Tony Perez on Ali-Frazier II

Complete utter garbage! Perez was off the whole night, and not just for the holding. He botched the second round of this fight which is well documented.

First of all, I disagree with most people who say that Ali would have knocked Frazier out in the second round had Perez not mistakingly heard the bell. There's no doubt that Ali had Frazier hurt in round 2, but as far as knocking him out, I strongly disagree. Maybe Ali might have been able to put Joe on the canvas if he was allowed to continue his flurry of punches.

Ali's holding behind Frazier's neck was big time illegal and cowardly IMO. I watched this fight numerous times and Ali should have been penalized for his tactics. Any other referee would have taken a point away and not let Ali continue to hold behind the head. Ali tried to push down on Frazier's head in the FOTC and Manilla, but Mercante and Padilla didn't allow him to do that by slapping his gloves away from Frazier's neck between the clinches.

As for the fight itself, Ali didn't land anything of significance to deserve the victory, except for the right hand shot in round two. Frazier didn't do enough to deserve the victory either, but his aggression should have been counted for in the scoring. It was a close decision that probably should have been a draw. I dare say this decision was gift wrapped for Ali because too many people had a vested financial interest in his career and losing two to Frazier would have severely tarnished his legacy.

 

I have my theories about this fight just like everyone else. What took the judges so long to get the scorecards to the ring after the fight? If that doesn't shed a bit of light to the conspiracy theory surrounding this fight, then I don't know what else does. The ringside commentary by Don Dunphy explains all of that at the end of the fight.

Perez was having an off day, no question about that. Ali needed to win this fight against Frazier and there's nothing that Frazier could have done that night that would have given him the decision. Ali didn't clearly outbox Frazier, likewise Frazier didn't do enough to warrant getting the decision himself. That's why the fair decision would have been a draw as far as I'm concerned.

Watch the FOTC and Manilla. Ali tries to push Joe's head down in both of those fights. Mercante and Padilla wouldn't let him do it. In fact, Ali was warned by both refs for holding and you can plainly see Padilla slapping Ali's gloves away from Frazier's neck. The only difference with the FOTC II is the fact that Perez let Ali get away with the holding.

 

Eddie Futch counted 133 clinches in that fight, most were markedly obvious.
Why then did Mercante and Padilla warn Ali in both of the their contests about holding? In the first rounds of Manilla, Ali clearly tries to pull Joe's head in, but Padilla kept slapping his hand away from his neck. To say that Ali's holding is perfectly legal without warning makes for conspiracy. Refs always handle jab and grab fighters by slapping their gloves away from the opponent.

 

Tony Perez is full of ****.

His suggestion that Frazier should have bent at the knees and gotten so low that Ali could no longer hold him is laughable.

It's utter crap.

Tony Perez should have done his job. Or at least admitted his mistake in letting that situation occur.

I remember Richard Steele warning and docking Frank Bruno for using the neck hold on Mike Tyson. He took points immediately early in the fight.

Ali's tactics were illegal. He was reaching out to grab Frazier at times, pulling him in, holding the back of his neck. It's blatant, it's ridiculous, and it puts the shorter fighter at an impossible disadvantage.

There's no excuse for persistently holding the back of an opponent's head. There's no excuse for a referee not to deal with it.

 

As far as i'm concerned...Perez is one of the worst refs ever! If you guys watch the Ali/Wepner fight, you'll know what i'm talking about.

 

Thats what I like a clear unbiased report

 

Ali was allowed to get away with bull**** sideshow antics 95% of the time. He was larger than life. He received the benefit of the doubt whenever he was being wailed on.

Foreman. Shavers. Frazier. Whoever has him on the ropes murdering him at the time.

He gets Lyle in trouble and of course Ron isn't given the same benefit.

Screaming "conspiracy!" is cliche as it comes. Ali was involved in more god damned crap decisions than I care to remember.

After Young, which he clearly lost, he was calm and collected as could be as the verdict was being announced. HE wasn't stupid and implying the man was never the winner because of biased and or crooked, money minded judging is insulting to ME.

 

Boring fight. How it's part of the Superbouts series is baffling. Then again, the Wepner fight's part of the series too.

 

Consider yourself insulted.

 

You're in the absolute minority if you didn't notice what thread you wandered into.

 

I dont know if the judges were thinking "We have to favour Ali, it's good for the sport, he brings money to all of us" as Ken Norton suggests, although anyone who knows anything about boxing knows that such pragmatic attitudes ARE a common theme.

But I certainly think the mid-late 70s television commentary on Muhammad Ali fights is often laughably in its effort to celebrate Ali's god-like status. I heard Cosell or whoever admiring Ali's "beautiful physique" in a fight where Ali was CLEARLY out-of-shape, and just talking about Ali being a "legend" while he was getting pummelled while doing nothing in a pantomime rope-a-dope.