Clash of Heavyweights Was a True Classic

In the aftermath of the richest fight in history, columnist Jim Murray summed up best the relentless style of the undefeated heavyweight champion, Joe Frazier.

Frazier had just won a unanimous 15-round decision over Muhammad Ali in the first of their three classic meetings, before 20,455 at Madison Square Garden. Murray wrote late that night about previous Ali opponents, none of whom could remotely be compared to Frazier.

“Joe Frazier was not a confused, fearful, spooked pug,� he wrote.

“Joe Frazier comes to work, like a guy who brings his lunch in a pail, turns on the machine and doesn’t stop until the whistle blows.�

And that’s just what happened, 28 years ago tonight.

It was that rarest of heavyweight fights: Two great young heavyweights, at or near their prime, both undefeated.

Ali, showing the rust of three years inactivity because of his refusal to accept Army induction, was flattened in the 15th round by a Frazier left hook and lost a decision.

This was years before home pay-per-view and it was history’s richest fight. Each fighter earned a record $2.5 million, the live gate was a record $1,352,961 and the whole affair grossed more than $20 million, another record.

Frazier, a 7-5 favorite, turned the tide with a left hook in the 11th round. Like his 15th-round hook that was to come, it landed flush on Ali’s jaw. It left Ali wobbly for the minute remaining in the round.

After that, with his legs weakened, Ali tried to slug toe-to-toe with the shorter, more powerful and better-conditioned Frazier.

“We didn’t want him to fight that kind of fight,� said Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee. “But that’s the way he wanted to do it. You have to say he’s got a lot of heart.�

Also on this date: In 1969, UCLA lost for the first time at Pauley Pavilion, 46-44 to USC, ending a 51-game home win streak since the building opened in 1967. In the preliminary freshman game, the Paul Westphal-led Trojans beat the Henry Bibby-led Bruins, 72-60. . . . In 1969, the Dodgers gave pitcher Don Drysdale an $8,000 raise, signing him for $120,000.