Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier II

Ali vs. Frazier II was a boxing fight, the second of three bouts between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, that took place at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, on January 28, 1974.

Significance

Held in between their two other bouts, The Fight of the Century and The Thrilla in Manila, the fight was considered by many fans and experts to be the least significant and interesting fight of their rivalry. One columnist described it as a contest between two "former champions, both beaten, both past their best".^[1] Nonetheless, Ali wanted to avenge his loss to Frazier in their first fight, and a world title try at Heavyweight champion George Foreman, who had dethroned Frazier, was at stake. Their first and third fights became part of boxing's lore, but some viewers considered the second fight to be entertaining as well.

Buildup

Before their rematch, Ali and Frazier visited the ABC studios in New York City to review their first fight for ABC's Wide World of Sports. While both fighters were reviewing round 10, Ali began trash talking and calling Frazier "ignorant" for saying he won the first bout. This enraged Frazier who stood up from his seat and squared up to a seated Ali, repeating "why you call me ignorant... how am I ignorant". While Frazier was not looking at Ali as the studio crew and his entourage tried to calm him down, Ali held Frazier by the neck forcing him to sit down which broke out into a fight on the studio floor. Both fighters were subsequently fined for this and the stage was set for their rematch in the ring.

Fight results

Ali looked a little light and quick on his feet in the early rounds. He constantly circled to his right away from Frazier’s dangerous left hook. And when Frazier got close, Ali cut loose with rapid fire combinations to take the first two rounds. Moreover, in the final twenty seconds of the second round, Ali came straight on Joe's face and did a little jig in the center of the ring. Ali moved forward and landed several combinations that put Joe on the ropes. Then the referee Tony Perez mistakenly thought he heard the bell and gave Frazier a 10-15 second respite. When he realized his mistake and had the fighters resume the action, there were only ten seconds remaining in the round and Frazier had sufficiently recovered.

Ali continued to dominate the fight, throwing and landing more punches than Frazier. When Frazier got close Ali would initiate a clinch and hold him until the referee broke the clinch. Ali was warned 150 times by referee Tony Perez for illegally holding Frazier behind the neck, but never given a points deduction. Frazier began to make headway in rounds eight and nine, keeping Ali pinned to the ropes with heavy body shots. Then, Ali changed his tactics and began to trade punches with Frazier, winning some hard exchanges. Ali successfully avenged his earlier loss with a decision, cementing what would become one of the sports' great rivalries. However, the official verdict was disputed in some quarters; Red Smith of the New York Times scored the bout 6-5-1 for Frazier.^[2]

The official scoring on a rounds basis was 6-5-1 Referee Tony Perez; 7-4-1 Judge Tony Castelaano; 8-4 Judge Jack Gordon.

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]

The official scoring on a rounds basis was 6-5-1 Referee Tony Perez; 7-4-1 Judge Tony Castelaano; 8-4 Judge Jack Gordon.