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On this day: Muhammad Ali beats Joe Frazier in 'The Thrilla in Manila'
Muhammad Ali will be remembered as one of the greatest and most impactful fighters of all time, thanks in part to his culture-defining rivalry with ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier.
'The Greatest’ exists in an exclusive club of men who are three-time world heavyweight champions, defying the odds and taking on some of the most dangerous fighters in any era of the blue-riband division, including Sonny Liston, Archie Moore, Floyd Patterson, Ken Norton and George Foreman.
But Frazier, while a legend in his own right, played a pivotal role in helping to forge Ali’s legacy both inside and outside of the ring.
Today, the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ celebrates its 50th anniversary. The iconic third fight between Ali and Frazier, which some thought might never happen, brought the world to a standstill on this day in 1975.
'The Fight of the Century'
Ali had become the WBC heavyweight champion in 1964 after beating one of the most feared fighters of all time, Sonny Liston, twice in a row.
He successfully defended his title nine times, including the second fight with Liston, before being forced to take three years out of the ring for refusing the United States military draft during the Vietnam War.
This divided opinion, but raised Ali’s profile internationally as a symbol of the anti-establishment movement in the US during the 1960s.
Frazier supported the US government, which created further animosity in the rivalry between the two undefeated fighters and opened the door for Frazier to claim the undisputed heavyweight title by beating Jimmy Ellis in 1970 due to Ali’s absence.
The first fight between Alia and Frazier was billed as ‘The Fight of the Century’ – it was the first time two undefeated current or former heavyweight champions had shared the ring and had a massive international reach due to the cultural significance of both men.
It lived up to its billing, and Ali looked in firm command of the fight through the first five rounds, lighting Frazier up with his blistering hand speed and pinpoint jab.
But Ali’s extended lay-off had clearly had an impact, his once eye-catching combinations began to look laboured, and Frazier could sense this as he turned up the heat on Ali in the fifth round
Ali was simply getting caught with too many of Frazier’s trademark left hooks which were troubling him despite his exceptional ability to take punishment.
Frazier looked physically dominant and took over down the stretch – bludgeoning Ali in a way that had never been witnessed before.
Heading into the 15th and final round, all three judges had Frazier as the leader and he landed what will be remembered as one of the best left hooks in boxing history square on Ali’s chin to floor the former champion.
Almost as impressive as the shot itself was how quickly Ali recovered and got back to his feet before the count of four – but this show of resilience was not enough, and Frazier walked away with a unanimous points victory
Ali publicly refused to admit defeat and claimed it was an attempt by the establishment to punish him.
Before the rematch was set, Frazier lost his title to George Foreman, and Ali split a pair of fights with Ken Norton.
The rematch
The rematch would not have any hardware on the line to excite the crowds, but the pair’s hatred and detestation of each other had only grown since the first fight, which brought a new flavour to the build-up.
Whilst appearing on television just a few days before the fight, Ali and Frazier began going back at forth and Ali kept calling Frazier ‘ignorant’ which riled up the short-tempered former champion.
Having had enough of the vitriol, Frazier stood up to confront Ali and said, “Why you call me ignorant? How am I ignorant?”
Whilst Frazier was stood in front of the seated Ali, he jumped up and grabbed Frazier by the back of the neck and dragged him to the ground – kicking off a mass brawl inside the TV studio.
The appetite for the fight was now at an all-time high as the fans got to see how much this fight meant to both men and their careers.
The second fight was not an instant classic like the first – it was instead a display of Ali making smart adjustments to neutralise the vicious inside work of Frazier.
Ali came out just as we had become accustomed to, dancing around the ring on his toes and throwing stinging jabs at Frazier, who was trying to bob and weave his way into range.
But he only ever got there when Ali let him and found himself wrapped tightly in Ali’s long arms – pushing his head down, preventing him from exploding up with his thumping hooks.
Ali’s tactics of throwing flurries of punches and then clinching Frazier to stop him from returning fire was not the type of fight the attending fans were expecting, and they received the occasional boo. But the unbothered Ali knew what he had to do.
Almost all of the rounds were close to call, but Ali was edging most of them on the judges’ scorecards and with far less drama than the first fight – the way Ali would have wanted it. He claimed a unanimous decision victory to even the score.
Despite its perceived lack of drama and hype compared to the first and last fights, it was the perfect evening of the score to set up an era-defining fight, as well as the opportunity for Ali to challenge George Foreman for the title he took from Frazier.
This is exactly what Ali did in his next fight as he toppled the most feared puncher in the sport in ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ - adding even more stakes to the third and final fight of his rivalry with Frazier.
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The build-up
The third and final fight between these two titans of boxing was finally set, and it surprised many to hear that the decisive bout wouldn’t be in New York, Los Angeles or Las Vegas, but instead, Manila – the capital city of the Philippines.
It was a move pushed by the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, who hoped that by sponsoring and hosting the biggest fight in boxing that it would attract eyes from all over the world to his country.
In the build-up to the fight, Frazier opted for the stoic approach, only answering the questions he was asked. He also brought up what he claimed were questionable holding tactics from Ali in their rematch the year before.
Meanwhile, Ali attempted to rile up Frazier at every opportunity, using the same mental warfare that had seemed to work perfectly on Foreman.
Ali nicknamed Frazier ‘The Gorilla’ and used it as the basis for a mocking chant directed at his opponent.
The chant went: “It will be a killa and thrilla and a chilla when I get ‘The Gorilla’ in Manila.”
The fight itself was scheduled to take place at 10:00am local time to accommodate the immense Western and international audience that would be tuned into the fight.
This, however, resulted in some of the toughest fighting conditions possible, according to Ali’s ring physician, Ferdie Pacheco.
“At 10:00am, the stickiness of the night was still there but cooked by the sun,” Pacheco explained. “So what you got is boiling water for atmosphere.”
That, paired with the aluminium-roofed stadium, made the estimated temperature in the ring by the time of the fight upwards of 40 degrees Celsius.
'The Thrilla in Manila'
The first bell rang, and as both men approached the centre of the ring in unison, they unknowingly began their joint descent into the seventh circle of hell in the Filipino heat.
As he had done in both fights before, Ali started sharply, and Frazier began slowly, bobbing around the ring trying to track Ali down in between flurries of jabs.
Ali got himself out to a lead in the first two rounds but will have known Frazier was just getting started and remained vigilant.
Physical torment was not enough for Ali, as referee Carlos Padilla recalled him reciting rhymes to goad and irritate Frazier while he still had the energy.
Ali recited: “Jack be nimble and Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick. Is that all you can give? Come on, you ugly gorilla—hit me!'"
By the third round Ali was using the ‘rope-a-dope’ strategy to absorb the best Frazier had to throw at him and explode from his guard with a flurry of fast punches.
But by the fifth round, it became clear that despite the success of ‘rope-a-dope’ against Foreman, Frazier had the advantage when Ali allowed him up close to land thunderous body blows.
Frazier claimed a small advantage through the middle rounds and had begun to tire Ali with his ferocious body punching. Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, begged his fighter to get off the ropes and fight.
Ali seemed to rally in the eighth round – peeling himself from the ropes to fight toe-to-toe with ‘Smokin’ Joe, which found him much more notable success.
The heat and endlessly brutal nature of the fight had caught up to both men, neither of whom possessed the strength to finish their opponent and had resulted in them relentlessly exchanging concussive blows.
By the tenth round, Frazier had extremely pronounced facial swelling that he claimed was obscuring his vision of the incoming rapid punches from Ali.
Barely able to see, Frazier valiantly entered the 13th round on a desperate hunt to put an end to Ali, but his faltering strength would not allow it and one of the most eye-catching moments came when Ali knocked Frazier’s gumshield out of his mouth with a one-two.
The punishment continued into the 14th round as both men fought with every ounce of their being on the edge of total collapse.
At the end of the 14th round, Frazier’s trainer, Eddie Futch, saw his fighter beaten and swollen and could not send his fighter out for another round of punishment.
He signalled to the referee to call the fight off, and Ali successfully defended his title and put an end to a rivalry so violent and hateful that it will echo in the halls of great fights forever.
The aftermath
Ali explained after the fight that it was the toughest fight he had ever been a part of as he told reporters: “It was like death. Closest thing to dying that I know of.”
He also revealed that at the same time as Frazier’s trainer was preparing to call the fight off, he had asked his corner to cut his gloves off, but Angelo Dundee refused.
Ali said: "Frazier quit just before I did. I didn't think I could fight anymore."
‘The Thrilla in Manila’ is without doubt the most violently entertaining and iconic fight in the history of the sport. Ali admitted he and Frazier had been changed forever by what happened on that morning in the Philippines.
“We went to Manila as champions, Joe and me," Ali said. “And we came back as old men.”
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