Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier

By the Obnoxious Boston Fan, Boston.com

We’d be here for a month going through all the greatest legit boxing rematches in history, but we’ll limit ourselves to the this one since it pretty much set the standard for every boxing, pro-wrestling and MMA rematch since. Muhammad Ali first fought Joe Frazier in “The Fight of the Century” on March 8, 1971 at Madison Square Garden. Frazier retained his heavyweight title by unanimous decision in what was Ali’s first professional loss. (Frazier eventually lost his title to George Foreman in Jamaica in 1973 in the infamous “down goes Frazier” bout.) The first rematch between these pugilistic titans, was a non-title bout. Ali avenged his loss to Frazier with a unanimous victory at Madison Square Garden in January 1974 . That set the stage for the “Thrilla in Manila,” which took place on Oct. 1, 1975, after Ali had beaten Foreman to regain his title. It was cited by Ring Magazine as the No. 1 fight of all time in 1996. The personal attacks between the two fighters and the masterful hype of Don King made this as much as world-wide news event as a heavyweight fight. The fight was another slugfest, won by Ali after Frazier’s corner threw in the towel between the 14th and 15th rounds after Frazier was nearly blinded during the bout. The closest modern-day equivalent to this are the three rematches Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez have had since their original fight in 2004 ended in a draw. Their most-recent fight ended last month with Pacquiao knocked out and lying face-down on the canvas in the sixth round.