roit. Same goes for Louis Schemling.

 

I agree with that. It's really hard to judge the impact of a fight if you were not around to see it. I think the depth of emotion of the Jeffries / Johnson fight probably ran deepest. The Louis Schmeling thing was probably a little overblown. The year was 1938 and we were not at war with Germany at the time.

Ali / Frazier had a strong moral story to it just like Jeffries / Johnson. The moral was that one must not ignore the prevalent mores of the country. If the government says go to Viet Nam, then one should go. As far as not being a Christian... well...

In the end though the Jeffries / Johnson fight tends to top them all in terms of raw emotion. That point was further driven home to me as I read newspaper articles just after the Willard / Johnson fight. There was no subtlety to it. Putting the crown back on the head of a white man was a big priority for the nation.

People talk about whether Dempsey was afraid of Wills... He may have been but if he had let Wills have a fight he would have needed to become afraid of everyone.

The media was not in place to do what we did in the early 70s or today, but I get the feeling that Jeffries / Johnson held more interest and dogged devotion than any fight of the 20th century.

I think it says something for boxing and its fans that whites did not do more to cheat Johnson out of his fights. Of course that is for another day (and yes, I know about the Mann Act so please don't flame me). :admin

Russ

 

Frazier vs Ali I, where you had 2 undefeated fighters, one coming back from imposed exile, while the other had built up one of the most impressive win streaks in his last few fights, it had a sensational build-up, and deliverance.

 

Ditto.:good:good

 

Johnson-Jeffries. Had this victory for Johnson never have taken place it's incredibly unlikely that the likes of Louis-Schmelling and Frazier-Ali even take place, let the impact it had across America. This was big bold writing for the world to read that blackss where not inferior to whites, and if anything proved that those of darker skin colour could be considered better.

 

Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling II.

It was 'more' than a Heavyweight Championship.

Joe Louis was beloved by the American people, as he was carrying the
whole nation on his shoulders that night.

Frazier vs. Ali was 'small potato's compared to that fight'.

 

Possibly Johnson-Jeffries especially since it was in a small town I heard from this thread. Need to do more studying of those times.

Would love to get a book with detailed tactics that great "ol timers" used(10's-80's and little bit of Hopkins, Marquez, Chavez, Tyson, maybe Mayweather) plus stories of the older legends such as Marciano, Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Walcott, Robinson, Gomez,etc. Maybe the book "sweet science....." comes the closest but I dunno.

Don't think that book exists but ah well, great bump Thin as usual.

 

All three of the thread starter's fights were hugely signifigant for their times in different ways -

Johnson-Jeffries for the nasty racial aspect.

Louis-Schmelling being very much a U.S.A. versus Germany scenario with definite racist undertones.

Frazier-Ali for featuring two unbeaten fighters holding bona fide claims for being THE Heavyweight champion of the world. Plus political features of it's own.


I give this accolade to the third one. It was the only one where the fight truly lived up to the hype - And then some.

 

Agreed. This fight very important on many levels. Had Schmeling won, Nazi propaganda would have been extreme.

 

Frazier vs Ali, Hands down

 

Joe Louis vs Max Scmeling II.

Every radio in America was tuned into that bout.

You cannot say that with Joe Frazier vs Muhammad Ali.