Thrilla in Manila

Ali-Frazier III

Date	October 1, 1975
Venue	Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Philippines
Title(s) on the line	WBC/WBA Heavyweight Championship Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Muhammad Ali Joe Frazier Nickname The Greatest Smokin' Joe Hometown Louisville, KY, U.S. Philadelphia, PA, U.S. Pre-fight record 48–2 (35 KO) 32–2 (27 KO) Recognition WBC/WBA Heavyweight Champion Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion
Result
Ali won via 14th round TKO

The Thrilla in Manila was the third and final famous boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Boxing Championship of the World, fought at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on October 1, 1975. The contest's name is derived from the frequent Ali rhymed boast that it would be a "Killa and a Thrilla and a Chilla, when I get that gorilla in Manila".

The bout is often ranked as one of the greatest fights of 20th century boxing, and is the climax to the bitter rivalry between Ali and Frazier. When Ali was stripped of the title in 1967 over his refusal to join the armed forces when drafted during the Vietnam War, Frazier had petitioned President Nixon to restore Ali's right to box and even lent Ali money. When Ali finally got his license back, they first met in the bout promoters called The Fight of the Century, marking the first time that two undefeated heavyweight champions had met in the ring. The mutual enmity emerged in the build up to the fight, when Ali turned on Frazier, describing him as an "Uncle Tom", and a "white man's champion". Frazier in turn riled Ali by referring to him by his birth name, Clay. The fight itself was a classic. Frazier won by unanimous decision in a fast-paced, brutal 15 round bout, with Smokin' Joe scoring the fight's (and the trilogy's) only knockdown at the beginning of the final round.

Afterwards the pair continued to trade insults, but by the time they met in a rematch, neither was champion; Frazier had lost his title to George Foreman and Ali had recently been beaten by Ken Norton. In a promotional appearance before their second fight, the two had an infamous brawl in a TV studio while being interviewed by Howard Cosell. The rematch itself was a boring, poorly refereed affair. In the 2nd round, Ali stung Frazier with a hard right hand, which backed him up. Referee Tony Peres inexplicably stepped in between the fighters, signifying the end of the round, even though there were about 25 seconds left, giving Frazier precious time to regain his bearings and continue fighting. Peres also utterly failed to contain Ali's tactic of illegally holding and pulling down his opponent's neck in the clinches - which helped Ali to smother Frazier, and gain him the decision. This became a major issue in selecting the referee for the Manila bout.

In September 1975, Muhammad Ali, having regained his title with a stunning knockout of George Foreman, thought a third fight with Frazier at this stage would represent an easy payday against a big-name challenger who would be unable to live up to his billing in the ring. It instead proved to be a brutal, give and take affair, with each man absorbing a great deal of punishment. The fight finally ended when Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch refused to let Frazier come out for the 15th round, resulting in a TKO for Ali.

Pre-fight promotions and training

Muhammad Ali

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos offered to hold the bout in Metro Manila and sponsor it to divert attention from the social turmoil that the country was experiencing, having declared martial law three years earlier (1972). In the lead-up to the Manila fight as well as each of their other two encounters, Joe Frazier was made to withstand a withering barrage of verbal abuse from Muhammad Ali. Ali's theme this fight was to hang a nickname on Frazier as he had done to many of his opponents throughout the years. The name he chose was "The Gorilla", and he rhymed out the singsong chant "It will be a Killa and a Thrilla and a Chilla when I get The Gorilla in Manila." while punching an action-figure sized gorilla doll. Ali explained to reporter Dick Schaap that it was part of a longstanding pre-fight strategy of his: "I like to get a man mad, because when a man's mad, he want's ya so bad, he can't think, so I like to get a man mad." This strategy worked in Ali's favor in his defeat of George Foreman, who seemed to explode with rage every round until he had exhausted himself. But Frazier was different, for he had not only skill, but confidence, stamina and the character to persevere in the most difficult of circumstances. As Dave Wolf (who was a member of the Frazier team in Manila) explained "With all of the residue of anger that Joe had from what had happened before the first fight, what had happened before and during the second fight and after these fights, Joe was ready to lay his life on the line, and... he did."

The training methods of the two fighters illustrated the contrast between the two men. In Ali's camp, the learned preparations of a brilliant champion and his legendary trainer, Angelo Dundee, ran concurrently with the famed "Ali Circus" which consisted of a king-sized entourage of friends, hangers-on, and anyone who caught Ali's fancy and wanted to join in the fun. All of this was business as usual for the champion, and claims that he did not prepare for the fight are belied by the herculean effort Ali was able to deliver in the ring, as well as the pre-fight observations of legendary boxing writer A.J. Liebling, who covered the match for The Washington Post. Despite carrying a small layer of excess fat, in training sessions, Ali moved well, and his punches from both hands were sharp, showing both crispness and accuracy.

Outside of the camp, however, Ali's fight preparations were badly distracted in the days leading up to the fight. It began when Ali introduced his mistress, Veronica Porsche, to Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos as his wife at a public event, angering his real wife, Belinda, when she saw this on television back in the States, whereupon, she flew to Manila, and engaged the champion in a prolonged shouting match in his hotel suite.

In the Frazier camp, trainer Eddie Futch made the decision that the hordes of people and the tension in the steaming hot city were a poor environment to prepare in. Thus, Frazier completed his training for what was to be his final shot at the championship in a lush, quiet setting in the mountainous outskirts of the city of Manila. There he led a spartan existence often sitting for hours in a contemplative state in preparation for the bout.

Fight

See also: Fight of the Century and Ali-Frazier II

Seeing the results of round 14, Eddie Futch decided to stop the fight between rounds rather than risk a similar or worse fate for Frazier in the 15th. Frazier protested stopping the fight, shouting "I want him boss," and trying to get Futch to change his mind. Futch replied, "It's all over. No one will forget what you did here today", and signaled to referee Carlos Padilla, Jr. to end the bout. Unknown to Frazier's corner, Ali had walked back to his own corner after the 14th and instructed Dundee to cut his gloves off. Ali later said that "Frazier quit just before I did. I didn't think I could fight any more." Ali's biographer, Thomas Hauser, later revealed that a member of Ali's corner had told him that Ali was telling them to "cut (my gloves) off, cut 'em off", indicating Ali's desire to not continue the fight. Ali's surprise is quite visible on the video of the fight once Futch threw in the towel for Frazier. Ali would later claim that this was the closest to dying he had ever been.

Aftermath

The Philippines' first multi-level commercial shopping mall was named after Muhammad Ali as a tribute to his victory. The mall is named "Ali Mall" and is located in Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City right beside the Araneta Coliseum in which the "Thrilla in Manila" took place.

External links

• "Ali-Frazier fight extracts dreadful price" Reuters UK via redOrbit
• "CENTURY'S BEST: 'Lawdy, Lawdy, He's Great'" Sports Illustrated