Word: alie
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...predicted Muhammad Ali three years ago, after the World Boxing Association, in a fit of moral fervor, stripped him of his heavyweight title because he had been convicted of draft evasion. Ali's prophecy was at least half right. Never more than a scene-stealing shout away from ringside, keeping in the headlines with a flurry of lectures and boasts, the champ-in-exile did indeed haunt the sport. He was a titleholder stripped of his rights?not by the fists of another fighter but by decree of a pretentious body of boxing executives...
...Ali's vacated crown was claimed by other boxers?Joe Frazier, then Frazier and Jimmy Ellis as disputing "co-champions," then finally Frazier alone. But was Joe really the champion? Could he really claim to be the best heavyweight in the world as long as Ali remained unbeaten? Not according to millions of Ali's fans. Certainly not to Ali himself. "I want Frazier," he screamed when Joe won the title. "I want Frazier now!" Now is next Monday night. In Manhattan's Madison Square Garden, Ali and Frazier will finally decide, in 15 rounds or less, who really...
...surprisingly, the battle has been widely ballyhooed as "the Fight of the Century." Whether it deserves that title, of course, will depend on what actually takes place in the ring. But at a time when public interest in boxing as a sport has fallen off, the Ali-Frazier match is unquestionably the fight of this year, if not of the past ten. Certainly it has accumulated a record number of firsts and mosts. Never before have two undefeated professional heavyweight champions met: Frazier has 23 knockouts in 26 consecutive victories, Ali 25 K.O.s in 31 straight wins. Never before...
Then comes the end, and that is anybody's guess. Ali's for example: Five minutes before the fight, he plans to remove a sheet of paper from a sealed envelope inscribed: THE SECRET OF MUHAMMAD ALI. Then, while the closed-circuit TV cameras zero in, he will predict the round in which Frazier will fall. That, of course, is not Joe's style at all. But his prediction makes more sense. "I wouldn't really want to say who will win," he says. "But one thing I do know. It will be one hell of a fight...
Moreover, the Ali-Frazier match is the classic ring encounter: boxer against slugger. At 6 ft. 3 in. and 215 lbs., with the elusive speed of a middleweight and a basic hit-and-not-be-hit strategy, Ali may well be the most graceful big man in boxing history. Frazier, who will spot his rival 3¾ in. in height, a crucial 8½ in. in reach, and 10 or so lbs. in weight, is a swarming, wade-in, bull ish brawler who willingly takes a punch or ten for the chance to score with his bludgeoning left hook...