March 1971 New York Daily News Interview with Referee Arthur Mercante, and Judges Bill Recht and Artie Aidala. All '3' scored the 4th Round for Joe Frazier Arthur Mercante (Referee) Muhammad came out fast and was throwing heavy right hands, they were his hardest punches of the fight, up to that point. He clearly won the first minute of the round, and was well on his way to winning the round. Joe was missing, and getting tagged by almost everything. Though Muhammad was backing up, he was controlling the action. He was doing much the same in the middle of the round, but Joe did get in one good left hook which stopped Muhammad's attack. In my view, Muhammad had the round won, and all he had to do was move and jab for the last 40-seconds or so, but for some reason he tried to land more heavy shots, which left him open. That was the opening Joe was looking for, and he took advantage, as he landed several big left hooks in the last 40-seconds. Though Muhammad controlled the first 2-minutes, I had to give the round to Joe, on the strength of his harder punches, and his smartness in being the aggressor in the last 30-seconds.
Bill Recht, Fight Scoring Judge. I always lean toward the aggressor and harder puncher, or the one that initiates the fight. In my view, Joe had won the 1st and 3rd rounds on strength, and Muhammad had won Round 2 on better boxing skills and cleaner punching. In Round 4, Muhammad picked up where he left off in Round 2. He started to throw his punches with more authority, and was really loading up on the right cross. He was scoring with ease, and his punches even sounded crisper. Clearly, Muhammad was dominating the round, and he was winning it easily. But sometime in the middle of the Round, Frazier landed a sharp left hook that stopped Muhammad's momentum. I could see that Muhammad was stunned, and Joe did get in a couple of hard shots that put him right back in contention for the round. I was still leaning towards Muhammad, but Joe stole the last 40-seconds with several hard left hooks, and when he pinned Muhammad on the ropes, I had to give it to Joe, as he wanted Round 4 more than Muhammad.
Artie Aidala, Fight Scoring Judge I had given the first two rounds to Muhammad Ali, based upon scoring with cleaner punching. But Round 3, I gave to Joe on his effective aggressiveness. In Round 4, Muhammad went back to his better boxing skills, and clearly controlled the first half of the round. He had his best minute of boxing up to that point in the fight. He was way ahead in round 4, and was cruising until that left hook by Joe stunned him. You could hear the punch at ringside. Though Muhammad was winning the round, that one-punch took alot out of Muhammad's confidence. Joe took over for the that last minute and that was it. Joe's harder punching won the round, no if's, and's or but's. Many people didn't realize how shook Muhammad was at the end of Round 4. He really didn't come out of it until Round 9.
