he did intimidate the officials and sometimes the fighters. I seen him tell the ref to stop the fight and they listened
The fight was hard for Ali physically,but he was still well ahead on points. Full marks to him for stopping the unstoppable Bonavena in the fifteenth.
Oscar was an extremely strong, tough, akward fighter who punched hard enough to be the only man that dropped Chuvalo, dropped Frazier and seriously hurt Ali. He was also a bit of a flake, not the hardest trainer in the world and a front runner. The Ali /Chuvalo fight showed that Ali was not the fighter he was in his prime. Granted Bonavena would have been tough at any time, but after so long an exile and just one rushed , inconclusive fight against Quarry he realy was rushed being thrown in the ring with Oscar. Yank Duram, Frazier's manager who was ringside offering commentary, said time and again this was a very dumb fight for Ali to take and he was scared Oscar would upset Ali and blow the Superfight. Ali did show a different skill set in this fight. He proved his chin and overall toughness. He proved his physical strength ... watch him literially throw Oscar around at times in round 1 and 2 ... Ali won most of the rounds but all were tough rounds. He got hit a lot, his prediction of a 9th round KO win almost backfired and it was an overall sloppy fight. The last round KO was exceptional and dramatic ( not to mention unprecidented by Ali) as Ali caught him with a perfect shot. It made many forget Ali's overall performance and overinflate his chances for the upcoming Superfight w Fraier .
Ali's left hook knockdown of Bonavena is rarely mentioned and it was one of the best punches he ever threw. An absolute peach of a punch which showed he punched that bit harder than what hes given credit for IMO. I remember seeing them both at a press conference and Ringo (he looked no more like ringo starr than freddie starr) calling him a chicken and making clucking noises. I laughed my plums off cos you could see Ali losing the head with him, which is very rare indeed. As far as the fight went, although very scrappy, i had Ali well ahead
Fight purses,,,,,,,,,, Who was the fighter that Angelo Dundee wanted Muhammad Ali to fight, next, before taking on Joe Frazier for the title.
You know something... Ali basically knocked out Bonavena and Liston with a classic pullcounter/checkhook...
Considering his ringrust,having only fought three rounds in three and a half years,going into the Bonavena fight,it was n't that bad a showing from Muhammad. And Bonavena was a good,awkward opponent. Ringo may not have been a world beater,but he'd always let the world's best know that they'd been in a fight. And,as has been mentioned,nobody else ever stopped Oscar. In it's own way,this bout was yet another underrated Ali performance.
I don't know the answer to this one. The press reported that Frazier-Ali was on if Ali got past Bonavena. I haven't found any mention of another fight, though I can understand Dundee wanting one.
just watch first round - ali missing with more punches than i've seen him do in any fight. his movement/footwork poor compared to pre-exile version therefore much easier to hit and trap this rusty version on the ropes. he got lucky with a cut v quarry - more rounds he wouda tired badly but people had to wait to bonavena to see the full picture. ali's fav odds woulda dropped right down v frazier after watchig his performance v bonavena.
I had the fight pretty close going into the last round. Bonavena gave Ali more problems than anyone to that point.
How does an orthodox fighter knock out Liston with a hook when the punch that knocked out Liston was a right hand? Talk about a phantom punch...