If Ali had kept his mouth shut and been gracious to Frazier in Manila …

I personally believe that Frazier would've beaten Ali if he had four eyes.

 

Ali would've died before he quit in Manila. A much older and worse version of himself didn't quit against Larry Holmes, a fight he didn't win a single minute of.
Yet because some with agendas overstate what was said in Ali's corner in the fourth teenth rd , the rumor persist he was going to quit.
Its Nonsense....
It's a very interesting topic of what if Ali had been a lot less of a jerk and bully to Frazier , would their have been a different result.
It's doubtful, Frazier was simply a hard man, and he came to do damage against anyone in that opposite corner.
Hell , he considered Bob Foster a friend and damn near killed him. That speaks volumes about his seriousness when it came down to business or battle ( As well he should be)
Ali's antics only added fuel to the fire. But that fire was always burning inside Frazier. Don't get it twisted.

 

Some people hated Ali long before the third Frazier fight. (Not always for what we might call good reasons.)

They’d look for any excuse to add to that hatred and to make their cases.

Ali was flawed, like all men. But he was also great in many ways inside and outside the ring, and all men cannot claim that.

Ali has the best resume of certainly any heavyweight ever, and possibly any fighter ever. And there are some who will use everything they have til their dying breath to try to convince others not to admire him.

Sad. Joe couldn’t let go of his hate and some fight fans can’t either.

I think Ali did what he could to build interest in his fights and sell tickets. Starting the Joe Frazier fan club wouldn’t have achieved that … as noted, many thought Joe was washed and Ali had to do the building up of that fight to create the level of public interest that it eventually had.

Ali also, imo, had a thing about wanting to win the mental game and he may have been without equal in that. He tried to dig under the opponent’s skin and get in his head. He did so knowing he was poking the bear and likely to bring out the best and most determined qualities in his opponents, and that drove him to prepare to be better to meet that.

There are people on this forum who will defend Mike Tyson biting an oppnent’s ear off and biting an opponent’s leg (Lewis) prefight and saying he wants to **** them and drive someone’s nose into their brain and kill them and eat their children … and then tell you what a nasty man Ali was, lol.

 

They didn’t give Frazier a pity payday, LOL. Who told you such nonsense? Frazier’s performances looked poor in 1974-75 & Ali pounced on what he thought were easy pickings.

 

Not having a go at you, but whoever said that - Pacheco, hey? Imagine my shock.

Jerry Izenberg tells the story very differently.

 

Did you hit your head or something ?!?
Apart from Foreman, who wasn't very skilled and was tricked, Ali hasn't got a single win over an ATG in their prime.

 

Patterson and Frazier ain't ATGs?

 

Must've been a gust of wind, my apologies.

 

I getcha, I guess I haven't been around long enough to block anybody yet.