The finale of the Ali and Frazier
trilogy and probably the greatest fight in boxing history.
Although the Thrilla In Manila fight would quickly assume
the same iconic status as the Rumble In The Jungle, the announcement
that Ali and Frazier had signed to meet for a third time was
not met with immediate enthusiasm.
Both boxers were considered well
past their best. Ali traveled to Manila with a 50 strong entourage,
a vast circus of trainers, corner men, gofers and hangers
on. Frazier traveled lighter just 17 were in his party, but
his was a more heavy presence. He appeared dark and determined,
a man bent on revenge and redemption no matter what the cost.
This was another Don King promotion.
He had extracted a vast fee from President Ferdinand Marcos
and his wife Emelda, who treated the country's money as their
own. Ali received $4 million guaranteed against 43 percent
of the gross takings, and Frazier was getting $3 million (Ali
in fact received $6 million).
The build up to the fight followed
the familiar pattern. Goading Frazier with his"It will
be a Killer, And a chiller, And a Thrilla, when I get the
gorilla in Manila. At the pre fight press conference Ali produced
a toy gorilla and began punching it.
Once again Frazier was hurt by
Ali's antics. "Look at my beautiful kids. How can I be
a gorilla?" Frazier said. "I don't want to knock
him out, I want to take his heart out."
The fight began at 10:45 am to
accommodate the closed circuit feed back to the US, with 28,000
Philippinos crammed into the stadium.
Almost from the start, it soon
become obvious that we were witnessing greatness. Ali started
well, throwing right hand leads that had worked well against
Foreman. Joe Frazier got caught cold and was tagged several
times before he warmed up. By the third round Ali's corner
were confident. In the fourth round Ali bust Frazier's mouth
open, but Frazier just tossed his head back and kept on coming.
The fight became intense, ferocious. In the sixth round Frazier
threw a left hook that Angelo Dundee rated as the hardest
shot he had seen ever thrown. It landed on ALi's jaw and spun
his head round. Somehow, Ali swallowed the shot and said to
Frazier, "They told me Joe Frazier was washed up."
"They lied, Champ, they
lied!" Frazier snarled at Ali.
The fight began to turn Frazier's
way. His body shots drove into Ali's kidneys, ribs and liver.
They seemed to suck the life out of Ali. By the ninth round
Ali was propped against the ropes waiting for the storm to
blow out.
"Damn." Frazier said
to his corner after the bell. "What's keeping that motherfuckin
fool up?"
The tenth round was almost Ali's
last. Frazier was relentless. Frazier would later say that
he hit Ali with shots that would bring cities down. Bundini
Brown begged Ali to go to the well one more time, and Ali
drew himself from his stool.
In the twelfth round Ali took
the fight back his way with more right hand leads. He suddenly
got a second wind that he used to effect changing the shape
of Frazier's face. Ali's punches were now beginning to close
Frazier's eyes. Frazier's sight in his left eye that was never
that good was now completely gone. Ali could and did hit Frazier
at will with right hands. The thirteenth round was a disaster
for Frazier and his trainer Eddie Futch only let him out for
the fourteenth because he felt Ali might have used the last
of his resources trying to finish Frazier during the endless
minutes of the last round.
In the fourteenth round Ali threw
around thirty punches into Frazier's left eye. Frazier was
surviving on pure heart and guts. When the round ended, the
referee had to guide Frazier back to his corner because he
could not see where he was.
Ali went back to his stool not
sure if he himself could go another round. "It was the
closest thing to death that I could feel." he later said.
But then in one of the greatest
acts of sporting compassion, Eddie Futch stopped frazier with
the words: "Sit down, son, it's over. But no one will
ever forget what you did here today."
In the dressing rooms after the
fight both men bore the heavy damage of the fight. Ali was
grey with exhaustion. He had haematomas over both hips and
welts and bruises all over his back and chest. Frazier could
barely see through the slits of his eyes. The Thrilla in Manila
would extract a heavy toll on both men for months and years
to come.
