Ali-Frazier I: A Superhero Becomes Human

Editor’s Note: Check out my exclusive, in-depth article on the Fight of the Century over at PlanetIll.com, Ali-Frazier I: The Greatest Fight of All Time

The Fight of the Century was the fight that made Muhammad Ali a human being in my eyes. I wasn’t born when the epic event happened. Over a decade later, my knowledge of Ali’s exploits came through my father. I sat enthralled as he told me of the 60’s Ali’s famed speed and movement; how he almost never got hit with clean shots. That viewpoint was reinforced when he showed me a tape of Ali-Liston I, where the then Cassius Clay kept Liston struggling on offense even when temporarily blinded.

Because I was so young, I thought Ali was unbeatable. I had seen clips of the Foreman KO, but not any of his other 70s battles with the likes of Frazier and Norton. That was until a local network showed the Fight of the Century in its entirety.

Frankly, that fight shocked my 6-7 year old brain. I swore early on Ali was just playing around and would finish Frazier. Instead, I watched with horror as Frazier nearly finished Ali in the 11th.

“Why does he keep holding?! Get off the ropes!” I screamed at the TV as if the fight were live.

At the end I was flabbergasted. Ali lost. And he had lost BIG. How could he be the Greatest getting beat like that? My Dad laughed when I asked him that, telling me that all fighters lose.

“But the great ones come back from it,” he added.

And that’s when my view of boxers matured from superheroes to very human individuals overcoming their flaws and obstacles. I then learned about the Norton fights, the close calls early and late in Ali’s career, and the sad ending against Holmes and Berbick. Rather than diminishing my view of Ali, it enhanced my understanding of the man through his strengths and weaknesses. With Ali and to a smaller extent Mike Tyson as my boxing introduction, I began to study other fighters in different weight classes.

A few decades later and here I am today as a boxing writer. The Fight of the Century is no less great now than it was on the night of March 8, 1971. Without even realizing this anniversary was coming, I spent the last week using the bout as a tool in my workout regimen. Whenever I got tired and wanted to quit, I’d look up, see Ali and Frazier going at it, and get another wind (“If they wouldn’t quit through all that pain, I won’t either.”).

The Fight of the Century has long since become the stuff of legend and myth. But let us never forget the very human core of that drama represented in Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.