At midnight at Madison Square Garden Muhammad Ali saluted his victory over Joe Frazier by reading a long poem called ╥Truth╙ that was symbolic. Almost everyone had told the truth about the fight, said Ali ╤ ╥that we would win╙ ╤ and all the best Judges had agreed. But no one had believed that Fight Two, a contest between two great but ageing former champions, would quite match the quality of their first classic meeting three years ago.
Last night╒s entertainment was dramatically entertaining. Ali began with a rush, almost knocking out his man in the second round (and might have done so if Tony Perez, the referee, had not mistakenly thought that the round had ended), then bombarded him, landing four blows to one, and evaded dogged pursuit for the rest of the fight. Frazier, who started slowly, improved. Over fifteen rounds he might have won, as he did last time. In twelve he could not wipe out Ali╒s early lead.
It was not until the fourth round that he landed a jolting punch, and it was not until the seventh and eighth rounds that he was able to launch the kind of counter-attack that could have brought him victory. By that time it had to be a knock-out and, sadly, it was already clear that the old fierce energy had gone from Frazier╒s punching.
In 1971 he was strong enough, fast enough, brave enough, and relentless enough to brush aside Ali╒s fusillades of blows. Last night the courage and the relentlessness were the same, but the strength and speed diminished. Ali won ╤ the judges were unanimous ╤ but it was another of Time╒s familiar triumphs.
Frazier was an easy target. He always has to take punishment to get himself into the position to hit, but last night his feet seemed heavier than usual and it took him longer to set up punches. Ali could strike and go, could play the role of a 212 lb. will-o╒-the-wisp without often straying into trouble.
He was delighted by his own performance. ╥A little dancing, a little slugging, a little more dancing, and a little more slugging. I was faster and I hit him harder. It was a better fight than last time. There wasn╒t any clowning on the ropes.╙
But if there was more stinging than floating this time it was because it was easier to sting and there was less need to float. Angelo Dundee, Ali╒s manager, may have cried, ╥You╒ve got to stop him to win,╙ as they went into the twelfth round, but that can only have been an attempt to spur him into making sure that absolutely nothing went wrong.
Ali said afterwards that Frazier had nearly put him out twice, although it never really looked like that. On the whole he was safely out of reach of all those left hooks and he in his turn hurt Frazier with some good rights. ╥You know why he left himself open to those punches? Because he read too many newspapers,╙ said Ali. ╥You wrote that I had an injured right hand, but I tricked you all. I punched him with that right. There wasn╒t nothing wrong with it.╙
Certainly it was not all change and decay. Often Ali made the science seem sweet. The style is still there, even if the reflexes are not what they were. For a big man he still moves marvellously, but understandably he tired towards the end. ╥Snake. Rally with him. Dance, Ali, dance,╙ shouted his brother urgently from the front row. And when there were signs of Frazier closing in and pressing him he cried: ╥Angelo, tell him to dance.╙
And so Ali did, skilfully keeping himself out of trouble. When he could not dance he did a good deal of leaning and holding. The referee spoke to him about that, the crowd booed a couple of times, and Frazier, for whom all the smoke was black at the end, crumbled about him. Ali had begun by dancing like Fred Astaire in Swing Time. Towards the end he was moving like Astaire in The Barkleys of Broadway.
And yet he survived to frustrate Frazier and still had something in reserve at the end. The crowd chanted for him. ╥Eighty per cent Caucasian, but they wanted me to win,╙ said Ali. ╥Joe Frazier is a great gentleman, but they like me better and that gave me heart.╙
There was a heavy lump on Frazier╒s cheek, but Ali, for all his bustling and boring, was unmarked: ╥Do you see any mark? Look at me. Do you see any mark? All right, my nose was bleeding, but do you see any mark?╙
The referee gave Ali six rounds, Frazier five, and one even; one judge made it 7-4-1, and the other 8-4 to Ali. They all agreed that Ali won the first two rounds, the sixth, ninth and eleventh, and that Frazier took the seventh and eighth.
The fight was watched by 20,748 spectators, including John Kennedy Junior, his
sister Caroline, Barbra Streisand and Brian Clough, and the total receipts were $1,053,688, compared with an attendance of 20,455 and $1,352,951 last time, when it was a world title fight.
Both men think they should meet again. That would be profitable but it would be a mistake. The show ╤ even when it is Ali v Frazier ╤ can go on too long. Better leave us with our memories and the honours shared. A third fight would not settle the argument about who is the better, anyway. Ali says that he was not fit three years ago and Frazier certainly was not the same boxer this time.
