The first fight I watched at a kid was on February 21,1970 when ABC’s Wide World of Sports aired a replay of Joe Frazier knocking out Jimmy Ellis. Muhammad Ali was a household name by that time, so when he finally came out of exile after 3 1/2 years for refusing induction into the United States Army in October 1970, even I took notice. Since I grew up in south Jersey, Joe Frazier was a local favorite and his mega fight signed for March 8, 1971 was in the news 7 days a week. In November 1970, I started getting Sports Illustrated magazines in the mail for the first time and when they wrote articles about the Ali-Frazier fight, I read every single word of every columnist.
When I saw pictures of the $2.5 million checks that each man was going to get, I almost had a heart attack at 10 years old, it was that shocking. The bout was in the news every day and even I couldn’t wait for it to happen. On Monday night March 8, my brother sat glued to the stereo console in our living room to listen to a round by round description of the ‘Super-Fight’ from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The only way to see it live was at closed-circuit venues around the country but my father couldn’t have cared less about the fight or I would have loved to go see it.
I went to sleep early since I had to get up early for 5th grade the next morning and was disappointed to learn that Frazier had won from my brother. For some reason I liked Ali better and was rooting for him, but was surprised that he lost. It was 3 years before I saw the fight on television, aired to promote Ali Frazier II in January 1974. Film clips and highlights were shown in snippets were shown from time to time but the only way to see the entire fight was to buy an 8mm copy and show it on a screen at home with no sound.
Since then I’ve seen the fight countless times and the action is non stop the entire 15 rounds. Both men left their all in the ring, but Joe Frazier fought the best fight of his life, knocked Ali down in the 15th round and deserved the decision. To me, it remains ‘The Greatest Fight Ever’, and always will be.
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