What would the 15th round of Ali vs Frazier III look like?

I reckon Joe would come out on top.
Ali wanted out, Joe wanted in, their trainers thought differently.

 

I think this is an excellent question.

I would have to agree with McGrain on this. I think he is spot on, although Ali collapsed this is probably due to him letting go of his will when he knew the fight was over.

Had Joe been allowed to continue he would have survived the round the man was a warrior and Ali was too tired to rally for a knockout. I think Ali would have survived any onslaught from Frazier too, his ego would have ensured he would have died before giving up.

The round would have come to a natural end, Ali would probably take the round as Frazier was all swollen up and having difficulty with his vision.


Ali may have said he was the closest ever to death but don't let that fool you into thinking he was finished. He would have gotten up from his stool and gone back to work. Ali was a warrior too. Anyway, I'm sure he wanted that massive silly trophy! :yep

 

Ali nearly quit in the 10th, but he had regained the momentum from Frazier and clearly has the better of the 13th and 14th rounds.

By the end of the 14th Frazier was close to being stopped, and he had trouble finding his corner.
I think the 15th would have been a continuation of the 14th round, with Ali having gotten his second (or third) wind and punishing Frazier with sharp punches.
Frazier had so much heart though, and he'd struggle through the round to finish on his feet. However, I think he would have taken a lot of punishment in the 15th and may have been on the receiving end of a flash knockdown at some point.

 

Ali was really nailing Joe flush in the 14th.Both were tired and badly beaten up, but Joe couldn't see.Both had the balls and the will to keep going, but Futch saw the writing on the wall.It was just too dangerous to send Joe out not being able to see.Ali would have sucked it up and punished Joe badly in the 15th.

 

Frazier would end up dead, in a coma or with even more brain damage than he has now. Yes Ali was exhausted too, but he was still throwing a lot of punches in the 14th. Frazier's corner not stopping it would've been homicide.

 

I'm afraid to think of it, but Frazier would have taken whatever until the end. Sadistic.

 

One of the things I like about this folder are the little insights like this that really flesh out a fight you think you knew everything about. I didn't know Joe had said that, and I think you're absolutely correct in your assesment that it was Joe's way of waving a little white flag.

 

Pretty much like the 14th. Joe would eat up punches till the bell went (but there wouldn't be as many of them).

 

I've always pictured it like the 14th but with fewer punches and more leaning on. Both guys were exhausted, I don't think Frazier could've summoned sufficient energy for one last push, and I think Ali would've been happy to grapple and slug his way through the last round. Plus the risk of injury to Frazier would've been even greater, with his eyes so bad on top of the dehydration and the effect on his brain.

 

In what way? Would his sight have just simply improved with the magic sponge?

 

Ha ha fair enough. :yep

 

At the end of the 14th round, Ali was actually knocking Frazier backwards. Joe wasn't like Sam Langford, he needed his vision to perform effectively. Muhammad had withstood Smoke's best at that point, as witnessed by Frazier's comment that he hit Ali with punches that would have knocked down walls.

Keep in mind that this wasn't the first time that year in which Ali had collapsed at the end of a contest. He did the same thing after dispatching Wepner. The gauntlet of bouts he had against Foreman, Wepner, Lyle and Bugner had forged him into steel, and he probably would have come out of his corner for the final round heartened by his success at the end of the previous round. Unfortunately for Frazier, Muhammad was absolutely at the most battle ready and battle tested condition of his career.

1975 may have been the single greatest year any heavyweight titlist has ever had. He took out Wepner at the very end of a sustained championship round surge, with what would have been a clean knockout if Tony Perez hadn't waved off the count at seven. (Chuck struggled to his feet 12 seconds after going down.) If Perez hadn't ruled Ali's earlier falling as a knockdown, Muhammad probably would have settled for an easy decision, but he wanted to avenge his fall by scoring one of his own. This resulted in him exerting himself late in a way he never had before. (He didn't particularly put himself out against Bonavena, but essentially finished Ringo with a single hook.) Remarkably, Wepner didn't turn into a bloody mess in Cleveland, or he would have been stopped earlier. (The press expected Chuck to be stopped earlier in a bloodbath. That this didn't happen was a huge surprise, but this work undoubtedly aided his ability to perform late in Manila.)

Ali spotted Lyle a lead on the scorecards, then took Ron out in one of the few come from behind wins of his career.

In Malaysia, Bugner made Ali do most of the work in scorching hot temperatures under the sun. Not a particularly difficult win for Muhammad, but he did get in a good 15 round workout against a well schooled challenger.

Frazier challenged Ali for the title at the worst possible time he could have tried for it. Muhammad was into a grueling rhythym when round 14 ended, and would have forced Carlos Padilla to stop the fight. Padilla said he would have let Frazier come out for the final round, but would have stopped it if Joe continued getting hit the way he had been. That's what I believe would have happened. It might have been like the end of Lyle (when Ali battered Ron from corner, to corner, to corner, with 46 unanswered punches). I don't think Joe would have gone down, but he was pretty much reduced to a punching bag by that point. He did not give ground to Ali unless he was in very, very serious trouble, and rendered unable to see. He'd have been reduced to covering against the ropes or in the corner, and Padilla would have interceded fairly early in the round. The competitive phase of Manila was over when Futch stopped it.