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On January 28th 1974, in Madison Square Garden, New York, USA. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought for the second time. This fight means a lot to me not just for the outcome but because my father, Paddy was in Muhammad’s corner and I’ve heard so many amazing stories not just about the fight but what went on behind the scenes away from the public. At this time, Ali was the number 1 contender, he was out to avenge his 1971 loss to Frazier who was the number 2 contender after being dethroned by George Foreman on January 22nd 1973.
Round 1 – Right from the start, Ali was up on his toes dancing throwing hard aggressive lightning fast jabs, right hands and combinations, circling the ever-aggressive Frazier coming forward bobbing and weaving trying to get under Ali’s arms to land his powerful body blows. Ali threw in his famous “Ali Shuffle”. Both fighters were in explosive condition.
Round 2 – There was no ring rust this time for Ali as he had in their last meeting, he was like the Ali of old with the spring in his legs, he was up on his toes dancing, throwing jabs and right hands catching Frazier then missed a few. Frazier caught Ali with a tremendous left hook but Ali retaliated straight away with a combination. With the round almost over, Ali landed a hard-straight right flush on Frazier’s jaw, he wobbled. Ali drove him back to the ropes, Frazier was in significant trouble. Ali was just about to land what could have been the finishing blow when referee Tony Perez leaped in-between them and stopped the fight, supposedly he thought he heard the bell. Ali walked back to his corner, his team thought Perez had stopped the fight to save Frazier from further punishment.
An official shouted to Perez, ‘THE ROUND ISN’T OVER!’ Perez then called both fighters to the centre of the ring to resume fighting. Perez’s mistake allowed Frazier precious seconds to recover and finish the round.
The electrifying battle continued round after round. Throughout the fight Ali fought Frazier much differently from their first encounter. He threw half-hooks-cum-half-uppercuts from both sides catching Frazier as well as the jabs and straight rights but Frazier was relentless, strong and aggressive moving forward throwing his fast-powerful hooks. Ali didn’t allow the shorter Frazier to work inside, he tied him up by holding him behind the neck with his left hand which also protected him from Frazier’s head lying on his chest coming up with unintentional head-butts on his jaw.
Frazier was like a tank moving forward with non-stop punching but Ali was out scoring him, he was “Floating like a Butterfly and Stinging like a Bee” making his right eye swell up but this didn’t slow Frazier down, he just kept on Smokin’. With Ali punching in flurries followed by clinching, he dominated most of the fight. The result was a classic battle of wills in what is considered an all-time great non-heavyweight title fight. Ali won a 12 round unanimous points decision, which secured him a title shot with the World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman.
After the fight Perez was questioned over his behavior in the second round, he replied, ‘I thought I heard the bell so I stopped them both. Then the gong table yelled, Tony the round isn’t over.’ Usually I hear the bell, but the bell was defective before the fight. They had to call the electrician to fix it. It was only five to eight seconds.’ – Frazier and Eddie Futch complained to Perez, ‘Ali was holding too much.’ Perez replied, ‘the only violation, is if you held and hit at the same time. Ali was holding, but he wasn’t hitting.’
