This year marks the 54th anniversary of the first heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. The March 8, 1971, contest, billed as the Fight of the Century, was the first heavyweight title fight between two undefeated fighters, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
That fight lived up to all of its publicity. At that time, the fight, which took place at New York’s Madison Square Garden, was probably the most hyped and highly anticipated event in the sport’s history.
Graphic courtesy Moe Norman
For those readers who weren’t alive at the time or don’t recall the outcome, I will say that Ali’s prediction that he would knock out Frazier in the sixth round did not come true because the 15-round battle went the distance.
I don’t want to spoil the enjoyment for those who might want to watch the entire fight for free on YouTube. For that matter, I won’t tell you how the second Ali-Frazier contest (Super Fight II), also at Madison Square Garden, and the third Ali-Frazier bout (the Thrilla in Manila) turned out. (Click the hypertext to view.)
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942, Ali won the gold medal at the Rome Olympics in 1960 and, in February 1964, became world heavyweight champion by defeating Sonny Liston. The day after he defeated Liston, Ali rejected the name Cassius Clay given to his family by a slave owner and said he had joined the Nation of Islam.
There was considerable drama around the first fight due to the political climate of the times. In the mid-1960s, America was being torn apart by the issues of the Vietnam War and civil rights. When Ali was ordered to report to the draft board, reporters confronted him. He asked them why he should travel thousands of miles to kill people on behalf of a nation that treated him and his fellow African Americans as second-class citizens. On April 28, 1967, Ali officially announced his refusal to join the armed forces, claiming conscientious objector status. That same day, the New York State Athletic Commission removed his boxing license and stripped him of his title. Boxing commissions nationwide would not let Ali fight, effectively banishing him from boxing.
In late 1970, when the tide of public opinion had turned against the Vietnam War, the city of Atlanta allowed Ali to return to the ring, where he stopped Jerry Quarry in three rounds. Ali then knocked out Oscar Bonavena in the 15th round at Madison Square Garden in December of the year. After the win, Ali shouted, “I want Joe Frazier!”
Two courts upheld the government’s refusal to accept Ali as a conscientious objector, and the case was headed to the Supreme Court in June 1971. Ali, expecting the Supreme Court to decide against him, was eager to fight Frazier for the title before that date. He got his wish with the bout in March of that year with Frazier, who had ascended to the throne in Ali’s absence,
The two fighters were opposites. Ali was talkative, brash, and boastful, and an anti-establishment hero. Frazier just went about his business in the ring. Broadcaster Tim Ryan described Frazier as “a workaday guy who lived the way he fought: just get in there, throw a hundred punches, be strong, and mind your own business.”
Frazier never made any political statements. He helped Ali financially during his exile and appealed to President Richard Nixon to grant Ali clemency. But Frazier became the hero of the establishment just because he was not Ali. As author Jerry Izenberg wrote, “Many whites who disliked Ali on racial grounds adopted Frazier as their designated Black representative.”
As he always did, Ali poured fuel on the fire, unfairly called Frazier an “Uncle Tom,” and said he was too ugly and stupid to be heavyweight champion. Izenberg described the fight as the hippies against the hardhats but noted, “as dramatic as the story was, this was still just a prizefight between two excellent heavyweight boxers.”
Photo courtesy Reddit
The fight lived up to all the hype. The pace of the battle, especially for heavyweight fighters, was incredible. Both fighters showed they could take extreme punishment and engaged in verbal sparring. In the 15th and final round, Ali taunted Frazier, saying, “Fool! Don’t you know that God’s ordained I be champion?” “Well, God’s going to get his ass whupped tonight,” retorted Frazier.
Partial spoiler alert: For those who don’t want to watch the entire fight, watch the 15th round.
Three months later, Ali won his battle with the U.S. government when the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 the government had not provided a good reason to deny Ali’s conscientious objector status.
An article on the fight in History.com noted, “In the end, for all the import and symbolism that had been assigned to it, the Fight of the Century was… just a fight. The Vietnam War continued for another four years; 54 years later, America remains riven by racial injustice, and sports figures continue to use their platforms to call for social and political change.”
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This article, which has been contemporized, first appeared in The Vacaville Reporter on March 23, 2021.
