from one of the ali-afiniciados: thanx a lot! - very entertaining stuff, high picture-quality and the show itself looks absolutely complete, running for almost an hour! from today standpoint we see an over-the-hill-champ; from the ´77 viewers point of view, he was on top of the world, undisputed heavyweight champion with his own movie, tv-serial and comic-book (against superman); all of it came out in 1977, if i remember right. muhammad adresses a lot of very interesting topics, like his favourite: religious and philosophic questions, even mentioning hitler and the jews. by mid-july ´77 he talks of maybe two remaining fights; introducing shavers as his next, still telling this fight would happen in dubai (??). the titlefight was only two and a half months away and it was still not certain where it would happen with all the advance reservation and everything (it finally happened in madison square garden)??? -hard to believe ...
I don't know about his best, it was certainly his toughest and he took a bloody good hiding for a large portion of that fight!
Manila was n't his best performance of the 70's from a technical standpoint,imo. It was however his best in proving that he could suck up ridiculous amounts of punishment and give it all,and more,back to his opponent. Ali was never quite the same afterwards,and Frazier was shot to hell,post Manila.
Ali's downfall, I think, can be traced to the Manila fight. That fight ruined him. In 1976, Ali was still pretty good, but clearly less effective than he had been earlier in the '70s. By 1977, Ali had slipped even more. Finally, in 1978, he actually lost to someone -- Leon Spinks -- who was probably never a legitimate top-10 heavyweight to begin with. I need not address how bad the 1980 Ali was.
Also,,,,,,,,,quite possibly the first boxer who was properly managed. William Faversham Jr. and the Louisville Group
I'm always saying how marvelous it would have been had Muhammad hung up the gloves straight after Manila. "It would have been a a thrilla if the champ had hung 'em up after Manila"
