Billed as 'Fight of the Century', Madison Square Garden's main event in the Spring of 1971 catered to boxing fans all around the world! Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier was a 15 round war that equated to being one of the best fights of all time, and it laid the foundation for Ali to become the GREATEST!
In seeing the tenacity of both men during the fight, I realized that they both carried a lot of emotion into the battle yet fought as brilliantly as they had in hundreds of fights prior. Frazier was able to capitalize on Ali against the ropes and bludgeon with him with that legendary right hand over and over again. Ali wasn't ready for the ferocious onslaught Joe brang, and he had almost unleashed a demon for the adversity he has put on his opponent throughout the build up.
Muhammad Ali set the groundwork for the trash talkers of today, and although we remember him as the brash athlete more confident than Adonis, he really was at times mean spirited in the way he would dismantle his opponent's from the psyche down. Ali would always throw terms Joe's way such as 'ignorant' and even referenced him as an 'Uncle Tom'. With the way Ali felt mistreated by his own country and government at the time, he made the fight a political statement which in turn made Joe Frazier the 'great white hope' in his eyes.
Ali wanted it to be him against the world, but he found out the hard way that Frazier was no white man's hope. Joe was in fact a brilliant and dangerous fighter who's silent demeanor led many to believe he was dense (when that was not the case at all).
Later in life Joe had much to say about Ali, and it is a shame both men had to pass away without ever securing one last handshake, or a thank you for the blood shed and respect earned. We know these men respected each other more than anyone in the world, and Joe beating Muhammad Ali made Muhammad Ali! Joe's victory caused a fire to ignite in Ali, and he came back more ferocious and skillful than ever (dismantling Foreman, and Frazier in the rematches).
An excerpt from a Spokeo Article [https://www.spokeo.com/Joe-Frazier/Famous-Medalist]:
..Frazier retained his bitterness towards Ali and suggested that Ali's battle with Parkinson's syndrome was a form of divine retribution for his earlier behavior. In 2001, Ali apologized to Frazier via a New York Times article, saying "In a way, Joe's right. I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have said. Called him names I shouldn't have called him. I apologize for that. I'm sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight" Frazier reportedly "embraced it", though he later retorted that Ali only apologized to a newspaper, not to him.
Frazier : "I'm still waiting [for him] to say it to me."
Ali: "If you see Frazier, you tell him he's still a gorilla."
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