Growing up in south Jersey, boxing was not something that I watched or cared about much. Sure, I heard of big names like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, but at 10 years old, baseball, football and basketball were my favorites sports. My dad would talk once in a while about going to see Rocky Marciano and Sugar Ray Robinson at drive-in movie theatres in the 50’s, and I found his stories interesting. The first fight I ever saw myself on television was on ABC’s Wide World of Sports on February 21, 1970. It was a replay of the Joe Frazier-Jimmy Ellis bout from five days earlier. I remember how easily Joe handled Ellis, knocking him out in five rounds, so much so that I felt sorry for Jimmy. It certainly would be the first of many fights I would watch in my lifetime.
The biggest news in boxing in late 1970 was the return of Muhammad Ali to boxing. He had finally received a license to box again in Georgia, after having been stripped of his championship for refusing induction to the U.S. Army in April of 1967. Ali’s first bout back was on October 26 against Jerry Quarry, and the bout was stopped on cuts after three rounds. Less than two months later, on December 7, he took on Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Ali stopped him in the fifteenth, setting up his March 8, 1971 Super-Fight with ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazer in New York City. It was all over the news, and I read about it in Sports Illustrated every week. An amazing thing I vividly recall, was seeing a copy of the $2,500,000 checks in the magazine hat each of the men were paid. In early 1971, that was an astounding amount of money, especially to a kid that got 50 cents a week for an allowance.
When March 8 rolled around, I found myself rooting for Ali. Even though Joe was a local favorite because of where I lived, my sentiments were for the ex-champ. We had a beautiful console stereo in our living room, and that night, my older brother listened to what was advertised as ‘The Fight of the Century’, on the floor. There was no live radio broadcast of the bout, but instead you heard a round by round description of what the reporter saw on TV, and gave his opinion.
When I woke up the next morning, my brother told me that Frazier had won. I was disappointed, but hopped the bus to school, more interested in what my mom had packed in my lunch box. That night, I read the sports pages in the Courier-Post, a south Jersey newspaper, and remember seeing Ali eating a chocolate ice cream bar. At age 10, that’s the kind of stuff I recall the most.
As I became a serious boxing fan in the late 70’s, I learned about the history of boxing over the years. I’ve read hundreds of books and magazines, and watched countless hours of live fights, and VHS tapes I taped or bought at the store. After having watched Ali-Frazier 1 a bunch of times, and endless documentaries about it, there is no doubt it’s ‘The Greatest Fight of All Time’, not just of ‘The Century.’
Never again in history will two great undefeated heavyweight champions meet in the ring in their prime. It was also a different world in 1971, with no internet, no cell phones, and a simpler time. Memories from that bout from those who remember it, are bold and bright. Two great champions fighting their hearts out for 15 rounds, was amazing then, and still is today. That’s why to me personally, it remains ‘The Greatest Fight of All Time’.
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