Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York, 20th September, 1972.
The rematch with Floyd Patterson
drew a gate of 17,000 at the Garden even though a 37 year
old Patterson had been beaten by Jimmy Ellis in Ali's exile
period.
A pre fight appearance by Joe
Frazier in the ring seemed to energize Muhammad Ali more than
the prospect of beating up Floyd Patterson for the second
time. Ali's attempts to rile Frazier were ignored with Frazier
smiling as Ali pretended to be restrained by his corner men.
Ali soon had to stop clowing
around though, as Patterson , fighting better than he had
for years, took several of the early rounds and began frustrating
Ali with his peek-a-boo defense.
A sixth round right hand from
Ali turned the fight back his way, opening a cut on Patterson's
eyelid. Another rounds work forced the referee to get the
doctor to take a look and the bout was called to a halt despite
the protestations of Floyd Patterson.
Muhammad Ali was moving nearer
to another Heavyweight Title shot.
