Word: fraziers
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Boxer Joe Frazier started off the 50-meter swim with a spectacular belly flop. Furiously flailing away but going nowhere, Smokin' Joe surfaced long enough to sputter, "I quit!" Afterward, he panted: "It was like I was throwin' punches at the water and the water kept hittin' back. My big aim was to keep from drownin'." The Cincinnati Reds' Johnny Bench was a more serious competitor in the golf tournament. But two drives into a mangrove swamp erased his early lead and he finished second to Stefanich, who posted a 41 for the nine-hole...
Although oddsmakers had installed Frazier as a 3-1 favorite, there were more than the usual number of prefight imponderables. The line on Foreman was that he was untested. True, he had won 37 straight fights, 34 by knockouts, but his opponents were the most graceless gang of pugs this side of a waterfront brawl. He was undeniably a heavy hitter, but his attack seemed so lacking in finesse that he was sometimes booed in victory. He outweighed Frazier 217½ to 214 Ibs., had an advantage of 3½ in. in height and 5 in. in reach...
...Frazier, his prolonged stay in a hospital after his tough 15-round victory over Muhammad AH two years ago left some lingering doubts about his physical condition. There was talk about a debilitating "blood condition." Moreover, since defeating Ali, the champion had defended his title only twice, dispatching a pair of unknowns with less than his usual ferociousness. Was Frazier his old devastating self? Did he deserve to be the favorite? Frazier thought so. "I'm gonna come out smokin'," he snarled during the weigh-in. "Smokin'," countered Foreman, "is hazardous to your health...
...first round the challenger looked and acted like a playground bully, fending off the champion's dipping, weaving attack by simply shoving him backward with the heels of his gloves. Frazier got off a few of his highly touted left hooks, but Foreman either blocked them or moved inside with jolting uppercuts. Then, in one such exchange, the challenger caught the champion with a crunching right and sent him sprawling to the canvas. Up at the count of two, a dazed Frazier gallantly tried to press an attack; Foreman dropped him again and then again with a flurry...
Right On. The second round was pure massacre. Foreman rushed in for the kill, connected with a hard chopping right and Frazier caved in. After taking the mandatory eight count, the champion tried to cover up; the challenger clubbed him down again. Foreman gestured to Frazier's seconds to toss in the towel, but the champion somehow pulled himself up on the ropes and Referee Arthur Mercante signaled the fighters to continue. Foreman obliged by hitting the nearly helpless Frazier with a head-snapping right cross that put him down for the sixth and final time. Mercante stopped...