I think that's one of the funniest events in boxing history. Ketchel double-crosses "Black Jack", and Johnson immediately gets off the canvas and puts Ketchel into an instant coma. Even the old grainy footage. Jack looking down at his glove and wiping Ketchels teeth or blood or whatever off on his shorts in disdain.
He was tremendous...if his opponent was a lightheavyweight, a predictable no power punching bag or an inactive guy clowning around and playing rope-a-dope. Put him in against a big strong powerful man and he was a kitten. Great fighter though....
word. The only big strong powerful man that he fought. He never fought Shavers, Norton, Lyle, Liston... Quarry and Bonavena were the biggest and toughest Frazier beat...inactive Ali stopped both in his first and second fights after a 3 year layoff.
Ali's span as world champion is 14 years as opposed to Louis' 12. Louis' 12 is uninterrupted, sure, but Ali fought a higher quality of opposition. Ya gotsta give Ali the nod.
I would say so, yes. Ali fought the better competition (though Louis' standard of foe NEVER gets its due), but Louis, IMO, was the better fighter.
In some respects it is (East vs West, WW2, master race, revenge and all that shit)...but overall Ali-Frazier was bigger. You can't beat a fight between two undefeated fighters, each with a legitimate claim to being the heavyweight champion of the world. Not to mention the personalities involved.
It was, to a large degree (not totally) American-centric and limited (again, to a degree) to Boxing. Two guys with a unique claim to the title doesnt stack up to a fight entwined in one of the most important historical periods in humanitys history --- and no amount of celebrities at ringside change that.
Yep, I can see it both ways. I won't argue which event was bigger since I wasn't around for either bout.
Gotta say, though, that I know Im in the minority but I thought purely as an entertaining fight, FOTC was greater than The Thrilla. Just the fact that in FOTC, you had Frazier reeling in a huge points deficit (on my card, anyway), the moments of drama (round 11, and the knockdown), and the fact BOTH combatants were visibly not as eroded in skills and reflexes as The Thrilla.
Obviously you guys aren't old enough to remember the World Famous: Skinflint "Ye' Ol' Shoeleather" Donovan vs. Jacob "Small Mouth" Bassenberg There wasn't a child in the world who didn't have a "Shoeleather" Donovan poster plastered on their bedroom door.
Yup, and for those wondering, "Small Mouth" Bassenberg actually had a really, really big mouth. It was an ironic nickname. Like "Vicious" Vivian Harris..........or when they call Ricky Hatton, "Talented".
