Word: alie
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Ali may be strong, but so is Frazier. No amount of bluster is likely to deter Smokin' Joe, a raging, bobbing, weaving, rolling swarmer who moves in one basic direction?right at his opponent's gut. A kind of motorized Marciano, he works his short arms like pistons, pumping away with such mechanical precision that he consistently throws between 54 and 58 punches each round. He works almost exclusively inside, crouching and always moving in to slam the body. When the pummeling begins to slow his opponent, when the guard drops to protect the stomach, Frazier tosses a murderous left...
None of which bothers Muhammad Ali one whit: "Humph! Bob Foster, a li'I ol' 188-pounder. Now ain't that something! I wouldn't even spar with a man that size. But the press and the bookies are shoutin' 'Who-e-e-e! Joe Frazah knocked him out, knocked him dead!' What they should have done is look what I did to Oscar and what Oscar did to Joe Frazier. All Oscar did was to knock Joe Frazier down twice in their first fight and then whip his face so bad that his eyes were swollen closed. And when...
...just let him go on talkin' to his own self," sighs Frazier. Meanwhile Joe is more concerned with hardening up his head to withstand Ali's stabbing left jabs. "Every day," he says, "I soak my head in rock salt and water. Who-e-e-e, does that make me mean! But it toughens my skin, and maybe it works on the bones. Conditioning?that's what this fight will be all about. And there's no way he's going to be in better shape than me. For him to win, he'd have to be in much better...
...that simplicity lie the great imponderables?and the ultimate fascination?of the fight. Can Ali, slowed but still the swiftest heavyweight around, dance out of destruction's way? Can he utilize his superior reach to stave off the bull-like onslaught of his attacker? Can he ever wear down the relentless machine that is Joe Frazier? Conversely, can Ali, who is able to hit sharply with either hand, outgun Frazier, who is more a one-armed fighter? Can, in short, the boxer beat the slugger...
...next day Clay announced that he had been converted to the Black Muslim faith and would henceforth be known as Muhammad Ali. Many whites immediately dismissed him as a dupe of black racists. The boxing establishment backed off. In 1966, the draft-exempt classification he had been given three years previously for flunking a mental exam ("I never said I was the smartest; I said I was the greatest") was suddenly switched to 1-A. Rather too quickly for the law, Ali was made a Muslim "minister" in order to claim a clerical exemption. He also infuriated thousands of Americans...