The Master Showman

When loquacious Cassius Clay signed for a match with Liston, only three of the forty-six "experts" polled failed to pick Liston to be an easy winner over the "Louisville Lip," or "Mighty Mouth, as Clay was dubbed. His bravado made people overlook the fact that the Louisville, Kentucky, youth had fought his way up, starting boxing at the age of twelve.

When he won the light-heavyweight championship at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, eighteen-year-old Clay had won 108 amateur bouts, including 6 Kentucky Golden Gloves titles and the 1969 International Golden Gloves heavyweight crown, while losing only 8 fights.

After Clay returned to Louisville, a syndicate of businessmen managed his pro career, and Angelo Dundee managed his training. Clay's gibes, poems, predictions, and antics mounted along with his pro victories, which numbered twenty by the time he entered the ring against Liston.

Clay had a genius for getting attention, and mass media made instant copy of his clowning and physical appeal. Color and excitement, which had been missing in boxing since the time of Jack Dempsey, returned.

Surprisingly, the Clay-Liston bout, on February 25, 1964, in Miami, ,vas a financial fiasco for promoter Bill MacDonald, with a turnout of only 8,297. Even more surprisingly, Clay won the fight when Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round.

Clay charged out in the first round and failed to land any telling blows, although he demonstrated his speed in delivering quick jabs to Liston's head while dancing and moving away from Liston's vaunted left hook. Early in the third round, Clay opened a nasty gash under Liston's left eye, but the champion retaliated well enough in that round and the following one to keep the score fairly even.

The fifth round brought a dramatic turn as Clay stopped punching and kept moving away from Liston, claiming he couldn't see because of some foreign substance on Liston's gloves.

Clay balked at coming out for the sixth round because of blurred vision, but with the prodding of his second, Angelo Dundee, Clay answered the bell, recovered his vision, and fought a furious round that tired Liston badly.

As the seventh round was about to get underway, referee Barney Felix announced that Liston refused to continue, owing to eye cuts and an injury to his left shoulder. When the fight was stopped, the officials, Felix, and judges Bill Lovitt, and Gus Jacobsen, had scored the bout a draw.

Cassius Marcellus Clay, son of a sign painter, was born January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. He decided early in life that he wanted to be both rich and heavyweight champion of the world.

At the age of twenty-one, Clay had obtained half of his dream, the heavyweight crown, as well as a new religion, Islamism, and a new name, Muhammad Ali. Shortly after his bout with Liston, Ali entered into the first round of what was to be a long-drawn-out battle with the United States armed forces after flunking two intelligence tests for the draft and being classified 1Y.

No title fight in any class ever stirred up so many questions, charges, suspicions, or angry reverberations as did Ali's 1:42 knockout of Liston in Lewiston, Maine, on Mav 25, 1965.

Ali leaped out of his corner and immediately connected with a right and a left to Liston's head.

Suddenly he landed a corkscrew right to the left side of the head, and Liston sagged to his knees, then rolled over onto his back. Liston struggled to get up but again fell on his back. Ali danced over to the fallen man, calling him names and telling him to get up and fight, ignoring the exhortations of referee Jersey Joe Walcott to go to a neutral corner.

The rules say that there can be no legal count over a fallen boxer, so long as the standing fighter refuses to go to a neutral corner; nevertheless, knockdown timekeeper Frank McDonough started counting when Liston hit the canvas. He eventually got as far as twenty-two before Liston lurched to his feet.

Both fighters began to throw punches, and then referee Jersey Joe Walcott heard Nat Fleischer shout, "Joe, the fight is over!" Although Ali had not gone to a neutral corner, Walcott accepted the timekeeper's count, separated the men, and declared Ali the winner.

Aside from the controversial issue of whether the knockdown timekeeper calling a fight, experts argued whether the knockdown blow had really been hard enough to knock down the massive Liston. When films of the fight were examined, with watches synchronized to TV film frames, the velocity of Ali s punch remained unresolved. All that was proved was that Liston had hit the mat in 1:42 and that the referee had stopped the bout at 2:12.

Although Liston continued to fight, he was never again considered a major contender. Five years later, on January 5, 1971, his wife found him dead in his Las Vegas home. The circumstances surrounding his death remained mysterious, even sinister, a balloon of heroin was discovered in his kitchen at the time he was found.

On November 22, 1965, Patterson stepped into the ring with Ali in Las Vegas, hoping to win back the heavyweight title for a third time. Instead, the ex-champion received a merciless beating from a younger, taller, heavier, and sharper opponent. Ali, at 210 pounds, bewildered the 194-pound contender with left jabs and jolting rights to the body. The one-sided affair was halted at 2:18 of the twelfth round by referee Harry Krause.

Although 1966 was a successful year for Ali pugilistically, it opened by taking an emotional toll. Since becoming a Muslim he had become increasingly involved in his adopted religion. In January he divorced his wife, the former Sonji Roi, a model, because, he said, "she would not abide by the Muslim standards" by giving up her flashy dressing and makeup.

Then, in February, a reporter showed up at Ali s home to tell him that his local draft board had reclassified him 1A and that he could expect to be called up shortly. With what turned out to be unfortunate timing, the media picked up Ali's "I got no quarrel with them Vietcong," and a brushfire of "patriotic" reaction raced across the country, causing the cancellation of a proposed fight with Ernie Terrell.

Public sentiment drove Ali out of the country to seek matches on foreign soil for almost a year while he waited for a decision on his appeal for draft deferment as a conscientious objector and then as a Muslim minister.

Prior to his bout with Henry Cooper in London, Ali fought unpolished but lion-hearted George Chuvalo in Toronto on March 29, 1966. Chuvalo managed to stand up for the full fifteen rounds but the game Canadian took a terrible beating.

England welcomed Ali with open arms since he offered Britain the possibility of regaining the heavyweight title lost back in 1898 by Bob Fitzsimmons.

Accordingly, a sellout crowd paid $450,000 to watch 188-pound Cooper try to flatten 201k-pound Ali with his powerful left hook. In June 1963, the Englishman had come close when he knocked Ali off his feet at the end of the fourth round, the bell just barely rescuing Ali. However, Cooper was stopped in round five when facial cuts made it too dangerous for him to continue.

On May 21, 1966, Cooper got a second chance, but his hope was quenched suddenly in the sixth round when Ali landed two swift punches to the head, opening up a deep, jagged wound over Cooper's left eye and sending cascades of blood down his face. Referee George Smith halted the fight.

Three months later, badly outclassed Brian London, at 2001 pounds, landed only two punches of minimal potency before Ali hit him with a right to the jaw in the third round, sending London down on his face. At the count of seven he raised himself partially, looked at referee Harry Gibes, and went down again to be counted out as 11,000 fans booed their countryman.

Ali defended his title for the fourth time in five months when he met the 194J-pound champion of Europe, Karl Mildenberger, on September 10, 1966, in Frankfurt, Germany, before an audience of 45,000.

Ali toyed with the German until late in the fourth round, when the champion became angered after Mildenberger landed two jolting lefts to the liver and launched a two-fisted attack that drove Ali across the ring. Ali recovered and delivered a leftright combination that opened a gash over Mildenberger's right eye.

From the sixth round on, Ali battered Mildenberger, then stepped back occasionally to survey his handiwork.

Tired and bloody, Mildenberger managed to come out for the twelfth round. After Ali backed the German into the ropes and belted him with a flurry of lefts and rights, referee Teddy Waltham stopped the bout.

"The Big Cat," Cleveland Williams, received a similar beating from Ali on November 14 that year, in Houston, Texas. Ali decked the 2101-pound challenger three times in the second round and once in the third before referee Harry Kessler stopped the fight.

Three months later, Ernie Terrell, weighing 212k, suffered the slow punishment and humiliation Ali had promised him for refusing to acknowledge the champion's adopted Muslim name. The fight went the full fifteen rounds, but Ali's superiority was obvious, and referee Kessler and judges Jimmy Webb and Ernie Taylor unanimously awarded thirteen rounds to the champion.

New York's Madison Square Garden drew a gate of $244,471 on March 22, 1967, as 13,780 fans watched thirty-four-year-old Zora Foley succumb to an extremely fast Ali in the seventh round.

Ali gave the first three rounds to his opponent as he danced around the ring. At the opening of the fourth round, chief second Angelo Dundee told Ali to "get going," at which point Ali showed what a breathtaking fighter he really was. Every punch he delivered was sharp and on target.

At the start of the seventh round, Ali maneuvered Foley into position. A short downward right, similar to the "phantom" punch that had decked Liston at Lewiston, downed Foley, and the fight was over.

While Ali was busy piling up victories, the U.S. government was reviewing and turning down Ali's request for a ministerial deferment. On April 28, 1967, Ali was ordered to report to the Houston induction center. He reported but refused induction. On May 9, a federal grand jury indicted him on the charge of failing to submit to the draft. Within a few hours both the New York Boxing Commission and the World Boxing Association stripped Ali of his title and banned him from fighting anywhere in the United States.

Ali was tried on June 19 and 20 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, in Houston, presided over by Judge Joe Ingraham. With the judge's emphatic statement that the court was to consider only whether Ali had refused induction, not the fairness of the 1A classification or Ali's status as a Muslim, there was little surprise at the guilty verdict. What caused surprise was the maximum penalty of a five year sentence and a $10,000 fine.

Ali was released on bail, and his lawyer, Hayden C. Covington, of New York, filed an appeal. Meanwhile, Covington had also initiated' a civil case questioning the legitimacy of the Louisville, Kentucky, and Houston draft boards because there were no blacks on either board.

Shortly thereafter, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld the district court's verdict of guilty, and a further appeal was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. On August 3 Judge Ingraham refused Ali's request for permission to travel to foreign countries to honor fight contracts. Ali was ordered to turn in his passport.

One bright light appeared for Ali. On August 17, he married seventeen year-old Muslim Belinda Boyd.

While the case was pending in Supreme Court, the federal government disclosed that five telephone conversations involving Ali had been tapped by the F.B.I. The Supreme Court ordered the district court to reconsider the case, and on July 24, 1989, Judge Ingraham ruled that all five conversations were irrelevant to the conviction.

A year elapsed before the Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision. During that time Ali had held a press conference -on February 3, 1970-to say emphatically that he would pot enter the ring as a professional. He called Nat Loubet, editor of Ring, to inform him that he had quit boxing. At this time The Ring magazine acknowledged the vacancy the New York and World boxing associations had declared two years earlier.

Two years after Ali's match with Foley, he managed to get a license in Georgia to fight an eight-round exhibition against three minor heavyweights in September, and then to fight Jerry Quarry, whom he kayoed in three, on October 25 at Atlanta, Georgia.

A breakthrough occurred when Federal Court Judge Walter E. Mansfield nullified the New York Commission's refusal to give Ali a license, calling it "arbitrary and unreasonable action." Despite his insistence that he was through with professional boxing and no longer the title holder, on December 7, 1970, Ali met and kayoed Oscar Bonavena of Argentina in the fifteenth round in New York.

Finally, on June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court handed down its long awaited ruling. The decision was eight to nothing in Ali s favor, with Justice Thurgood Marshall abstaining. Ali was back in the boxing game.

Nothing caused so great a muddle around the heavyweight title as had Ali's draft case. The W.B.A. had taken the title from him, and now it had to find a replacement. Three months later it sanctioned the organization of an eight-man elimination tourney headed by Mike Malitz's Sports Action, Inc., a New York-based firm, to determine who would take over Ali's "vacated" title.

The intent of the tourney was somewhat thwarted when officials of New York's Madison Square Garden arranged a bout between George Chuvalo, of Canada, and Joe Frazier, of Philadelphia, for July 19, 1967. Frazier knocked out Chuvalo in the fourth round, then refused to join the elimination group. The group consisted of Frazier, Thad Spencer, Ernie Terrell, Oscar Bonavena, Karl Mildenberger, Jimmy Ellis, Floyd Patterson, and Jerry Quarry.

In retaliation, the W.B.A. dropped Frazier from number one to number nine in its ratings, to enable Leotis Martin to get into the number-eight spot as Frazier's substitute.

The New York Boxing Commission further complicated matters by declaring that the winner of the W.B.A. tourney would not be recognized unless that champion defeated Frazier.

The round-robin began on August 5, 1967, with Spencer pitted against Terrell, and Ellis against Martin, in Houston, Texas. Spencer, from Portland, Oregon, won a twelve-round decision over Terrell, of Atlantic City, New Jersey. On the same day and in the same arena, Ellis, from Louisville, kayoed the Philadelphian, Martin, in the ninth.

In Frankfurt, Germany, Bonavena beat Mildenberger in twelve rounds on September 16, 1967.

The final match in the first round was fought between Patterson and Quarry on October 28 in Quarry's home state, California. Quarry won a split decision in which referee Vern Bybee voted a draw while judges Lee Grossman and Joey Lomas gave the fight to Quarry.

Now Mexico and Britain entered the picture. Mexico's governing body for boxing tried but failed to get Manuel Ramos placed in the W.B.A. listings. Ramos 'had stopped Terrell on October 14.

Likewise, the British couldn't get Eduardo Corletti, victor over Johnny Prescott on October 17, into the tourney. In the final round, on December 2, 1967, Ellis and Bonavena met in Louisville, Kentucky, where Ellis decked Bonavena twice and went on to win a unanimous decision in twelve rounds. In Oakland, California, Quarry stopped 6-foot, 4-inch Spencer in the second semifinal, three seconds before the bell ended the twelve-round fight on February 3, 1968.

The final bout of the tournament took place on April 27, 1968, in Oakland, where the 197-pound Ellis won over the 195-pound Quarry in a fifteen-round split decision.

The referee, Elmer Costa, and judge Fred Apostoli, the former middleweight champ, awarded the fight to Ellis, while judge Rudy Ortega scored the match a draw. The 11,356 fans brought a gate of $186,700.

Ellis was the W.B.A. champion, but the New York Boxing Commission announced that it would recognize the winner of the Joe Frazier-Buster Mathis bout as the new champion. Five state commissions, as well as those of Mexico and South America, followed New York's decision.

Thus, when Frazier stopped Mathis in the eleventh round, New York, Maine, Pennsylvania, Texas, Massachusetts, and Illinois recognized Frazier as the champion while the others recognized Ellis.

The opposing powers were reconciled when Frazier stopped Ellis in the fifth round on February 16, 1970, at New York. The title, stripped from Ali, had finally been filled.

Joe Frazier, born in Laurel Bay, South Carolina, on January 12, 1944, was the youngest of thirteen children. He started his fistic career at age nine, when he rigged up a homemade punching bag of moss and leaves.

Twelve years later, after having married at sixteen, he moved to Philadelphia, where he won the Golden Gloves in 1962, 1963, and 1964 and won America's only gold medal in boxing at the Tokyo Olympics.

With a group of businessmen from Philadelphia, Cloverlay, Inc., as his sponsor, Frazier launched his professional career on August 16, 1965, with a one-round knockout over Woody Goss. He piled up ten straight kayos before meeting Oscar Bonavena on September 21, 1966.

Bonavena floored Frazier twice in the second round, but Frazier rallied to win a ten-round decision. After four more victories, three of which were kayos, Frazier was pitted against George Chuvalo on July 19, 1967. In the fourth round, the tough Canadian was knocked out for the first time in his fifteen-year career.

When Frazier fought Buster Mathis on March 4, 1968, he was determined to clear any hint of tarnish from his Olympic medal. (Before Frazier went to Tokyo, he had won thirty-eight of forty fights. His two losses had been to Mathis in the Olympic trials. When Mathis had broken a knuckle, Frazier had substituted. ) "Smokin' Joe" flattened Mathis with a left hook in 2:33 of the eleventh round.

Frazier became undisputed world champion on February 16, 1970, when the gong rang for the opening of the fifth round and the W.B.A.'s champion, Jimmy Ellis, couldn't come out.

After the first round, in which Ellis held a margin, Frazier dominated the snatch with a steady and relentless style of strong, heavy pressure. As the end of the fourth round approached, Frazier bombarded Ellis's body and head until the Kentuckian sank to the mat for a count of nine, during which the bell rang. Raising himself at nine, Ellis managed to get to his corner. When the fifth-round gong sounded, manager Angelo Dundee motioned to referee Tony Perez that Ellis could not continue.

The first of three encounters with Ali took place on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden before 20,445 fans plus 1.3 million watching closed-circuit theater TV. Ali, who described his own fighting style as "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," was slowed down by Frazicr's constant pounding.

Ali's strategy was to let Frazier become arm weary while flicking tiring jabs at his opponent, but despite a 6''-inch disadvantage in reach, Frazier managed to get in under Ali's jab to land countless left hooks to the Muslim's body.

Frazier suffered a swollen jaw and lumps around both eyes, while Ali merely sported a hematoma on the right side of his jaw. Frazier won unanimously, with referee Arthur Mercante giving him eight rounds. six to Ali, with one even. Judge Artie Aidala awarded nine to Frazier and six to Ali, and judge Bill Recht awarded eleven to Frazier and four to Ali.

The only knockdown occurred in the fifteenth round, when Ali was dropped for the third time in his career but bounced back after the mandatory eight count. Before facing George Foreman, Frazier fought Terry Daniels in New Orleans on January 15, 1972, then Ron Stander, in Omaha, on May 25, 1972. The odds against his two opponents were 15 to 1 and 20 to 1 respectively.

Daniels lasted four rounds; Stander, five. On January 22, 1973, at Kingston, Jamaica, Frazier, a 3-1 favorite, was floored six times by Foreman before referee Arthur Mercante stopped the action at 1:35 of the second round before 36,000 fans.

Frazier pressed the attack, but was met by a challenger who moved not a step backward. A right to the jaw by Foreman achieved the first knockdown midway into the first round. Frazier got up, exchanged a few punches, and was down again from a series of rights to the head. Again Frazier rose quickly, but obviously dazed, and was decked a third time as the bell ended the round. As set down by the rules, counting did not end with the bell, but was continued until Frazier struggled up at the count of three.

Frazier opened round two with a rushing attack and a left hook to the head, but it was a short rally. Foreman, who weighed 217 to Frazier's 214, sent the champion to the mat for the fourth time with a left-right to the jaw. Up at the count of two, Frazier was dropped by two left hooks. Again Frazier struggled up but then went down for the last time from a series of punches.

Frazier gamely got to his feet, but referee Arthur Mercante looked at his glazed eyes and reeling figure and signaled that there was a new champion. Foreman had come a long way since his first bout January 26, 1967, in tht Parks Diamond Belt Tournament, which was fought during the period in which he was being trained by the Job Corps.

"Doe" Broadus, Parks Job Corps Center vocational-guidancee director, noticed Foreman's size and speed playing football and persuaded him to try his hand at boxing.

Born in Marshall, Texas, January 22, 1948, to a railroad construction worker, Foreman, fifth of seven children, spent most of his early youth in trouble. In his words, "You name it, I'd done it." He credits the Job Corps, which he joined in 1965, with his complete turnabout in attitude and direction.

In 1967, lie terminated his training in the Job Corps after winning the National A.A.U. heavyweight title in Toledo, Ohio. This assured him a spot on the ten-man Olympic team to compete in Mexico.

While Foreman was deciding whom to take on as his first challenger, former champions Ali and Frazier worked toward what they hoped would be comebacks.

Ali had fought thirteen times since losing to Frazier. These included six kayos, one a broken-jaw loss to Ken Norton, whom he beat in a rematch, and six wins, including a decision over the European heavyweight champion Joe Bugner in a twelve-round bout on February 14, 1973, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Frazier also beat Bugner in twelve rounds on July 2, 1973, in London.

On January 28, 1974, "Smokin' Joe," at 209 pounds, and Ali, at 212, faced each other in Madison Square Garden before a crowd of 20,746, who paid a live gate of $1,053,688, and a theater-TV audience that paid $25,000,000. The closed-circuit TV audience reached 1,100,000 with a gross gate of $10,000,000. The gross revenue for the fight, including foreign film rights, etc.. came to $25,000,000.

As in their previous bout, Frazier bore in while Ali sidestepped and countered. Frazier scored decisively and often to the body. Ali hit only to Joe's head, but more often and with more power than previously.

The most controversial moment of the fight occurred in the second round when referee Tony Perez stopped the fight for twenty seconds, thinking he had heard the bell ring. It was a crucial time. Frazier had Ali in a corner, but Ali spun and jabbed out of trouble and hit Frazier solidly on his puffing cheekbone.

After taking a long left hook to the chin, Ali came back to confuse and hurt Frazier with lefts and chopping rights to the head. It was at this point that the referee stepped in, stalling the only opportunity Ali had to finish his man.

The seventh was Frazier's big round. The first of several good left hooks connected thirty seconds into the round, stunning Ali.

Ali was off his toes, flatfooted, as Frazier again carried the action in the eighth. Although Ali was tired, he rallied to outpunch Frazier for the last nine minutes and was awarded a unanimous decision for the twelve rounds by referee Tony Perez and judges Tony Castellano and Jack Gordon.

Foreman's first title defense was in Tokyo on September 1, 1973, against the Puerto Rican heavyweight champion, "King" Jose Roman. The fight was over in two minutes of the first round. The powerful champion, at 2191 pounds, smashed the inept Roman to the canvas three times with devastating right-hand blows.

Foreman's second title defense on March 26, 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela ended in two minutes of the second round when he jolted Ken Norton to the canvas. His 212%-pound challenger barely beat the count but his trainer, Bill Slayton, jumped into the ring and referee Johnny Rondeau halted the fight which drew 9,000 fans into the Poleidro arena.

Muhammad Ali, on October 29, 1974,° became the second man in boxing history to win the world heavyweight title twice. He accomplished this with a knockout over George Foreman in 2:58 of the eighth round when a left hook, a right to the jaw, and another left hook deposited the champion on the canvas, where he was counted out by referee Zack Clayton.

The only other heavyweight to achieve this feat was Floyd Patterson, who rewon his championship in 1960 by knocking out Ingemar Johannson, who had taken the prize from him the previous year.

Approximately 62,000 fans witnessed Ali's upset victory over Foreman in the 20th of May Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire. Foreman, going into the fight as a 3-to-1 favorite, fought according to plan, the only way he knows how to fight, a crowding, pushing, two-fisted flailing attack. From the opening bell up to the ending in the eighth round George had Ali against the ropes while he banged away at Au 's rib cage in an attempt to blast his challenger out of contention.

Foreman looked formidable in the early rounds as he appeared to be overpowering Ali with jolting body blows. George's attempt to land to Ali's head was less successful as Ali used the ropes to advantage, sliding and moving just enough to avoid being seriously damaged.

In the third round, Ali began to use his left and several combinations to Foreman's head, spearing the oncoming champion. By the fifth round it became obvious to those at ringside that Ali was fighting a different type of fight than had been expected. He did not dance around the ring and exhibit the butterfly approach of speed and stinging. Rather, he fought Foreman from a flatfooted stance and used his speed to counterpunch and cover up, avoiding the all-out blitz so characteristic of the champion's mode of attack.

Despite Foreman's statement to the writer in his dressing room after the fight was over that he was never tired during the fight and had never felt as secure as he did during the bout, it was obvious to all at ringside that Foreman was kayoed as much from exhaustion as from Ali's blows. Foreman's punching power lessened from the fifth round on, and the tide of battle moved from Foreman's high tide, receding to an ebb as his strength failed and Ali began to land the better punches.

The surprise was that it was Foreman who lost his power and stamina while Ali, who many felt would be worn down by the pressing tactics of the champion, was the fresher as the last three rounds of the contest were fought.

After the fight in both dressing rooms the new and old champion played the parts expected of them:

Ali: "I told you all I would do it, but did you listen? He was scared, he was humiliated. I told you I was the greatest heavyweight of all time.

"I didn't dance. I wanted him to tire, to lose power. I decided to use the ropes. He punched like a sissy.

"I kept telling him during the fight to show me something, to come on and punch. Come on, you're the champion! Show me something. "What you saw wasn't me, it was Allah. It wasn't me, you know I can't punch. Me knock out George? Not me, that was Allah."

After successful defenses against Chuck Wepner, who was stopped in the fifteenth round at Cleveland on March 24, 1975, Ron Lyle, who was stopped in the eleventh at Las Vegas on May 16, 1975, and Britain's Joe Bugner, who went the distance but lost a clear decision on July 1, 1975, Ali met Joe Frazier for the third time on October 1, 1975.

The fight was in the Philippine Coliseum, Manila, and began a few minutes before 11 AM. It was promoted by Don King, before 28,000 people, with 700,000,000 in 68 countries hooked in by satellite television. Ali was guaranteed four and a half million dollars and Frazier two million. Ali's pre-fight publicity slogan ran: "It'll be a thrilla, a chilla and a killa when I get the gorilla in Manila".

Ali, who was convinced Frazier was finished as a fighter, had promised to stand his ground and hit Frazier, and in the first four rounds lie did this at will. Frazier's legs buckled in the first, and in the third he looked on the point of going as Ali continually jerked his head back and knocked the sweat from his face in showers.

But Frazier kept boring in and won the fifth, catching Ali with lefts as Ali fought on the ropes. The sixth was even better for Frazier, and it was Ali's turn to face the black void as two tremendous left hooks ripped into his face. Ali survived the round, but from there to the tenth he fought in short bursts as Frazier continued his relentless assault, burrowing in to score with savage punches. At the end of the tenth, the fight was even, with Ali and his corner showing the more strain.

It seemed that Frazier had absorbed Ali's ferocity and had finally dredged the last reserves of strength from the champion's frame. The eleventh saw the beginning of the third phase of the fight, as Ali fought back to catch Frazier with long shots with both hands. Frazier's face slowly began to change shape as bumps puffed up around his eyes and blood dripped from his mouth.

As Ali drew on his last reserves of strength, and Frazier's power drained from him, Ali in the next three rounds hit Frazier with everything he had left. Frazier could offer no resistance as he stumbled around, his courage alone keeping him upright.

At the end of the fourteenth referee Carlos Padilla helped Frazier back to his corner, and despite his protests manager Eddie Futch would not let the near-blind Frazier out for the fifteenth.

He had given all he had, as had Ali, who at the end sank to the canvas to rest and escape the clamour. It was a great fight and afterwards Ali, generous in victory to Frazier, talked of the mental and physical strain, hinted at retirement, and admitted that during the fight he had felt like fainting, and that at the end of the tenth he was almost at the point of quitting.

For once not showing his elation at victory, he summed it up by saying that a fight like that was next to death-the closest thing to dying he knew of.

Ali rested for only four months before resuming the defence of his title. He beat four challengers in 1976; on February 20, Jean-Pierre Coopman, the Belgian heavyweight champion, by a knock-out in the fifth round at San Juan; U.S. contender Jimmy Young on points over fifteen rounds at Landover on April 30; Richard Dunn, the British, European and Commonwealth champion, who was stopped in five rounds at Munich, and the man who broke his jaw three years earlier, fellow-countryman Ken Norton, who was outpointed over fifteen rounds on September 28 at Madison Square Garden, New York.

Two challengers were satisfactorily dealt with in 1977. On May 16 at Landover, Alfred Evangelista, the European champion, who was beaten on points, and on September 29, Earnie Shavers from Ohio, who was also outpointed in New York.

In his first defence in 1978, however, at Las Vegas on February 15, Ali was surprisingly outpointed by twenty-four-year-old Leon Spinks, from St. Louis, Missouri, who had won the Olympic Gaines light-heavyweight gold medal in 1976, had turned pro the following year and was unbeaten in his seven paid bouts.

His points victory over Ali was on a split decision, Referee Art Lurie, voting for the champion and the two judges for the challenger. The World Boxing Council, however, declared the title as vacant because Spinks refused to meet hen Norton and the latter was announced champion on March 18, 1978, but on June 10 Norton lost this claim when outpointed by Larry Holmes, from Philadelphia, who was thereupon recognised as world titleholder by the W.B.C., but not by the majority of boxing followers. This claim was made even more absurd when on September 15 at New Orleans, Ali regained the title from Spinks by a unanimous points verdict.

Thus Ali became the first man in Boxing history to win the Heavyweight Championship three times and he had taken part in no less than twenty-four world title bouts. Afterwards he indicated that having achieved this objective lie would retire from the ring thus leaving Holmes as the outstanding contender.

On November 10, 1978, he strengthened his claim to titular recognition by knocking out Alfredo Evangelista (Italy) in seven rounds at Las Vegas. Ali received five million dollars in his return fight with Spinks and lie will go into the records as having earned in eighteen years of ring warfare, millions of dollars more than any other boxer.

Holmes then disposed of three challengers in 1979, stopping Osvaldo Ocasio (Puerto Rica) in seven rounds; Mike Weaver (Los Angeles) in twelve and Ernie Shavers (Ohio) in eleven, all three contests taking place at Las Vegas, and all were in defence of his W.B.C. title.

In 1980 Holmes continued his slaughter of' championship contenders by knocking out the European heavyweight champion, Lorenzo Zanon (Italy) in six rounds at Los Angeles on February 3; halting Leroy Jones (Denver) in eight rounds at Los Angeles on March 31. At Bloomington, Minn. on July 7, he stopped Scott Le Doux (Minneapolis) in seven rounds.

On October 2, however, he made himself the undisputed world champion when he forced Muhammad Ali to retire at the end of the tenth round at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, after a pathetic display by the former triple titleholder, who had not fought for two years and had undergone a drastic weight reduction that left him a mere shadow of 'his former greatness' In 1981 Holmes disposed of three more challengers.

On April 11 at Las Vegas he outpointed Trevor Berhick (Canadian holder of the British Commonwealth heavyweight title), then on June 12, Leon Spinks (former world heavyweight champion) was forced to retire after three rounds at Detroit, whilst Rcnaldo Snipes was stopped in I 1 rounds at Pittsburgh on November 6.

There were two defences in 1982, first on June 12 against Gerry Cooney, a large-size challenger from Huntington, N.Y., who at 2251/2 pounds outweighed the champion by 13 pounds. The fight created enormous interest and Cooney put up a brave show until the 13th round when his position was hopeless and he was saved from further punishment by the referee.

On November 26 Holmes outboxed Randall (Tex) Cobb at Houston to win a clear-cut decision over 15 rounds. His 14th defence of the title saw him outpoint the European Boxing Union's heavyweight champion, Lucien Rodrignez (France) over the new W. B.C. distance of 12 rounds on March 27, 1983 at Scranton, Nevada. On May 20, at Las Vegas, he was given a hard fight by Tim Witherspoon before gaining a points verdict and on September 10 he stopped Scott Frank in five rounds at Atlantic City.

It was then proposed that Larry should defend his crown against Marvis Frazier, son of the former world heavyweight champion, but both the W.B.C. and the W.B.A. rejected the idea and declared that if Holmes decided to go ahead with the match, he was in danger of forfeiting his claim to the Championship. The contest, if such it could he called, duly took place at Las Vegas on November 25 under the auspices of the newly-formed International Boxing Federation, and Frazier was beaten into helplessness in 2 minutes 57 seconds of round one.

The W.B.C. deposed Holmes and appointed Tim Witherspoon (Philadelphia) to meet Greg Page (Louisville) for its vacant heavyweight throne at Las Vegas on March 9. 1984. Witherspoon scored a points win over 12 rounds and remained champion for just over five months, losing on points to Pinklon Thomas (Pontiac, Michigan) on August 31, again at Las Vegas. Irrespective of this move, Holmes won on a cut-eve verdict over James (Bonecrusher) Smith in the 12th round at Las Vegas on November 9 in another 1. B. F. bout. There were therefore two claimants to the Richest Prize in Sport, plus the W.B.A. candidate of whom more anon.

Plenty of activity was seen in 1985. On March 15 Holmes preserved his title by stopping David Bey in ten rounds at Las Vegas, and on May 20 he outpointed Carl Williams over 15 rounds at Reno. But ringside observers could see that the champion, now well past his 35th birthday, had slowed down considerably and was finding it harder each time to deal with his younger challengers.

The day had come to consider retirement, but there were one or two records that he would like to make before he peeled off his gloves for good.

Rocky Marciano had retired undefeated as champion with 49 wins to his credit and six successful defences. So far Holmes was unbeaten in 48 bouts. He aimed at one more win to equal the Brockton Blockbuster's record or two more to beat it. So far he has surpassed Marciano by winning eighteen championship bouts and drawing one.

He could have met the two pretenders to his throne, Pinklon Thomas (W. B.C.) or Tony Tubbs (W. B.A.) to try and achieve his purpose. Instead he chose Michael Spinks, brother to Leon, whom he had already beaten.

The reigning world light-heavyweight champion was unbeaten in 27 bouts, 19 of which had been won inside the distance. lie was the younger man by seven years and he also had a goal to reach. Over the years a number of light-heavyweight champions had tried to win the heavyweight crown without success - lie hoped to make a new entry in the record books.

This Match of the Champions took place at Las Vegas on September 22, 1985 and after a tense struggle Holmes was judged a points loser. Spinks had built himself up to full heavyweight without losing speed or resilience and although he used the outer perimeter of the ring for the best part of the contest, he made colourful bursts, while the champion plodded after him, striving to land a pay-ofl' punch. So Spinks gained his objective and Holmes failed.

He had been a great champion. Meanwhile Pinklon Thomas had knocked out former W.B.A. Champion, Mike Weaver, to keep a hold on his W. B. C. crown.

While all this was going on, the W.B.A. had been confusing the heavyweight championship situation stall further. Upon Ali's retirement in 1978, the W.B.A. had refused to recognize the W.B.C. champion, Holmes, and had declared the title vacant. On October 20, 1979 the W.B.A. recognized John Tate, of Knoxville, Tennessee, as world champion when he outpointed Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa over 15 rounds at Pretoria.

Tate did not reign long, being knocked out in the 15th round by Mike Weaver, who already styled himself heavyweight champion of America. They met at Knoxville on March 31, 1980, and on October 25 Weaver made his first defence by knocking out Coetzee in the 13th round of a hard fight in South Africa.

On October 13, 1981, Weaver outpointed James Tillis (Chicago) over 15 rounds at Rosemount, Illinois, but on December 10 he was sensationally stopped in 63 seconds by Michael Dokes (Akron, Ohio) at Las Vegas, although some spectators thought the referee's action was premature. Weaver clamoured for a chance to regain the title and they met again on May 20, 1983 at Las Vegas, when, after a hard-fought battle they were judged to have drawn, a verdict that left Dokes still holding the W.B.A. crown.

On September 23 he took it to Richfield, Ohio, for a defence against Gerrie Coetzee, the South African champion, who scored a surprising kayo win in round ten. However, on defending his title for the first time on December 1, 1984 at Sun City, Bophuthatswana, against Greg Page, he lost it in a most unsatisfactory manner. Put down in round eight, the bell sounded to end the session, but the referee continued to count and declared Page the winner by a knockout. Actually the last round occupied 3 minutes 50 seconds.

Coetzee lost his title at a tune when he should have been in his corner attended by his seconds. Whether they would have been able to get him ft for another round is debatable - but they did not get the opportunity. However, on April 29, 1985 Page was beaten on points over 15 rounds by Tony Tubbs (Cincinnati) after an unexciting bout at Buffalo, New York.

In 1986 a flamboyant American promoter, Don King, with the US Home Box Office cable television channel, set tap an ambitious series of matches designed to unify the World Championship. The three title-holders plus the leading contenders were to take part in eliminating contests to produce an undisputed champion by the end of 1987.

On March 22, 1986, Pinklon Thomas lost the W.B.C. title to Trevor Berbick on points over 12 rounds at Las Vegas, while on January 17 Tony Tubbs lost the W.B.A. title over 15 gruelling rounds at Atlanta to Tim Witherspoon, the former W.B.C. champion. At Wembley, London, on Sunday, July 20, at 1 o'clock in the morning (a time designed for American TV) Witherspoon disposed of the British candidate, Frank Bruno, who had relinquished the European title, with a knock-out in the 11th round.

Meanwhile, Mike Tyson from Brooklyn, had been demolishing heavyweights in a whirlwind career which saw him beat his first 27 opponents, 25 of them inside the distance, including 15 first-round knockouts. He was incorporated into the unification series, and on November 22, 1986 at the Las Vegas Hilton he stopped Trevor Berbick in 2 minutes 35 seconds of the second round, to win the W.B.C. title. At 20 years and 5 months old he was the youngest man to claim a version of the heavyweight title.

Only a month later, on December 12, Tim Witherspoon took on James "Bonecrusher" Smith, who was boxing as a substitute in New York for Tiny Tubbs, who claimed to have been injured. Smith was not expected to win, but he surprised the world by flooring the champion three times in the opening round, obliging the referee to stop the unequal fight.

Efforts were immediately made to match Mike Tyson with Smith for Las Vegas, with both the W.B.A. and W.B.C. titles at stake. The hard punching "Bonecrusher" promised much but produced little when the pair met on March 7, 1987. A rather dull contest travelled the full 12 rounds, with Tyson always ahead but continually frustrated in every attempt to catch up with Smith and knock him out.

No time was lost in the further promotion of the unification series. Michael Spinks had been deprived of his 1. I3. F. title because of his refusal to defend it against Tony Tucker, preferring to negotiate for a more lucrative bout in opposition to the gigantic Gerry Cooney.

So Tucker was matched with James Douglas for the vacant championship, and their meeting took place at Las Vegas on May 30. In the 10th round the fight was stopped in Tucker's favour, but he was none too impressive, and had to play second fiddle to Tyson on the same programme, who looked much stronger when he demolished the former champion, Pinklon Thomas, in 6 rounds.

The climax of' the unification series took place on August 1, predictably at the popular Las Vegas location. Since it involved three versions of' the championship, the contest was originally scheduled for 15 rounds, the I.B.F. distance, but the \1'.13.(;. insisted on a limit of 12, and got its way. The bout was interesting, but it lacked the thrills that had now come to be associated with Tyson. Tony Tucker did well to last the fight on his feet, and without stalling, but Tyson won comfortably on points, thus becoming the undisputed champion of the world. No too long afterwards he accepted the challenge of the clever and hurl-punching Tyrell Biggs.

Although Biggs was courageous enough and made a good fight of it, he was completely outclassed when he faced Mike Tyson on October 16. By the 7th round the young champion had so fill- established his supremacy that the fight was stopped after Biggs had been pitched helpless and beaten to the canvas near his own corner.

This contest completed activity for Tyson during 1987, but lie lost no time in returning to action in the new year. The veteran Larry Holmes had come out of retirement, insisting that he knew the way to beat the all-conquering champion. A lucrative promotion ensued, at Atlantic City, on January 22, 1988, but the former champion stood no chance at all with -Iron" Mike. The younger man forced the action, while Holmes boxed on the retreat. But in the fourth round Tyson unleashed a lightning-like combination which deposited Holmes heavily on to his back.

Although he rose, the damage was done, and when he fell spreadeagled from another ferocious attack the one-sided fight was brought to a speedy conclusion. Tyson had now disposed of every high-ranking contender, with the exception of Michael Spinks, who had reduced the enormous Gerry Cooney to pugilistic impotence, and the skilful but latterly inactive Tony Tubbs. A fight versus Spinks was held over for the time being, and a match was made for Tyson to face the bulky Tubbs in Tokyo, on March 21, 1988.

The incredible champion boxed a cagey opening round and then began to unload some of his best shots in the second. Tubbs weathered a few early exchanges, but a terrific left hook to the temple. sent him staggering on rubbery legs. He full flat on his back, utterly defeated. The only other claimant to the title of the world's best heavyweight was the still unbeaten Michael Spinks, who was still recognised in some quarters as the champion because of his line of succession through Holmes and Ali.

The two met on June 27, 1988 in a lucrative bonanza at Atlantic City. After all the hype the match was slow to begin as both men stayed in their dressing rooms as long as possible. Each regarded himself as champion with the consequent right to enter the ring second. Eventually Spinks made his way to the ring.

The delay appeared to have affected him more, and he looked apprehensive during the announcements and boxed without conviction. Tyson attacked immediately and Spinks seemed shocked and hurt by Tyson's power.

Tyson soon rushed Spinks to the ropes, where a terrific blow to the body sent Spinks to his knees on the canvas. Back on his feet, Spinks tried to repel the onrushing Tyson with a wild right. Tyson had no difficulty in avoiding it and leapt in with his own murderous punch which caught Spinks clean on the jaw and knocked him to the floor on his back, with his head below the ropes.

There was no chance he could rise, and the great extravaganza was over in 91 seconds. It was three days before Tyson's 22nd birthday, and he had beaten all the best heavyweights in the world.

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