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September 30, 1975: "THE THRILLA IN MANILA"
Manila, Philippines
Muhammad Ali\'s third fight against his rival Joe Frazier was a spectacular ending to the long lasting struggle of the two Heavyweights who faced each other for a total of 123 minutes in the ring. The \"Thrilla in Manila\" is considered one of the most brutal and bitter bouts in the history of boxing; it was the only time an Ali - Frazier bout did not last for the scheduled time.
After having regained the title against George Foreman in Zaire one year earlier, Ali had successfully defended the belt three times within three months against mostly average opponents. Now he was to face Joe Frazier for the third time to change the record to his favor (Frazier had won the first bout in 1971, Ali dominated the rematch three years later).
The bout was important for Ali not only in terms of prestige. He was guaranteed six million dollars which was twice as much as Joe\'s and more than Ali had received for the first two fights altogether.
As usual, Ali didn\'t miss a chance to verbally attack his opponent in the days leading to the bout. This time it was worse than ever: He gave Frazier the nickname \"Gorilla\", called him ignorant and mocked him because of his ghetto slang. Frazier countered with untypically statements: \"I want to hurt him. I don\'t want to knock him out. I want to take his heart out.\"
Finally, the day of the fight was there. On the morning of October 1 (the fight took place at 10:45 a.m. to suit US viewers) 25,000 people crowded the Philippines Coliseum in Quezon City, six miles outside Manila, hoping for a great fight.
As expected, Ali puts pressure on Frazier in the beginning, stinging him with jabs and combinations to the head, winning the first rounds. Frazier does not lose hope - he knows his time is still to come. He keeps smiling as he takes Ali\'s punches and retaliates with punches to Ali\'s arms and body, once in a while a hook gets through to Ali\'s head.
With about a third of the fight over, Ali tires and Joe\'s punches hit target more often. The champion rests at the ropes like he did against Foreman. This time, however, the \'rope-a-dope\' can not be successful because it is part of Frazier\'s tactic to batter Ali\'s arms until they are hurting to the extent that taking a blow is less painful than blocking it. Frazier tires too and by round ten both fighters show clear signs of fatigue, fighting at low pace. Angelo Dundee said after the fight: \"Both guys ran out of gas, only my guy had an extra tank\"
Where Ali took the energy to come back in the heat and humidity of the Coliseum and hit Frazier worse than anyone had hit him before, has been subject to speculations ever since. \"Ali\'s magic\" appeared for the last time in his career. From round twelve on, Frazier sees no land. In round thirteen his mouthpiece is knocked out of his mouth and out of the ring. So are his winning chances. Ali delivers 43 (!) punches in six minutes to Frazier's head, \"Smokin\' Joe\" did not fall, though. By round fourteen, Joe\'s left eye is completely shut so that he is not able to see Ali's punches any more.
In the break before the last round, Frazier\'s trainer Eddie Futch stops the fight. Too dominating, too far ahead had Ali been on the scorecards, too handicapped was Joe in terms of his vision to have any chance of winning.
Moments after the fight was over, Ali fainted in his corner. No one knows whether he could have resumed the fight. Ali was later quoted that he had been ready to quit if Joe had not.
Both Ali and Frazier fought to their absolute limit and maybe beyond. Joe\'s eyes were still shut hours after the fight. Ali\'s body showed conspicuous signs of the battle, with hematomas and bruises and swellings everywhere, as a result of \"punches that would have knocked down a house\" as Joe later put it. Ali is supposed to have told Angelo Dundee yet during the fight that this was \"the closest to dying\" he had ever been.
Friends and fans of the champion hoped Ali would finally after this slaughter in the ring, at the age of 33, announce his retirement. However, six more years would pass until this wish became reality at last.
In the last ten bouts of his career, following the \"Thrilla in Manila\", Ali would never again be as good as he was in Manila on the morning of October 1. Maybe the illness Ali suffers from today would be less heavy if Ali had retired after the Thrilla in Manila but one can not tell.
Ali, however, continued his career and fought three times in the first half of 1976 - against Jean-Pierre Coopman (k.o. in round five), Jimmy Young who he defeated although he weighed 230 pounds and England's Richard Dunn (k.o. 5).
Then, one of the most embarrassing events of Ali's career took place. For two million dollars he fought the Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki in Tokyo. What was planned to be a show event, almost turned into tragedy. The referee announced a draw after fifteen rounds - Inoki had tried to kick Ali's legs the whole time while Ali had thrown just six punches.
But the boring fight had consequences on Ali's health. Inoki had ruptured blood vessels in Ali's legs with his constant kicks. Because he didn't treat it right, Ali almost had to end his career.
On September 9, 1976, Ali fought Ken Norton for the third time. Despite being in pretty good shape, he won only because of a mistake in Norton's corner. Before the last round, the fight was scored even but Norton's coaches advised him to stay away from Ali because they thought Norton had a comfortable lead. Norton did as he was told and gave away the victory although he could have easily won the last round. Ali admitted after the fight that he felt he had lost.
Seven months later, although not much of Ali\'s \"magic\" was left which helped him win against Foreman and Frazier, Ali entered the ring again and defeated the Spanian Alfredo Evangelista.
In the meantime, Ali's second marriage came to an end. He had had a relationship with Veronica Porche since the Foreman-bout. She was one of four poster girls who had promoted the Rumble in the Jungle. This relationship led to Belinda filing for divorce in 1976. One year later, Ali married Veronica.
In September 1977, Ali defended his title against Earnie Shavers at sold-out Madison Square Garden. After being in heavy trouble in the second round, Ali recovered and won the fight. One week after this fight, Ali's long-time doctor Ferdie Pacheco wasn't willing to be responsible for Ali's deteriorating health any more and left the champ's entourage.
Ali's next opponent was Leon Spinks, a no-name with a record of seven professional bouts. There were no doubts that the great Ali would easily defeat him.
Ali trained less than ever for the fight against Leon Spinks that was to take place in Las Vegas on February 15, 1978. He started training at 242 pounds and sparred less than twenty rounds.
This attitude would take his toll. Ali once again tried to be successful with his \"rope-a-dope\"-strategy but this time it didn't work. Spinks didn't tire and kept punching on Ali's arms and belly. When Ali went off the ropes to attack, his body refused to obey.
The judges scored 2:1 for Spinks and Muhammad Ali had lost the title in the ring for the first and only time.
Ali commented on his defeat: \"Of all the fights I lost in boxing, losing to Spinks hurt the most. That's because it was my own fault. Leon fought clean; he did the best he could. But it was emberassing that someone with so little fighting skills could beat me.\"
After this loss, Ali was determined to win the title back. A rematch was scheduled although the WBC stripped Spinks of their version of the title because he did not fight Ken Norton - the WBA version remained.
While Spinks enjoyed the advantages of being champion - he was, for example, caught with cocain - Ali struggled to get into good shape again.
Ali announced before the fight that he would not \"rope-a-dope\" again but try to keep Spinks in distance. This worked pretty good - Spinks also couldn't cope with Ali holding most of the time. Still, it was a pretty boring fight. Ali who dominated most of the rounds won an unanimous decision and became the first boxer in the history of the heavyweight division to win the title three times.
After this bout, Ali retired from boxing.
After his retirement, Ali traveled around the world. He was hosted by heads of states and important politicians all over the world. He also visited Russia where he met Leonid Brezhnev. In February 1980, Ali was entrusted by president Carter to promote the boycott of the Moscow Olympics. However, Ali was not successful.
After his unfortunate negotiations, Ali despite qualms of his entourage (including his mother) planned to return to professional boxing. Beside his need for money, Ali\'s longing for pugilistic immortality was liable for this decision. His foe was to be Larry Holmes, a former sparring partner of Ali who had become champion in the meantime. Despite being \"only\" challenger, Ali was paid eight million dollars, four times as much as Holmes.
Because of various concerns about his health, Ali checked into the Mayo clinic in Minnesota to undergo a medical examination. Ali was granted a license by the physicians although they had spotted a hole in a brain membrane. The fact that Ali also had problems to touch his nose with closed eyes and had told the doctors that he had been speaking inarticulately every now and then, didn ot change their opinion that he was able to fight Holmes. The doctors did not realize that these symptoms were signs of a commencing, severe disease that could be worsened by punches to the head.
Ali weighed 254 pounds when he started to train for this bout but soon started to lose weight rapidly. It seemed that Ali was in the best condition he had been for years. But the cause of his slimming was not hard training or a special diet but a drug that had been incorrectly prescribed by Herbert Muhammad's personal physician to cure a hypothyroid condition Ali did not have. This drug interfered Ali's metabolism. As a result, Ali lost pound after pound but was increasingly exhausted after heavy exertions.
Ali finally weighed 216 pounds when he entered the ring against Holmes. However, he was not in the constitution to fight a professional 15-round bout. His body was dehydrated and the faintest movements made him short of breath. After a few rounds it became obvious that Ali had no chance. Again and again, Holmes signaled the referee to stop the uneven fight because he did not want to hurt the man that he still admired. After round ten, Angelo Dundee did what he doubtlessly should have done much earlier - he liberated his protege from his torture. It was not a fight; it was an execution. Ali was lucky to survive this fight. It indeed seems incredible that the Ali-Holmes fight took place at all.
But the ones who thought this painful defeat made Ali realize that he should not box any more, were taught better. In autumn of 1981, Ali - almost 40 years old - entered the ring one more time to fight Trevor Berbick on the Bahamas because no site in the USA had been found.
It was not an honorable ending for a career that had been that great. At least Ali was not knocked out in his last fight but that is about the only positive aspect one can think of.
The loss against Trevor Berbick was the last of 61 professional fights in Muhamad Ali's unique career that had lasted for 21 years.
After having retired from professional boxing, Muhammad Ali went through difficult times. His health was cause of serious concerns among his fans and family. Fatigue, lack of concentration, and an occasionally occurring slurred speech finally led to Ali undergoing a series of medical checks in New York.
After the eight day examination, supervised by professor of neurology Stanley Fahn, the public was told that Ali showed \"mild symptoms\" of Parkinson\'s Syndrome which is a neurological disorder causing, among other things, a tremor, slowness of movement and rigidity of muscles. It was also said that Ali\'s life was not in danger due to this disease that possibly could be treated successfully.
The following years brought changes in Muhammad Ali\'s private environment. In summer of 1986, his marriage with Veronica broke and Ali married long-time friend Lonnie Williams in the same year. Lonnie, occasionally calling her husband \"my baby\", had been knowing Ali almost all of her life since their mothers are neighbors and good friends in Louisville. Many intimates of the couple agree that solicitous Lonnie is \"the best that could happen to Ali\".
Two years later, Ali suffered a heavy loss when Drew \"Bundini\" Brown, Ali\'s long time motivator and close friend, died from a stroke. Bundini invented the legendary phrase \"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee\", he and Ali used to shout out on uncountable occasions, perfectly characterizing the young Ali\'s fighting style.
Muhammad Ali appeared on global stage in 1990 when he freed fifteen US hostages from the Iraq during the gulf crisis. Negotiations were eased by his being muslim (which however does not narrow this success).
Ali was once again the Greatest in 1996 when he lit the Olympic fire in Atlanta. The confident way he presented himself despite trembling heavily impressed millions around the globe. Fifteen years after his retirement and twelve years after his being diagnosed of Parkinson, he celebrated an impressing comeback on the stage of sport.
Muhammad Ali does not want people to feel sorry for him because of his physical condition. Ali who prays five times a day takes his fate as God\'s will: \"I had a good life before and I\'m having a good life now.\" According to himself, Ali has become a true believer in Allah after his retirement from boxing and has been one ever since. Ali believes in freedom and brotherhood of all people. He condemned the terrorists of September 11, saying they spoiled the religion of Islam.
Finally, we have reached the end of a remarkable story, the precedentless story of a sportsman who rose from a cocky country boy from Louisville, Kentucky, to a man who was not only more successful in boxing than anyone before and after, but also influenced thousands of people in America and around the globe by courageously standing up for his personal and religious beliefs. The story of a man who today has one of the most recognizable faces on this planet, a man with millions of admirers worldwide whose door is still open for everyone who needs help of any kind.
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