I Thought Ali Won The F.o.t.c.

One of the best punches that 'Smokin Joe' hit Muhammad Ali with was the
left hook, just before the end of the 3rd Round.

Arthure Mercante later stated, that Ali was out-on-his-feet for a couple of seconds.

'His eyes were glazed, and he was hurt. I saw it, but Joe Frazier walked back to
his corner without taking a look at Ali. When Ali came out for Rounds 4 and 5, he
was fighting on instinct. Ali kind of snapped out of it at the end of Round 5.'

 

Bill B,,,,,

That was Bill Recht,,,,,,

He always leaned toward the aggressive style as opposed to the boxing style.

Only rounds he was off, Round 1 and Round 13, both of which he scored for
Joe Frazier. Otherwise, he was right on.

But he did have a great statement about Muhammad Ali,,
'any judge that scores around against him, is automatically a racist'.

 

Boy and all this time I was sure Joe Frazier was black. Thinks for setting this right.

 

I think you may have misunderstood that statement.

Bill Recht was one of the few that was not afraid to criticize
Muhammad Ali at that time,,,,,,,,

Bill Recht said, 'that scoring a boxing match is nothing more than that,
a judgement of a boxers performance against another one in the ring.
I do not see black, white or red in the ring, I only see boxing gloves. For
Muhammad Ali to question my judgement based on the color of a man's
skin is to call me a racist. So what Mr. Ali is saying is that any judge that
scores a round against him, is automatically a racist.
With that said, how can any judge be fair in Mr. Ali's view. Boxing is
a sport that requires a judgement of performance to determine
a victor. A neutral observer, without racial bias.'

 

How True,,,,,,

This content is protected

 

In my opinion, the overall statement was great.

Remember this was 1971, and racial tensions were high, especially in criticizing Muhammad Ali.

Bill Recht was one of the few that called Muhammad Ali out on the
carpet.

Bill Recht was a damn good boxing judge, and was well respected.

 

It seemed Ali ate the harder punches, most especially the kd in the 15th and getting hurt worse in round 11, when he was wobbling all over the ring after a Frazier hook and follow-up punches from Joe.

With Ali getting dropped in the 15th and backing up for the rest of the fight from that point, on the basis of a novice watching it, it would be hard to give the decision to Ali.

But from my corner, I saw Ali give away rounds and throw pitty-pat punches to be funny, and like when Jimmy Young threw pitty-pats at Ali 5 years later, these punches don't (or shouldn't) count.

I think Frazier won the FOTC despite the many blows he took, based on professional scoring. On amateur scoring, he probably loses.

 

nah man joe frazier won that fight...........

 

this ****** gives me **** for thinking barrera beat morales went 3-0 yet he pulls this out?? lmfao!

 

...you just go on thinking that...

 

Ali couldn't do anything with Frazier that night in 1971...

 

I am more of a Morales fan, but I scored it 3-0 for Barrera as well for whatever it is worth.

 

Futch and Norton would later say that Joe was off that night even though he was physically at his best shapewise. Joe was so mad at Ali that night, that he wanted to knock him out with every left hook that he threw. Joe landed a lot of lefts but he missed his share of punches on Ali too. He didn't throw that many right hands, and was more about getting even and punishing Ali for all the BS, rather than going to work and getting the job done with all of his punches.

He did the same thing in worse condition against Foreman in Jamaica. Joe believed his hook and boxing skills were too much for George. Frazier left the right hand he punished Quarry, Bonavena and Chuvalo with in the dressing room against Ali and Foreman. Beat one guy and got clobbered by the other. Joe got smarter in the rematch against Ali and threw a few more right hands, but Ali did his best boxing job to win the fight on points.

 

I've heard more that one trainer say that Manilla was the only fight that Ali won from Eddie Futch's men. Norton beat him all three times, Joe won the first two and lost Manilla only because Eddie wouldn't let him continue.

Who's to say Ali would have come out for the 15 round. He did beat the crap out of Joe in the 14th with everything he had left, almost putting Joe down. Joe still had more stamina in his corner with both eyes nearly closed and Ali was practically out of gas on his stool. It is after the 14th round that Ali apparently uttered these famous words, "cut em' off, I ain't going back out there, that man's f**king crazy!"