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Top 5 iconic Muhammad Ali fights
Muhammad Ali. Photo via Twitter (@MuhammadAli)
Muhammad Ali is a fighter that needs no introduction.
As the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion, he’s frequently ranked as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, as well as one of the most significant sports figures to ever live.
Click ”Next” to check out his five most iconic fights!
5. Ali vs. Liston 1
Photo via Twitter (@MuhammadAli)
The first fight between Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali (the last under birth name Cassius Clay) took place on February 25, 1964 in Miami Beach.
At the time, heavy-hitting Liston was one of the most intimidating heavyweight boxers that ever stepped into the ring, and considered more or less unbeatable.
22-year-old Ali was a massive underdog going into the fight, but with his unorthodox style, low guard and magnificent footwork, the young Olympic gold medalist made the feared Liston look heavy-footed and slow during six rounds of action.
When Liston couldn’t answer the bell for the seventh round, Ali was declared the new heavyweight champion of the world.
”I’m the greatest! I shook up the world,” he famously yelled in triumph after the fight was stopped.
4. Ali vs. Liston 2
The outcome of the second Ali-Liston fight is still one of the most controversial ever in the history of the sport.
Halfway through the first round, Liston threw a left jab while Ali leaned back, keeping his fists low to deliver a short right counter punch (later named the ”Phantom Punch) that rocked the former champion, sending him to the canvas.
Here’s where things start to turn south.
Liston rolled over but wasn’t able to get to his feet, while the referee forgot to take the count since a fired-up Ali refused to go to a neutral corner.
However, after 17 seconds, Sonny finally got up and the ref decided to start the fight – just to wave it off a few seconds later, declaring Ali as the winner.
”I could have continued if I had picked up the count,” Liston claimed after the fight, but admitted that Ali punched way harder than he could imagine.
The controversial ending, with the so-called ”Phantom Punch”, is one of the most debated in boxing history.
Since the crowd and experts could not see Ali deliver the exceptionally quick right hand, many believed that the fight was fixed and Liston took a dive. The accusations of a fixed fight were also fueled by Sonny’s connection to the Mafia, who controlled a big part of American boxing at the time.
However, former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, who was seated at ringside, in the best position to see the knockout, claimed Ali in fact threw a ”perfect right hand” to floor Liston.
3. ”The Fight of the Century”
No event in the history of boxing – or any sport whatsoever – had the kind of tension and anticipatory buildup that the first fight between Muhammad Ali and Smokin’ Joe Frazier generated (a modern day classic like Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor doesn’t even come close).
It was a monumental clash between two undefeated champions – in the dawn of heavyweight boxing’s best-ever decade.
After an unwanted three-year lay off, due to refusing induction into the Army, Ali was finally allowed to return to boxing in 1970. With wins in two tough warm up bouts, he finally faced the new heavyweight kingpin Frazier at the Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971.
The highly anticipated 15 round bout went the distance and both fighters lived up to all expectations and more.
Smokin’ Joe gave his perhaps career-greatest performance, with a massive knockdown in the fourth. Ali did his best during the fight, but was outfought by the hungry champion.
In the final round, Frazier again floored Ali with another vicious left hook, to cement the unanimous decision win.
”Of all the men I fought, Sonny Liston was the scariest, George Foreman was the most powerful, Floyd Patterson was the most skilled as a boxer. But the roughest and toughest was Joe Frazier,” Ali said many years later.
2. ”The Thrilla in Manila”
Photo via Twitter (@MuhammadAli)
”He brought out the best in me, and the best fight we fought was in Manila.”
In the iconic 1975 heavyweight bout, long-time rivals Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier clashed in Manila, Philippines. Both had one win each going into the last fight of their trilogy. The bout was befittingly dubbed ”The Thrilla in Manila”, and turned out to be one of the best – and hardest – fights in the history of combat sports.
The fight was scheduled for 15 rounds, in which the heavy-hitting rivals pushed themselves beyond all possible limits for normal human beings.
However, by round 14, Frazier was battered to a point where he could barely see, as both eyes had swollen almost completely shut, and his trainer was forced to throw in the towel to save his fighter from further damage.
Ali, now 2-1 against his rival, later claimed that Manila was the closest to death he ever came in a boxing fight.
1. ”The Rumble in the Jungle”
Photo via Twitter (@MuhammadAli)
On October 30, 1974, the “Rumble in the Jungle” took place in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), and is perhaps the biggest sports event ever.
If the attendance of 60,000 people was impressive – the international attention the fight gained was nothing but enormous.
The boxing match was watched by an estimated TV audience of one billion viewers worldwide, which was around 25 percent (!) of the world’s population at the time.
In the steaming heat at the outdoor stadium Stade du 20 Mai, Muhammad Ali took on the undefeated heavyweight champion, and Olympic gold medalist, George Foreman in what was Africa’s first-ever heavyweight title fight.
With raw power as his greatest asset, 25-year-old Foreman was a hard-hitting heavyweight who defeated Joe Frazier to become the champion of the world in 1973, and favored by many to defeat ”The Greatest” as well, due to his superior punching power.
During the fight, Ali covered up against the ropes, using the now famous ”rope-a-dope” tactits, blocking his opponent’s punches on the arms. Although many heavy blows got through, Foreman expended tons of energy without doing any severe damage.
Meanwhile, Ali leaned on his opponent, forcing him to carry his weight, as well as firing back with straight punches to Foreman’s face.
After five rounds of this tactic, ”Big George” began to tire, and in the eight Ali broke free and threw a quick combination that stunned his exhausted opponent, before sending him to the canvas with a solid left and a hard right.
Foreman rose to one knee but the referee called off the fight before he got to his feet, resulting in Ali becoming the heavyweight world champion for the second time in his career.