Word: alie
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Ever since their "fight of the century" encounter three years ago, Frazier and Ali have experienced some pretty lean times. For the flamboyant Ali, there has been the frustration of waiting for a rematch with Smokin' Joe, and more recently, the shattering of his reputation (and jaw) at the hands of Ken Norton. And since the last go-around, Frazier has undergone the drawn-out recuperation from the facial pummeling Ali gave him and, most recently, the humiliating de-regalization by George Foreman as heavyweight king...
...into the twilight of their careers. Past 30 years old, the watershed of many a fighting career, neither can afford a further tarnishing of the record to hasten the skid from the top. And with an awesome new champ holding court today as king of the heavyweights, tonight's Ali-Frazier is a battle of the "once-weres" not the "here-and-nows...
...Ali, perhaps the most versatile heavyweight who ever pulled on a pair of padded gloves, the passage into the dusk of his fighting career must be a particularly bitter one. Robbed of three productive years in his fighting prime for embracing unpopular political beliefs, Ali, since re-emerging into the harsh glare of center ring, is no longer the lightning quick and powerful fighter who was banished for prophetically asserting that as an American, he "had no quarrel with them Viet Cong." As penalty for this vision, which he could claim long before it came into vogue, Ali was stripped...
...Frazier, always a poor-relation titlist for most Americans after the ostracism of Ali, tonight's bout is a chance to silence once and for all those who have contended that he is not a blue-chip heavyweight. Despite his unanimous decision over Ali three years ago, Frazier has still to silence the ghost of Ali taunting him over his shoulder...
...Ali were still in his prime, or even if he had not been driven from the professional ranks for three years, the outcome of this fight would be no more in doubt than those sparring sessions against the Henry Coopers, Karl Mildenbergers, and Zora Foleys previously. But Ali is no longer in his prime; it has been ten years since he first wrested the title from Sonny Liston, and the one-time champ is now 32 years...