Boxing Symbiosis: Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III

Manila, Philippines, October 2, 1975.-  I don’t know how much time I have been sitting here in my bedroom with my open window. I have a pen in my hand and a white sheet, I was deeply touched, trying to put in a semblance of  order all the things that happened, understanding what just occurred and the pent up and then released emotions of what was “Thrilla in Manila. 

Great, exhausting, dramatic, frantic, passionate, thrilling and  super human willpower … I think those are the words to the world I will use to describe the conflict  between the two greatest heavyweights, Ali and Frazier.

I remember I wrote this fight will surpass everything I could imagine, and it happened exactly that way. The battle was even more brutal than I imagined.

Utterly unique and unrepeatable! No matter what the rivalries of the coming years, this will be an unforgettable fight for the ages. Two men with all their hearts and souls, fighting for keeps. 

A radically different happening  to the ones that have gone before. In January, 1974, they fought. After Frazier defeated Ali in 1971, Ali then got revenge. One- One, so this was the ultimate and supreme encounter, the final battle.

In an unusual match celebrated at 10am, the Coliseum was filled in minutes, all the seats were occupied, there was no extra place for a single soul.  Hundreds were left languishing outside, cooking their heels, as 28,000 packed the sweltering stadium  ready and excited. Soon the morning heat gained furnace force. A surreal moment arrived , humidity and “repressed anger” combined, seething in the simmering, shimmering environment.

Immersed in the beating of my heart, that silent wall that I had achieved, was decimated when they announced Frazier and then Ali, who had the confident conviction that  he was facing a done rival…a spent force.  However  he quickly understood  he was totally wrong with this assumption. Joe Frazier was there and ready to smash him.

With an extreme temperature at the Coliseum, the bell rang, and my heart, along with those of thousands, was trying to depart from  my chest. This was the moment we had all been waiting for.

What happened next is real hard to explain.  As always Frazier initially, patiently and methodically   took his time, seeking rhythm, while Ali tried to employ his unique style immediately.  He almost succeeded.  Frazier was hit by  many punches in the first round.  We believed, I believed,  that everything would end fast.  Ali mentioned before the fight he was going to dance inside the ring, but he flattered to deceive, standing bolt upright there in the middle of the ring going  toe to toe with Joe for three blood and guts rounds. Ali was not only landing big punches, but also conducting statecraft physiological warfare, as he kept talking to Joe.

Then, in the 5^th round, a great right hand  landed  flush in the face of Ali and everything changed. For the first time his  superiority was in real doubt. In the frenzy, I almost  forgot why I was there. My job was to relate everything, but in that moment I was jumping out of my seat, I was telling the boxers what to do, I was like a little boy… a complete madness.

It is very hard to describe this, but after that round, the look of Joe changed. He had tapped into a reservoir of  strength to progress with literally everything  he had, surging ever forward. Muhammad did all he could to stem that riptide. It  was an unreal, surreal fight of epic proportions!  I thought these impressive men must be  from other planets. Why? Because no mortal  man could withstand  all of that punishment.

The punches even stunned us!   And  battle raged within me.  On the one hand  I wanted to someone to stop the fight, as I knew it  was too much  for both of them,  and that neither would quit. On the other hand I didn’t wanted it to be finished,  as I wanted to know the  full capacity of their courage, passion and sheer bravery.   We were confronted by two men who were banging with all their might on the gates of hell.  A fight descending into Hades, which neither would abandon.

It was the 14^th round, and they returned to the middle of the ring, tired, physically spent , but determined to empty every last pocket and vestige of fight currency.   Their valiant willpower only just holding them up on their feet. I guess this was the moment I finally understood boxing was capable of producing such a galaxy of emotions.  Joe and Muhammad, make me shed  the only tears that have fallen from me as a fan. It was the most brutal round…both of them were virtually out on their feet.

The round concluded and the fighters returned to their respective corners. Joe´s left eye was completely closed and bloodied… but he cared not!  Joe Frazier was ready and so willing to go out yet again.  Ali was exhausted.  We all were wondering if we could possibly  have yet another epic  round.  

In that fateful moment, Eddie Futch, the trainer of Joe took a courageous decision that would change history. Even though with every fibre of his being Frazier wanted to keep fighting, Eddie was implacably determined: “Everything is over, no one will forget what you have done today”, he told Joe, as he threw in the towel.

In that exact some instant Ali´s trainer Angelo Dundee , was considering and facing the same option.  And that`s when  he noticed that the other corner had ended the bout. The Coliseum was erupting,  but I paid careful attention to see how Ali would get to his feet.

I returned to my seat almost automatically. For me everything was pure silence. MY mind  HAD put everything away…for instants I was lost , with my perception focused on  the ring, where one of the most incredible fights in all history had come to pass.   No one deserved to lose!  Not after what they had been through! I repeated this to myself over and over again.

I left the arena, the heat was no longer a factor.   I was hugged by a chilly pall , produced by the cascade of emotions  I`d  experienced in that place. I walked questioning all of those things. Does it end this  way? What if Eddie Futch had waited a few seconds more? I tried to order my thoughts.  I wanted to thank those unique fighters. For  making me discover the passion and honorability of the sport.  Their titanic  punches ingrained the most pure essence of two champions plus that survival instinct we all have within us. 

Muhammad and Joe laid bare their hearts  in this “Boxing Symbiosis.” Apart but together they created this genuine history, a chronicle  I`m sure will be discussed for eternally.  A tale, a saga, a legend  that will inspire so many generations apart from just mine, with all my love for this extraordinary and amazing sport.