On the “Thrilla in Manila” documentary …

Why would you want to slap Pacheco upside the head for being honest?. Don’t forget he was a physician. Ali many years later admitted Pacheco was right. His fight commentary wasn’t always brilliant but his insight as a ‘Fight Doctor’ is hard to dispute considering he was a qualified doctor.

 

Are you kidding?...Ali was an ass! When he was flat broke...guess who helped him get by...guess who helped Ali get his license to fight again? He always went off the deep end...a lot of the **** he did was embarrassing. This isn't "revisionist" crap! Some of us lived thru the "clown show!"...

 

I’ve read an Ali perspective wasn’t really possible since he could no longer talk at that point. I agree Pacheco was an ass in the doc but either way a Frazier perspective was welcome due to the oversaturation of Ali content plus Frazier likely felt much stronger about the fight since it was his last chance to shut up his rival once and for all.

 

Being charming and being belittling seem to get mistaken.

 

To you maybe but clearly the far darker skinned Frazier thought it was a very big deal what Ali was saying about the gorilla comparisons an maybe the doc wanted to make it look that way to viewers but near the end of it, it did look like Frazier even as a old man was still bitter about it. Especially with the bit where Frazier’s brother talks about Joe’s new ring tone mocking Ali condition an how he constantly has to tell Joe to let go of what happened in the past

 

He used ‘grilla’ (as he pronounced it) because it rhymed with Manila. Don’t see him using that if the fight was in Tokyo. He was a poet and liked to rhyme.

Yes, he got under Joe’s skin. He did that with a lot of opponents. It made them meaner and come at him harder and he knew that and he did it anyway and stood up to what they brought.

It’s just prefight banter, no matter how mean-spirited. So what? Tyson talked about raping men (make you my girlfriend) and said an opponent ‘made woman sounds’ and wanted to drive someone’s nose bone (there is no such thing) into his brain. Again, big freaking deal.

The fact that Joe would spend years making fun of someone with a degenerative disease is worse than anything Ali ever said or did to him. Yet no one seems to want to hold Joe to that standard.

Big lump of nothing. Just a reason to hate on Ali if you already hated him.

 

OP was just reciting what Ferdie Pacheco was saying, in a critical tone. Pacheco was very obnoxious in that documentary by downplaying Ali's awful pre-fight behavior. But regardless of that, I have respect for Pacheco for leaving the gravy train and refusing to enable Ali when his health was dramatically declining. He even says in the documentary that Ali should've never fought after Manila.

 

Don’t worry man, I read it and I think many others did also.

Your point was obvious and clear. Understood. And I agree with your opinion on Pacheco.

 

Preach brother! Ali was a total A- hole and they should have let Frazier come out for the 15th cause I think he'd have won.

 

Frazier was in a very bad way, and couldn't see. If Ali was as exhausted as many say, perhaps Frazier could've taken the 15th (I doubt it) but he was still waaaaay behind on the cards, and their is little chance he knocks Ali out.

 

I don't know, people heard Ali telling his corner to cut the gloves off after the 14th that he was done, Ferdie Pacheco when asked didn't deny it either and when the fight was called Ali stood up, raised his hand then collapsed to the mat. Everyone reaches a point where they can't go on even Ali. I remember Frazier in an interview about that fight said" He knows who won that fight he know" I think Joe would have beat him, Ali was done, but we'll never know. By the way, Frazier never forgave Futch for stopping it.