Thrilla in Manilla Round 15

....Ali 'colapsed' as soon as the result was announced, for one reason.... to get the back slappers away from him... He simply needed space to breath. He finished the 14th round extremely well, considering the exhaustion. Joe had been battered terribly in the 13th and 14th which is clear testimony to his toughness.

Had the 15th round began, Ali.. in my estimation.. had the goods to continue. I assume Joes corner, the Doc and the referree would have taken a close look at Joe in the first minute of the 15th... Joe would have been subjected to the same punishment of the prior rounds, and the fight would, deservably... and humanely .. be stopped.

 

Yes I saw the vids many times. The Ref was to call it off if he took more punishment. How do we know he would have taken more punishment from a more exhausted Ali? How do we know Ali would've quit or just collapsed? We don't. It's purely speculation.

Joe Frazier was willing and able to fight, he wouldn't have quit just the same as Ali. Ali stood up to celebrate but his legs gave out and collapsed because he couldn't stand up he was that exhausted. Frazier still had that "dream" as he would call it to beat Ali again. He would've definetly had enough to atleast finish the fight.

 

So you take zero notice of what the men in his corner said? Benton and Futch?

Ali slapped Frazier around in round 14 and looked for sure the fresher and stronger man. I don't know how you could possibly think Frazier was in better shape. Hanging onto this Ali collapsing thing is pure fantasy, Ali's not collapsing if Joe doesn't quit in his corner.

Ali had finished his marathon and let it all drain out. If the marathon was 2km longer he would have run it then let it all out.

Round 15 was more of the same, Ali slapping Frazier about some with a possible ref's stoppage. Frazier wasn't about to morph into some fresh ready to roll fighter all of a sudden. A great fight, and a grueling one.

 

Agreed.

 

Spot on. Anyone who thinks otherwise need not be taken seriously.

 

The truly amazing thing about this fight. Is how deep Muhammad could go to the well... Frazier in the middle rds, was putting it on Ali. Ali sucked it up, and beat Frazier at his own game. He went into the trenches to take it. Greatest heart and greatest chin in history. As for the 15th? I don`t think `Smokin` Joe had the gas to get his hook to Ali`s chin. Ali fights carefully, in spurts, carefully wins the 15th and the fight. Joe Frazier(in defeat) showed more in this fight than many other heavyweight champs in victory. Class act and class champion...

 

Let's say the 15th was even. What would have been the scorecard's? Did Frazier need a knockout? He would have been hardpressed to at least make the 15th even. He didn't have enough left to go out and go for the knockout.

 

Yes, If the great Eddie Futch says his fighter has had enough, Then that's it... End of Controversy.

 

If futch never threw the towel in, Ali would have quit

Marvis Frazier said so that Ali went to the corner after the 14th and said cut em off, this was corroborated to Marvis by Willy the Worm somoneorother as seen in the documentary

If the 15th would have happened Joe would have ko'd ali

its quite ironic that ali wanted to quit but joe didnt

 

Grow up.

If you seriously believe this then I dont believe you have ever seen an Ali fight, the fight was in the bag points wise, Joe was ready to go, they were hated rivals, Ali had just completed 14 rds of hell..... & you believe he was just gonna sit on his stool when the 15th was due to start or that Joe would have KOd Ali when he hadnt landed **** in the past 2 rds & ate suitcases full of leather himself. Please.

 

Oh, you guys should check out the Ali/Foreman fight, not long after Ali KOs George in rd 8, he sits down in the middle of the ring to avoid all the celebrations & ****, very similar to the 3rd Frazier fight..... now are you gonna tell me Ali couldnt stand or collapsed after the Foreman fight too.

Some of you guys have to learn that sometimes the fighter you wanted to win doesnt win... in this case, Ali beat Frazier.... WITHOUT QUESTION OR DISPUTE IMO.

 

Ali would have picked up where he left off, probably winning by tko. There was no way that frazier was going to come back and ko ali, he was nothing more than a punching bag at that point. He stood a good chance at getting seriously injured, and futch showed his loyalty as a trainer and a friend and did the right thing in stopping it.

 

:rofl

 

I honestly don't know how the story has been twisted and turned over the years. What I do know and remember is that with my own eyes, I watched Dr. Ferdie Pacheco in a sports interview clearly state that Ali wanted his gloves cut off after the 14th round. Ali came back to the corner and said with a few more expletives, "cut em off, I ain't going back out there, that' man's crazy." Willie the "Worm" Monroe said he heard the exact same thing.

Bundini Brown and Pacheco were both pleading with Ali for one more round while Angelo Dundee stayed silent in the corner, rubbing down Ali's legs and arms for the 15th. As the moments between the round continued, Pacheco than looked over at Frazier's corner and saw Eddie Futch sit Frazier down after rising up and he knew then that Futch was going to stop the fight. Carlos Padilla went to the corner of the loser of the round which was the right thing to do considering Ali staggered Frazier in the 14th.

Willie the "Worm" Monroe was out of his ringside seat trying to get George Benton's attention and at the exact same moment, Carlos Padilla stopped the fight. Some on this forum are adamant that Ali said it after the 11th round, which I don't believe is true. In fact, Dundee and Pacheco in different interviews both have said Ali uttered the exact same words after the 11th round of Manilla and after the first round of his ill-fated fight with Larry Holmes, which was the question, "How much more can I take, how many more rounds to go?"

He never mentioned anything about wanting his gloves cut off after the 11th round in Manilla. The 11th round from what I remember was a decent Frazier round and only after that round did Ali start to turn the tide. He was practically spent after the 12th, 13th and 14th, punching Frazier with whatever he had left and realized that Frazier was still on his feet coming forward. Dundee and Pacheco were scared for both men because they both stated that they've never seen Ali sit down on his punches moreso in Manilla against Frazier than any other opponent. Add to the fact that the ringside heat was in excess of 110 F.