15 rounds for the Undisputed heavyweight championship of the world introducing from Louisville Kentucky he's wearing red trunks he weighs 25 undefeated in 31 bouts scoring 25 Knockouts here is Muhammad Ali [Applause] his opponent from Philadelphia Pennsylvania he's wearing green trunks he weighs 2052 lb undefeated in 26 bouts scoring 23 Knockouts the heavyweight champion of the world Joe Razer good evening Joe and Muhammad since this contest is for the final final determination of the heavyweight championship of the world we ask you to pay particular attention to the rules of the New York State athletic Commission in
the event of a knockdown you must take an a count the other man must retire to the neutral Corner three knockdowns in one round will automatically end the contest contest break when I tell you to break you will be IL you will be penalized for any illegal blows shake hands now man return to your corner hold it there'll be no holding behind head yes sir the battle of the Champions is about to take place Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frasier and Aliah said this man must fall in six [Applause] one playay is 9 1/2 lb heavier
he's 15 Stone five against 149 and 1/2 he outreaches Frasier by 8 and 1/2 in and he's 4 in [Applause] taller and Clay nonchalant gets the first digs in we shall see frasia come forward like this shuffling in looking for the chance to get the big one in and the big one with frasia is the left hook clay dancing fast on the tassels on the shuffle shoes twirling [Applause] away and the early points of the first minute are all claims he picks his man off from the distance and Clay looks out and says he didn't
hurt me how can a man afford to do this here he is in the most important fight of his life and he's treating the man with [Applause] contempt and Fraser gets picked off as he tries to move in and he's going to have to take a lot of those Jabs and Clay shakes his head again and says no that didn't hurt me the whole point of this fight is whether Muhammad Ali can keep this sort of style up for 15 rounds can he wear down Frasier or will Frasier eventually wear him down [Applause] the Bell
D and Frasier scoring a little better towards the end but the opening round has gone to clay without any doubt he's boxed his way to a victory in the first round Fraser on the short end of the points Joe frzy 27 years old 2 years younger who like clay has never lost a fight 26 fights 26 wins clay 31 fights and 31 wins here's a playback of some of the action in the first round clay was always trying to dance away and look at this sort of play acting as he looks around at 20,000 people
and signifies that he hasn't been Hur by Frasier and immediately Fraser looks for the chance to put the left hook across to the Head actually the style that Frasier said he'd use would be to go for the body because if he said if you kill the body then the head must [Applause] [Music] [Applause] die and the speed of play gets the Jabs in but he doesn't stop Fraser getting in close to him but when he does get in close he ties him up the superior strength to Clay the bigger Man 9 and A2 pounds heavier
is telling At Close Quarters a good right hand from clay his hooks falling [Applause] short that's a good left cooking he gets it home to the head of clay and Clay's hurt and he dances away from the ropes because he has to what a good right hand from clay what a fight this is turning out to [Applause] be rer keeps coming forward and this is what he's always going to do and he has to take it in good left C from Fraser and these two will never go 15 rounds at this pace stop talking this
is a fight to a finish and it looks like being an early finish one way or the other [Applause] lovs up he takes him on his arms and he gives that little Shake of the head again no trouble he says he been caught once or twice but he's looking confident and he's picking Fraser off all the time and the jab is proving Superior at the moment to the hooks of the world champion Joe Frasier two good solid punches from Fraser this time Ali does not shake his head Fraser pumping away all the time but not
always getting him in a lot of them on the [Applause] arms and Clay really is out tonight to show us what he can do and we've started with two magnificent rounds and I make clay having one on both here we go again with some second round action Frasier trying to storm through the Jabs to come through the punches that keep pouring into his head the big hooks trying to get him in the arms the forearms of clay come up and he protects himself and his body as Fraser moves inside but he caught that one round
three and Clay's talking to fras around I'm frer really out to get him well Ed [Applause] shot that's a good left hook and he catches play this time and these two really testing each other for the full this is the best heavyweight championship fight for many [Applause] years frasia fogs his way through the defenses of clay and Clay takes a breather on the ropes and the jab is slow down from [Music] playay not quite the snap to close punching that there was in the first two rounds but he's still able to pick his man off
at long range because of that big 8 and 1/2 in reach advantage that's a good left hook and there's a speck of blood on Clay's nose Clay's bleeding from the nose at the end of round three and he's having to go through it on the ropes and that was Joe Frasier's run a big finish there had Muhammad Ali bleeding from the nose Angelo Dandee there gets to work on him here's the the replay tremendous effort here made by Frasier towards the end of the third round and there was nothing clay could do about it he
couldn't stop him coming at him that's the big one and Clay hasn't bothered to sit down for the last 30 seconds of the interval four so now this tremendous Heavyweight Championship resumes action and Frasier straight at his man and the punches are pumping through they're getting past and Clay now really needs the dancing feet in the Artistry one of these has to crack neither man has ever been beaten one man will leave here tonight the loser and unlikely to come out of this on his feet either [Applause] clay still whips the right hand in across
to the face of Frasier no Cuts yet but clay bleeding from the nose in the third round round four fight which has got off at a really incredible pace for a 15 round Heavyweight Championship and already you can see that the two men beginning to slow because of the pace of which they went off they couldn't keep it up the Greater number of punches being landed by Clay in this round as he moves back there's the big one and he got hurt but he still got his wits about him and he comes thumping back with
two big ones himself off and this fight explodes into excitement from second to [Applause] Second and Fria bulldozed his way through again he was on the losing end on the first half of the round and then in the second half he began to come strongly just like he did in the third but he may not have won the round because there were a lot of punches put through by Muhammad Ali at the start of that round until the really big one came across from Frasier here's the replay two good punches there's a big left hook
from Joe Frasier the favorite punch of this man this is the one that destroys him well we got two rounds if this prediction of Muhammad Ali is to come true he's at the six and frasa keeps coming bounding across this ring looking for his man all the [Applause] time and the former Champion under heavy pressure again and it's noticeable that the talking has stopped Clay's got his work cut out now with this fight and he knows it and Frasier this time snils back at clay as clay catches him to the head I don't know what
he said but obviously he was showing contempt the [Applause] punches Fraser gets caught as comes in he's got a few bumps around his eyes now Fraser one of these has got a crack and of the two Fraser is the more marked on the face now and Fraser grins he puts his hands down and he laughs and he says your punches aren't hurting me and still he comes on but he takes them as he comes in their point scoring punches this is a sensational Fight 1 million pounds each I don't know if any Fighters worth that
but these two are giving some value here Frasier grins again fth round and no sign at all that Fraser is going to fall in six this has been a pretty strong round and a good one for the former Champion casus clay he's done a lot of work and he scored with a lot of punches and Frasier takes a swipe at him as he goes back to his corner but Frasier lost the round here's some more of the action from that fifth round I'm going to get you you can see that look written all over Frasier's
face so here they are now the sixth round Madison Square Garden in New York City and this is the round that Muhammad Ali predicted just before the fight this is the one he said he'd beat Fraser in all right great Bo come [Music] back [Applause] good these are two Champions and they're drawing the best out of each other and they're really testing each other's strength and endurance this is what he tried to do with Lon way back seven years ago that's exactly what he did with Lon and finnally enough round about the stage of the
[Applause] fight play has not worked much in this run it's being pressured out of this run both of them now taking a breather it's not [Music] surprising they've both taken each other's punches well we could be in for a very long fight here now by the look of it it looked like ending quickly early on but they've taken each other's best shots and they both stood up to him so he might be him for a long one [Music] what a Relentless style this man's [Applause] got clay lets him do it shakes his head what's he
trying to do let Frasier wear himself out on him and he plays about with him how can a man afford to do [Applause] this he's got 10 seconds to make his prediction come true and it's not going to work and there's the Bell and the prediction has failed and Muhammad Ali walks back to corner and he shakes his head the man has not fallen in six and so the infallibility of Muhammad Ali has come unstuck already in Madison Square Garden tonight the man did not fall as predicted round seven well frasia predicted he'd win inside
10 so he's still got four rounds to make his come true oh what a big thumping left hook that was and although clay shakes his head again he felt that playay picked him off with some good punches in this [Music] one I wonder if one of these will lose [Music] hard no doubt this is a clay spectacular tonight he's playing to the crowd as well as fighting Joe Frasier and it takes a good man to do that he's got the most dangerous man he's ever had in front of him and he's not only dealing with
him but he's also the crowd their m is withth this is really astounding the way he treats this man frasia and I think Clay's won this round because he's put in a lot of good shots he's got a lot of good punches home and I make that Clay's round and I make clay in front at this stage of the fight not by much but I've got him ahead so at the moment it seems to me that the boxing skill of Muhammad Ali is just about got the edge over Frasier slugging but it's a precarious sort
of lead and it could be exploded at any time here's the big cry for Muhammad Ali that's a tremendous shout for Muhammad Ali he's got the crowd going with him and he motions to Fraser and says listen they're rooting for me round [Applause] eight step back good looking Jabs from clay when he really applies himself to it he looks really good and he looks as though he can handle frasia when he really sets himself to it but this windmill of a machine this threshing machine that is Joe Frasier still comes on at him and occasionally
clay gets entangled in it there's nothing in those just going through the motions now the [Music] per there's a shot took him for a sucker there he pulled the big one out this is really extraordinary these two are not so much fighting now they're sparring they're putting on an exhibition now in the middle of a world heavyweight championship fight you won't see this very often they're just messing about what is going on I'm surprised Arthur mccy the referee hasn't moved in here and told him about this because this is not fighting for the title and
the crowd's beginning to Bo and I don't blame them people have paid more than £60 here for a ringside seat and they want to fight but they've had one so far they can't Grumble at what they've seen so far but this is not fighting this is exhibition stuff they's talking to him again inside the [Music] clinch Mandy says come on come on fight and cl motions to phrase it but come in and him he's trying he's trying to dishearten Fraser by letting him take pot shots at him with the left hook and show him that
he can stand there and take it being seen on close circuit television in more than 350 cinemas theaters and sports Arenas throughout North America and in 33 in Great Britain and frasia is the one that loses his temper all the time and Clay is contemptuous of him but he hasn't yet won the fight now the the counter cheers as we watch this replay action the counter cheers ring out in Madison Square Garden for Joe Frasier Joe Joe Joe they [Applause] shout well this is the man with the title and this man has got to come
and get it [Music] n now maybe they'll settle down now and do some real fighting in the nth this is more like it [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Fraser's got quite a few lumps and bumps on his face but he's not C all right come on break boy step back Joe frer not quite so juny as he comes forward the Springs gone out of that bounding that we had earlier and he's breathing hard and he's breathing a lot harder than Clay is but then at times he's working twice as hard but not always twice as effectively
nothing in those [Applause] punches why does clay mess a bad like this that's a good left hook and he asked for that one and he got it there's a sort of strange Death Wish about clay as though he wants to tempt fate and he's tempting it here because he's been hurt twice now in this round and he's done nothing in reply he hangs his chin out and asks for it and why should a man do that [Music] he comes back well this time clay but he needed to good left hooks play one of the rare
left hooks that he Ed but now he's giving Frasier a working over and Frasier goes back for the first time round nine and Clay forced Frasier to retreat and he retreated because he was getting hurt big sensation in the ninth Frasier forced back and hurt [Applause] and for the first time it looked to me as though one man began to weaken and it wasn't this man the one who began to weaken there was Frasier because he backed up under severe pressure as clay cut out the fooling and went to work and this is how he
did it and there goes Frasier backing off because he was getting hurt tremendous Onslaught a good left hook and reply by Frasier and Frasier is liberally dbed with grease now around both eyes and I think now he's really got to come and get clay because if he takes another Hammer one he took in the ninth he could be in real trouble so now we're look to Frasier to really come in and try and stop this man now no sign at all that he's weakening the former champion [Music] [Applause] TR is really looking for him now
it was the left hook of Clays that set the big attack going in the previous round seems to me as though frasia can't put sustained a attacks together any longer he comes forward but the punches are coming singly now rather than in clusters as they were [Music] earlier and now fras is complaining about the referee and asking his manager to come and tell the referee to lay off him because he feels he's getting a raw deal in the clinches he's being told to lay off play and he doesn't want it and he looks at Mandi
again as Mandi prizes them apart Fraser wants to work in close he doesn't want to be at a [Music] distance slight signs of desperation to me in Fraser's work now but he's making the [Music] face frasia said he'd win inside 10 and we've got Les than a minute of the 10th to go it looks as though both predictions will be wrong it's interesting now that the rounds are being finished better by Clay and started better by Fraser it's a reversal of what happened in the earlier [Applause] runs well I think clay lost that one Frasier
made most of the running here's the action again look at this style reminiscent of Rocky Marciano frasers coming in bunched over crouching over hooking all the time and ceaselessly chasing his man typical Rocky Marciano style of the 1950s w 11 they kept off a tremendous Pace that's a slip he got caught but it was a slip no compulsory count of eight it was a slip step back come again TR here hammers forward and the former Champion is very definitely looking for a rest in this one punches are getting through to Clay's head play doing nothing
incredible man he is but he's not fighting [Music] frasia doesn't quite know what to do about him so he plays along with it then tries the big one he tries to sneak one out of it and he's made to [Music] miss and Clay beckons him back Fraser really goes after him and he's got him with the left hook he's done it once too often Clay's in trouble round 11 he's hurt he nearly went down here's the first great climax of this fight the left hooks are thundering in and Clay's in trouble and he makes a
face it's a big round for Frasier and he's hurt again and he almost goes over plays in real trouble now he really needs needs to move now is he foxing or is he really hurt he's hurt [Applause] tremendous round for frer the bell's coming up oh and Clay play acting again he pretends he's hurt and Clay was hurt but not hurt as much as he was trying to make out and Angelo dandi shouts at him and says what are you doing let's see that again now from that amazing round 11 this was Muhammad Ali at
his worst fooling about Taking Chances and then really getting hammered and Clay this time is not standing he takes as long a rest as he can get before he comes out and now this could be the one for Fraser because he's got his man in trouble and suddenly clay has evaporated TR has really got his chance and the former Champion has really got to pull something out now he's in trou again and fr gets after him and it looks as though the strength is beginning to drain out of Muhammad Ali the legs have gone he's
not moving and he's a standing Target now for for the big swings of Frasier the 12th round and this could be the first collapse of cia's [Music] clay he hasn't been on the floor since 1963 and it was Henry Cooper who put him there then and he looks as though he might go at any time now clay doing nothing and his mouth coming open and his legs have gone and it's beginning to look as though it's going to need a miracle to pull clay round there's no more fooling and there's no more dancing now he
gets to work again he's coming back he's pull himself together and he's coming back and if this doesn't dishearten Frasier nothing will that's a good right hand good left hook from clay again there and he's hurt Fraser once or twice as the Champions moved in on him and so the big question mark is up there again which one traser looked to have it one and he hasn't got it one and he's got hurt again towards the end of that round so the thing is wide open Once Again Clay came through a bad bad patch and
came out of it well and began to put the punches together and found the head of this man this was Fraser on top in the 12th round really on top some of the worst moments of the fight for Muhammad Ali look at the way people are standing in this jam-packed Arena Madison Square Garden looking to see the fall of clay and it didn't come and we've really got a tense tense situation boiling up here now the tension absolutely electric now in Madison Square Garden because now we've seen clay come through a bad patch and we've
seen him recover all right step back stoping and once again the possibility opens up that clay can win all right step back I it catch CRA with good punches again as the champion comes in the body shot there from Frasier and these two have very nearly punched themselves out on each other [Applause] playay started talking to him again the eyes of C look very puffed indeed now but he's still in there to fight who's going to come out the stronger of this one the side of Frasier's face looking puffed and raw but still flogging in
those body shots and you can really hear them the tremendous thumping punches into the body of [Music] clay he's been in that corner for a minute now the Bell coming up so there we are we've got two to go and it's not resolved it's still not resolved and all the signs we might get a full 15 rounder now and I'm certain that Joe Frasier feels that he might have won this and should have won it possibly round the 12th here's Frasier again in that last round the 13th really slogging those body punches home to Clay
and Klay taking them all and not going down 14th coming up two to go and still anybody's Championship round 14 raes only been 15 rounds once before and that was with Oscar bonovo in his last fight his second comeback fight clay went almost 15 rounds with Oscar bonavina stopped bonavina in the closing minute [Music] tremendous lumps now have come up around C's eyes clay still unmarked but what his body must be feeling like a dread to think and tremendous and heated discussion going on all around the Press tables here people saying who have you got
in front who have you got in front because it's been an incredibly hard fight really to sum up because some rounds have been so peculiar that you don't know how to score I made clay out in front of the early rounds but not by much and then he went through that sticky patch and has since come back well it looks as though we're going to get a points decision 14 Fraser talking to [Applause] [Music] Clay two good punches from play and I saw the inside of Fraser's mouth then as it popped open and it really
is red he's bleeding inside the mouth phraser he has soaked up some stick around the head and his looks really are changing now the shape of his face is changing he's got so many lumps and bumps around his eyes good strong finish there by Muhammad Ali and so we've got 3 minutes of action left in this amazing heavyweight championship fight the multi-million dollar fight which could easily take $20 million around the world these men being paid £1 million a piece this is the sort of action we had in the 14th and apart from one or
two rounds when they've messed about we've had action and tremendous action all the way and it looks as though it's going to go the full 15 rounds so that's the replay and now we're back live and this is it the final 3 minutes of one of the most amazing World Heavyweight Championships of all time Muhammad Ali trying to regain his title from the present Champion Joe Frasier and who to say at this point that he won't do [Applause] it oh there he is the left hook cers at last caught up with him tremendous left hook
he was up at five compulsory 8 count so clay down the first knockdown of the fight tremendous left hook can Frasier now finish him in the last round if he's down three times then the fight is automatically stopped and Clay is fighting for survival [Applause] [Applause] we've got just over a minute and a half to go and Clay can do nothing but hang on and hope there's the left hook again and he almost goes down from that one and at this point he looks a beaten man the side of his face is swelling you can
see the side of Clay's face swelling where he took that TR tremendous left hook he's like a man with [Applause] toothache what a finish and what a [Applause] fight and that knockdown has probably saved the title for Frasier we've got one minute to go the hole of the side of Clay's face the right hand side is Scarlet and swollen and so this extraordinary fight saved a major sensation for the 15th [Applause] round 30 seconds to go and Frasier grins over Clay's shoulder and he grins at his corner and Fraser has the look of the Conqueror
about him now as he finishes this [Applause] fight here it comes it's over and it's gone the distance and Frasier gives him a contemptuous little pat on the head and now all hell breaks loose as every body tries to get into the ring and the New York cops are up there to force them out and we wait now for a referee and two judges to give us the verdict but the Frasier cemp know they've won and he did it with the last round knockdown here's the replay that fight must have been close but that knockdown
could make all the difference and there is pandemonium in this ring referee Arthur mccy scores it 8 61 even for a [Applause] frasia a dollar 9 to6 for a Fraser B wrecked 11 rounds for Fraser four r r and4 they winner by anonimous decision and still heavyweight champion of the world Jo [Applause] fasia a unanimous decision referee and both judges give it to Joe Frasier Frasier Remains the champion and Muhammad Ali the former casassus Clay is beaten at last his 32nd fight his first defeat 29 years old the Legend and the myth perhaps of Muhammad
Ali has been destroyed [Music]
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