The Fight of the Century is a beautiful boxing match.

In other news, the sky is blue, and a tomato is not a fruit. Also, reportedly, water is moist. More at eleven.

Seriously, though, Ali and Frazier are so incredibly expressive in this match. You can see Fraziers insecurity, his determination, his desire to punish for being looked down upon. Ali's confidence, his physical superiority, and his dominance straight out of the gate. He's got this. Fighting that first and second round, he knows: he can take this man.

He lands every punch, and controls Frazier. But the man is not reacting the way he should. Slowly, you see Ali realize what he's in there with. And you can feel his confidence make way for a survival instinct.

And Frazier's belief just builds. He must have been on an incredible high, despite the pain, to gain the upper hand so. He almost turns sadistic in his relentless pursuit. But then Ali, his turn now, won't wilt either.

Has there every been a contest where so much respect was won, one fighter to another? Would it ever been as justified?

What a match.

 

Great performance by 2 of the greatest of all time

 

A brilliant fight, 2nd only to the thrilla in Manila in HW history.

 

Nah, I think FOTC surpasses the Thrilla.

 

You are right, because the two of them were at their very best that night in 1971. They were never the same again. My most thrilling night ever ringside, ALONG with the Ray Robinson/Randy Turpin rematch at the Polo Grounds in 1951. I was sitting with my buddy about 10 rows in back of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Two great fights I can never forget...

 

Burt i wish you would write a book about the fights you have been to and boxing you know about, I will be first in line to buy it.

 

Skillwise, the first was a far superior fight. Manila was tougher,more gruelling, and finished them both.

 

I argued with my Spanish teacher that a tomato wasn't a fruit but she told me that it was.

 

It is. A fruit is part of the plant that contains its seeds. That's its definition. Tomatoes have seeds.

 

So does tennis and snooker. Are they fruits

 

So you're picking sides? This was in like 4th grade. I was a hard-headed kid that liked to argue. Think my logic was the V8 Vegetable juice had a tomato flavor.

 

the greatest fight of all time

 

It is the fight that captures both of them closest to their absolute peaks.

Over of the last couple of years I have givena # copies of it to friends as a gift. It is hard to believe now, but I had searched for it for years before it became available. I could make a pretty good argument that it is not the only greatest fight of all time but the greatest sporting event of all time! If Ali had won I think it would be remembered more readily but the result wasnt embraced by many who bought the over simplified version of the combatant's stories.

 

Ali took this fight way too early. But he kind of had to because he didn't know whether he was gonna continue fighting or go to jail.

 

I thought tomato was a vegetable.