Frazier Ali I is surprisingly fairly one sided

You're correct ... Ali had no business being in that ring against Frazier after huge inactivity and then two fast fights which both showed how much he'd lost ... the first Quarry fight had Ali clearly tired after two rounds and he was fortunate that Quarry got cut early .. if Jerry didn't it may have been a very different fight .. the Bonavena fight was hideous. Ali was hit more in that fight than his previous career combined .. he was slow a foot as well .. we know Oscar in addition to being a brute could be a spoiler but Ali looked very vulnerable and this is often forgotten based on the dramatic ending .. the reality is that he should have had time off to heal and maybe another fight or two but there was a ton of concern at the tie that he take the fight ASAP as his license could be over turned again and he was desperate for the money .. Just going the distance and having the moments he did against a near prime and much sharper Frazier was his gutsiest career performance ..

 

Actually, all 3 judges scored rounds 3 and 4 for Frazier. Go figure, LOL. The only other rounds scored unanimously for Joe were rounds 11 and 15 (no qualms there of course).

 

Great post Mike. Don’t want to begrudge the great Joe Frazier a thing, we just call it as we see it.

Ali and Frazier, inextricably entwined, driving one another to levels no other opposition could even come close to pushing them to.

I’m pretty sure the footage you talking about is from the documentary, THE FIGHT, 1971 made by William Greaves. It used to be up on YouTube but it seems not so now.

There’s no commentary, just the sounds from the fight, audience and corners if I recall correctly.

A very authentic, birds eye view. It was actually the first version of the FOTC I watched having purchased it on a VHS tape - long gone by the wayside since. Might have to chase myself up a Blu Ray version if available.

 

Then Mercante definitely broke his own rule. Ali dominates 3 and 4 quite thoroughly for the majority of the them, with Frazier ending strongly in both.

 

For your interest and comparison here is our scorecard thread. It's a decent read i think.

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...-muhammad-ali-i-fotc-50th-anniversary.664266/

 

Thanks JT. I’ll have a good look at that.

 

Thanks. Good read. Like a car accident. EDIT: I should’ve typed that fights can often be like a car accident - not to be confused with the thread being a car accident, LOL.

Same event but not seen quite the same through different sets of eyes.

Definitely a fight that warrants multiple views for rounded, even handed scoring treatment. I liked @PhillyPhan69 ‘s
collating of the individual rounds scored by various members - nice statistical approach.

 

That is one of the very few Ali fights I have never watched in its entirety.