BOXING HERITAGE
HOLLY HUMPHREY
Manila’s Lasting Shadow on Ali and Frazier
THE SCORECARD / MANILA’S LASTING SHADOW ON ALI AND FRAZIER
There has never been a rivalry in sports like the one between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. It was fierce and magnificent, born from respect and brotherhood, but twisted by pain into something darker than either man ever intended.
When Muhammad Ali refused induction into the United States Army in 1967, his stand was both a political act and an act of faith. He was stripped of his licence and banned from boxing. And while much of the sporting world turned its back on him, one man stood up for his right to fight again: Joe Frazier. Frazier lent his name, his money and his influence to help Ali regain his license. He saw a fellow fighter wronged and wanted justice. In those days, there was affection between them, a quiet bond between two men who rose to become kings of the heavyweight world.
But boxing, like history, has a cruel sense of irony. When Ali returned, he repaid that friendship with ridicule. He mocked Frazier’s looks, his manner of speech, calling him a “gorilla”. The words cut deeper than punches. They humiliated Frazier, who felt betrayed by the man he had once helped. From then on, every blow would carry the weight of those insults.
March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Gardens marked the first fight between the two fierce competitors. The fight was built as the fight of the century. For the first time in history, two undefeated heavyweight champions would face off against each other. For many, it was a battle of ideals, not just a battle between firsts. .
The early rounds belonged to Ali, dancing, jabbing, taunting. The speed and footwork that defined his career outboxed Frazier with ease in the early rounds. But Frazier kept coming, his left hook like a hammer striking an anvil, blow after blow. By the middle rounds Ali was taking heavy punishment, suffering from the weight of Frazier’s punches and by the 15th round, the rhythm of the fight had changed. Frazier landed a thunderous left that sent Ali sprawling to the canvas. When the bell finally rang, Frazier had won by unanimous decision. Both men went to the hospital that night, carrying more than simply bruises.
By 1974, the championship belonged to George Foreman. The fight between Foreman and Frazier had lasted two brutal rounds and the heavyweight championship title had shifted hands. Then came The Rumble in the Jungle, where Ali reclaimed his crown from Foreman. But victory did not bring peace. There was still unfinished business in the shadow between him and Joe Frazier.
That shadow stretched all the way to Manila. By the time of the fight, Frazier wanted simply to destroy Ali. Ali wanted to prove that he was boxing’s greatest.
October 1, 1975, The Thrilla in Manila. The heat inside the arena was suffocating, hitting over 100 degrees fahrenheit. The crowd of 25,000 roared as the two men met once again. The early rounds were Ali’s, fast jabs, crisp combinations. But by the middle of the fight, Frazier had turned it into a war of attrition. His left hook found its mark again and again. Ali sagged against the ropes, gasping for air, trapped in a furnace of pain.
By the 13th round, the tide turned once more. Ali, near exhaustion, summoned something beyond will, something primal, and unleashed a torrent of punches that closed Frazier’s eyes and left him half-blind. After the 14th round, Eddie Futch, Frazier’s trainer, looked at his fighter and said quietly, “Sit down, Joe. It’s over”. Frazier protested, but Futch would not let him die in that ring.
Ali won by technical knockout. But there was no celebration. When the bell rang, he collapsed in his corner, whispering, “That’s the closest thing to dying I’ve ever known”.
Manila had no winner. Only survivors.
In later years, Ali called Frazier “a great man, a great fighter”. But the wounds of their rivalry ran deep. Frazier never forgave the taunts, never forgot the humiliation. “I hit him with punches that would have brought down the walls of a city,” he said years later, “and he’s still talking”.
They shared a strange kind of immortality, two men forever joined by the violence and beauty of what they did together. The fight ended long ago, but the shadow it cast has never faded.