"Fights of the Century" that could have eclipsed Ali/Frazier 1 if they'd been made?

scartissue · Nov 7, 2021

Jel said: ↑

I don't know if it's possible. I mean, Dempsey-Wills is the obvious matchup that should have happened that didn't and that would have been very big but I don't think it would have been any bigger than the original fight of the century, Johnson-Jeffries.

Ali-Frazier 1 happened at a remarkable moment in modern American history and the fight was caught up in that. You also had two legitimate, undefeated world heavyweight champions facing off in a fight that had been building for years. Ali, "The People's Champion" and, in boxing terms, lineal champion who had never lost the title in the ring and Frazier, the official champion, Ali's successor, who had won the title in a tournament and then unified it, a champion in all ways but one... he hadn't defeated Ali. The stars aligned for this once in a lifetime event.

Then for the fight to match all that hype and expectation and for Frazier to win and prove his greatness and Ali to prove his mettle too. Nope, that's not happening again, or probably couldn't have happened at any other time in history with any other two contemporaries.
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Jel, this is exactly right. What made Ali-Frazier unique in the buildup was the fact that it was two undefeated fighters who both had a legitimate claim to the title. And of course, the fact that the fight was as exciting as the buildup made it a slam-dunk.

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"Fights of the Century" that could have eclipsed Ali/Frazier 1 if they'd been made?

scartissue Boxing Junkie Full Member

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"Fights of the Century" that could have eclipsed Ali/Frazier 1 if they'd been made?

scartissue Boxing Junkie Full Member