Word: fraziers
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While his bruises were still achingly fresh, the champ threatened once more to retire from the ring; a groggy Frazier, clutching his pride, refused to quit. Whether either man will live up to those first postfight statements remains to be seen, but there was no doubt that the fight itself was the best each boxer had fought since that epic brawl in 1971 when then Champion Frazier won a 15-round decision against Ali, inflicting a rare knockdown in the process...
...dubbed his opponent a punching bag and hinted at an early knockout. The act got out of control only when Wife Belinda flew into Manila and flew out less than twelve hours later, distressed by the publicity given Ali's companion, Model Veronica Porche. For his part, Joe Frazier had stayed in character, speaking briefly and bluntly. "Ali can't touch me," he said, "in ability or decency...
Third Encounter. The clowning stopped when Ali and Frazier faced off in the humid Philippine Coliseum before 25,000 spectators and an estimated 700 million closed-circuit and television viewers in some 65 countries. In their third encounter (Ali won a rematch in 1974), the two heavyweights were not fighting for the title alone; there was still the issue of personal supremacy to settle. Ali, at 224½ lbs., came out as the boxer of patience and craft; Frazier, 9 lbs. lighter, was the slugger of bull-like impulse and strength...
...rounds, three separate battles were fought. The first three rounds belonged to Ali. He landed clean, quick, stinging shots that made Frazier sag, and he blunted Frazier's headlong attack by blocking punches as he backed against the ropes. When Ali went hunting, it was on flat feet, in search of the knockout punch. But he never found it. In Round 4, the second battle began. Frazier, having weathered his customary slow start, set to work, pounding lefts to the chin through Ali's gloves. He bothered Ali on the ropes with more uppercuts, body punches and fast...
...beginning to think he had lost, and he looked it. But in the twelfth round, the champion tapped a last reservoir of energy, and the third battle was on. As Ali landed a succession of bloodying punches to the head, the younger challenger faded. Frazier's face, especially his eyes, visibly swelled. Ali continued to press, knocking Frazier's mouthpiece out and following with a stiffening right. In the 14th, Ali hit Frazier at will. Frazier's left eye was almost sealed. That did it; Manager Futch stopped the slaughter...