WBC Talks 136: Remembering Frazier vs. Ali – The Greatest Sporting Event Of All Time 

The World Boxing Council didn`t have to conjor, coax, cajole, entice, beg or borrow the greatest panel to enrapture the essence of the Greatest boxing match of all time, which far and away transcended the squared ring, to become the Greatest Sporting Spectacular of them all!

Joe Frazier Jr, Weatta Frazier Collins, Don Majeski, WBC Vice President Charlie Giles, Editor in Chief of Ring Magazine Doug Fisher, Steve Fahood, Jill Diamond and WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.

Fight Fan First and Foremost,  Charlie, leapt at the chance and jumped The Pond to be there sunny side up in 1971, having sought and bought his like gold dust tickets from Nottingham Rowing Club (where else?). He remembers the Big Apple buzzing with fevered anticipation, in that frigid bone chillingly cold week in those fabled days,  leading up to that Monday March 8th fight of fights at The Garden.

Charlie`s cheeky chappie response to how he wanted his breakfast ham and eggs…one up and two down, could have left him as toast. He very nearly  hashed it, and in so doing  “Browned off” the server, who tabbed him as… a wise guy.  It almost put Charles on a diet, because he`d flatly replied: “Oh just on the plate.”  As they say in the building industry, he then had to endure a: “Long wait/weight.”  

Charlie has attended and enjoyed more than three thousand boxing nights, but NEVER one like this!  The build up anticipation, thrill, anticipation, gave fans their money`s worth three times over…and that was before the opening bell tolled!

Don Majeski says the cheapest tickets were twenty dollars. He got his for thirty five dollars from a bookmaker. To do so he had to pool his Christmas, Easter and Birthday money. Yet it was the best bargin he ever made. Don estimates if The Fight of the Century was held today it`d gross a billion dollars!

Introducing the fight on that night, none other than Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson strode up into the ring!  And Norman Mailer donated his ego in creating the penned fight report. Closed Circuit Commentator was Burt Lancaster!  Frank Sinatra was armed with a camera, on assignment for Life Magazine.

Steve Fahood who`s a former Editor in Chief of Ring Magazine,  congratulated Doug Fisher for the extraordinary Special Edition he`s put together to commemorate Fight of the Century.  Steve says that he was just fourteen back then,  and America was a bit crazy. In one sense the fifties still hadn`t ended. But at the self same time Viet Nam was still going on, public opinion changed and it validated Muhammad Ali. He saw it on a closed circuit television and the fans,  impatient to get into the theater smashed the doors down! No tickets required.

 Doug said that Joe Frazier had earned his status at heavyweight champion, while Ali was a returning champion, who`d never lost his championship in the ring. Ali was the peoples` champion because of his stance and social significance and he`d earned his way back into this title fight.  He stressed Joe was NOT going to be denied that night. Both Frazier and Ali were fighting with the intensity of welterweights! 

Joe Jr who described his father as a great man, said that event was bitter sweet. He won that fight and it was a matter of twists and turns. He described his dad as ferocious in the ring, but tremendously kind hearted outside of it. a God fearing and charismatic man. 

Smokin Joe`s daughter Weatta Frazier Collins said: “We are blessed to have his legacy in our midst. It is just priceless that people are still taking about this fight. They were great warriors. We are humbled, blessed and grateful.” Weatta mentioned that a statue of her father and Muhammad Ali has recently been completed and she suggested that it should be put on the other side of the Art Museum in Philly.  She says Joe deserves a third statue then they could be called: “The Father, Son and Holy Ghost!”

Joe Jr said it all by saying: “In one hundred years, people will still look back on this.”