The Speed of Post Exile Ali

"Shot" might be overplaying it, but clearly declined wouldn't. It's all opinion regarding Ali, so let's agree to differ.:good

 

I have heard some people say that.

Ali did land a big shot in round two, but that was the only round when Frazier was shaken up.

Futch was livid at the ref. When he reviewed the film Futch said that Ali had held Frazier 133 times during the fight!

Those who want to score it can do so here:

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maA4QACDXOY[/url]


ESB Score tally so far:

A clear 7-5 win for Ali here. - Perry

I scored it 6-6 in rounds. - ribtickler68

I don't believe Ali beat Frazier in the rematch - Klompton. He didn't say if he thought it was a draw or if he felt Frazier won it.

 

I had it 6-5 Ali going into the last round. I can see how some people would have Ali winning the last to make it 7-5 to him, but I felt much of his work was missing and not enough to overcome Joe's good start to the round.

 

Ali Beats Frazier On Decision Here
By DAVE ANDERSON

After 12 busy rounds that were virtually an extension of their 1971 classic, Muhammad Ali was awarded a unanimous decision over Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden last night before a glamorous gathering of 20,748, who created a record gate of $1,053,688 for a nontitle, indoor bout.

Ali thereby evened his series with Frazier, the winner by a unanimous 15-round decision at the Garden nearly three years ago in their heavyweight title showdown.

Both former champions immediately looked ahead to a third bout, with Ali saying, "I'm not going to duck Joe, I'm going to give Joe all the chances he wants." Moments earlier, Frazier had said, "I want him again. One more time." Judging by the crowd's enthusiasm a third match is likely.

Ali's ability to land more punches, even though Frazier appeared to connect more solidly, apparently impressed the officials. Jack Gordon, one of the judges, had Ali ahead, 8 rounds to 4, on his scorecard. Judge Tony Castellano had it 7-4 with one even. Referee Tony Perez had Ali ahead, 6-5-1.

Ali justified his role as a 7-to-5 betting favorite with a flurry of jabs and occasional right hands that prevented Frazier from dominating the tempo.

Ali's right hand has a painful bursitis condition in the middle knuckle but it was the hand that registered perhaps his best punch--a straight right to Frazier's jaw late in the second round. Wobbling slightly, Frazier retreated to the ropes but the referee leaped between them.

"Somebody called 'bell,'" Perez explained later, "so I stopped them both. Then the gong table yelled, 'Tony, the round isnít over.' Usually I hear the bell, but the bell was defective before the fight. They had to call the electrician to fix it. It was only five to eight seconds."

Afforded a moment's rest, Frazier easily finished the round, which ended perhaps 10 seconds later.

Unlike his attitude in the 1971 bout, Ali did not clown or attempt to minimize the strength of Frazier's punches. In recording his 44th victory against two losses, the 32-year-old Ali maintained his concentration. He also held Frazier in the clinches, angering his 30-year-old rival.

Except for the momentary clinches, Ali and Frazier maintained the brutal pace that marked their famous first fight, which attracted a record $20-million in gross income, including the ancillary revenue. The expected gross for last night's bout was in the $18-million area.

But throughout the bout, Frazier complained to Perez that Ali was holding in the clinches.

"The only violation," Perez said, "is if you held and hit at the same time. Ali was holding but he wasn't hitting."

Frazier's manager, Eddie Futch, occasionally complained to Perez between rounds.

Frazier, dethroned as champion by George Foreman in a second-round knockout a year ago, absorbed his second defeat against 30 victories. He will be consoled with 32 1/2 per cent of the net income, which, like Ali's share, might equal the flat fee of $2.5-million each received in 1971.

At the opening bell, the pattern was established--Frazier, at 209 pounds, moving aggressively at his 212-pound rival, willing to accept a fusillade of jabs in order to get under Ali's arms and land the left hook that had floored Ali in the 15th round of their Garden epic three years ago.

Through all 12 rounds, they maintained that pattern. In the ninth round, Ali began to bleed from the left nostril. In the next round, a tiny slice appeared on his right cheek, the target of Frazier's left hook, but there was hardly any flow of blood from the cut at his cheekbone.

As in the first fight, Frazier's face puffed in the late rounds, notably around the eyebrows.

Each wore white trunks, but it's doubtful if any spectator, either at the Garden or at any of the closed-circuit TV locations, had any trouble identifying them. Ali's trunks were his usual white satin model, while Frazier appeared in white crushed velvet with a criss-cross stripe.

During the instructions from Perez in midring, Ali looked away from Frazier, who glared up at him. But near the end of the referee's lecture, Ali winked twice at the ringside spectators.

Ali had promised that he would dance for 12 rounds, but he seldom did. He was willing to trade three or four jabs or cuffing right hands in an effort to impress the officials, while Frazier was content to accept Ali's sometimes weak and wild punches in return for the opportunity to hook.

Occasionally, the gladiators talked to each other, as they had done three years ago.

"They kept talking to each other," Perez reported. "Frazier kept saying, 'I'll kill you,' and Ali kept saying, 'I'll whip you bad.'"

But unlike most fights, there was no obvious turning point, except for Frazier's attitude.

In the early rounds, Frazier appeared to control his assault. But, beginning in the seventh round, he obviously was trying to register a knockout. Time and time again, he rushed Ali, almost desperately, but Ali smoothly escaped, either with a flurry of punches or in a clever clinch.

Only once, in the sixth round, did Ali really dance as only he can, rapidly circling to his left, away from Frazier's hook.

Perhaps Frazier's best punch was a hard right in the eighth to Ali's jaw. But again, Ali retreated successfully before his thickset rival could follow it up.

In the final rounds, Frazier lunged desperately, missing with his left hook. And by then, the officials had been impressed. Only a knockout by Frazier could have averted the verdict. Ali, typically, had impressed the crowd with a quick Ali shuffle after the bell ended the second round.

Other than that, Ali didn't try to be funny. He knew there was too much at stake--another multimillion-dollar extravaganza with Frazier, for example, as well as a heavyweight title bout with Foreman.

 

He was his toes each round for the entire bout and just as fast doing so as in Chuvalo 1, which yes he spent time on the ropes as George pounded his kidneys. The point is in both bouts he moved for large parts in each round, and he clearly won both bouts.

 

I make it 7 - 5 to Ali. A lot of close rounds in that one.

 

For me only rds 4 and 12 were close, really. If you give both those to Joe (which isn't absurd in any way) you get a draw. But there were several close rds in FOTC too and if you give those to Ali he wins that one imo (heresy to many here, but still).

But at the end of the day I thought Joe won FOTC and Ali the rematch.

Did Ali get away with too much holding? Yes. But that is also true of Tunney vs Dempsey, Young vs Foreman, Wlad vs you name it, and many other fights. Holding is somethings refs traditionally have been (too) lenient on.