European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 22 the stars and stripes sunday March 10, 1991 fight of the turns 2d by Wallace Matthews a a a new Day. It was a different world then in boxing and in every a a life it on March 8, 1971, Richard Nixon was nearly through his first term As president John Lindsay was mayor of new York City. A gallon of gasoline Cost about 30 cents and for $1.50 you could see a double feature at Quot any of two dozen a a respectable movie houses on 42nd Street Between Broadway and eighth Avenue. And at Madison Square Garden Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali were preparing to fight for the undisputed world heavyweight championship in one of the first of the Many bouts dubbed a a the fight of the  in an Era when major league baseball players barely had reached the a 0,000-per-Ycar Milestone Frazier and Ali would split a record s5 million in a bout that would sell out the Garden and rivet More than 200 million people before Televik Sion screens around the world. Two decades later spanning the Rise of sugar Ray Leonard to the rebirth of the Rev. George Foreman other fights May have surpassed Ali Frazier i in terms of Revenue but none has come close to its drama anticipation or mass Appeal. A a if they had dropped a bomb on the Garden that night a said Gil Clancy who worked Frazier s Corner a the United states would have stopped running there were so Many celebrities and officials  a a a a. A part of the mystique was because a the fight a As it came to be known was one of the first to be blacked but on radio and Home television and there was to be no delayed broadcast fight fans without the Money or the connections to get one of the red hot ringside tickets had to Fork Over anywhere from $5 to $25 to watch the closed circuit telecast on a Grainy dim movie screen or Settle for the 100-word wire service synopses that went out Over the radio after each round despite the put motor so Best efforts to quash them. A the bigger part of the mystique was the fighters. Frazier Ali 1 was the Best matchup boxing could offer in any weight class. Two unbeaten heavyweight champions a Ali had a pc stripped of his title in 1%7 for refusing induction into the army a one a Brilliant Boxer and the other a feared slug Ger two men of vastly different personalities one outgoing glib and humorous the other serious quiet and with a soldering Pride. Ali was the Symbol of the count Ercul lure hated and feared by Matiy establish me ill Whites. By default Frazier became an unwilling a great White Hope a vilified by Ali and his militant following. The chemistry was explosive enough to make Ali Frazier i by far the richest and most eagerly awaited sporting event to that time More important thai their greatness As fighters Ali and Frazier were pioneers As much As Curt flood in baseball and Joe Namath in football. The first Ali Frazier. Fight changed the wage scale for fighters and it changed forever the Way boxing matches were presented arid financed no longer would boxers a earning she limited by the size of the live Gate. Closed circuit and later Casino Money would open up a new financial universe. Quot a a. When a 29-year-old Ali returned to the ring in 1970 alter 4t months in exile All roads led to Frazier and the Garden which offered the fighters a guaranteed $1.25 million each against a percentage of the Revenue. Garden matchmaker. Teddy Brenner says neither  nor his late manager yank Durham had a clue about How to write Down so Large a number. Quot Frazier had too Many zeroes a Brenner said. Quot and Durham never did figure out where to Pul the  their problems were solved when they accepted the offer by millionaire sportsman Jack Kent Cooke and his partner a Hollywood Hustler named Jerry Ocren Chib who paid each fighter a hat $2.5 million but no percentage of to Revenue when the projections were Aii no need at the contract signing a a a to Joe Frazier s left Hook sent Muhammad Ali to the Canvas in their March 8,1971,15-round Battle of undefeated heavyweights Tennial audience of 3110 million people watching in 50 countries a Ali looked at Frazier and screamed Quot we been took Quot if he  knew although it worked out to the satisfaction of the promoters a Frazier Ali i Drew a crowd of 20,455 and a Garden record Gate of $1,352,951 a the fighters came up Short. Had they taken the original Deal offered by Brenner and Garden boxing Boss marry Markson Ali and Frazier would have each made 32.5 percent of the announced $20 million worldwide Gross a or $6.5 million. When first Qinn Luneed the ticket prices si50. $100, $75, $50, $40, $20 were considered outrageous. But the clamor was such that within Days the fight was sold out. People offered $1,000 a ticket and Hugh Hefner tried unsuccessfully to have the fight piped into the Playboy mansion for $2,500. By fight night scalpers were getting that much for one ringside Seal. Quot we could have charged $1,000 a ticket easy a Brenner said. Quot it became a a done to miss it event everyone was there  Hoover the Kennedy Diana Ross Woody Allen a desperate Light fans came up with All sorts of novel ways to crash the Gate. One Man made it into the Arena with two pairs of boxing gloves that he had somehow passed Olf As the weapons for the main event. His quest ended when he ran into the late John Condon then the gardens head publicist. A i m assigned to bring the fighters their gloves a the Man told Condon. A there they Are. And in a going to have to ask you to stand aside. Time is of the  a a. A. A it sure is Quot Condon said. A a they re already in the second  the Panicky television producers who never had done a fight staged a a dress rehearsal in the Garden ring the afternoon of the fight with Harold Weston imitating Ali some Long forgotten fighter doing Frazier and Clancy serving As the referee. To add to the bizarre scene All a who was locked in the Garden All Day alter the morning weigh in for fear he would be mobbed by the crowds massed outside if he tried to return to his hotel a provided running commentary from the empty bleach cars. Somehow the fight lived up to its hype. Ali still a bit Short in conditioning having had just two tuneup started Well but began to fade by the fifth round under. Frazier a relentless pressure. He tried to negate the effects of Frazien punches by mugging for the crowd and shaking his head whenever he was hit sol idly. In the ninth and 10th, Ali rallied but the turning Point came in the 11th. When a Frazier Hook turned alias legs to Jelly. He barely survived the round and wobbled through the next two. Although he boxed Well to win the 14th, Frazier decked him with a left Hook Early m tin 15th to close the show. A Frazier a win was unanimous a .9-6,8- i i and 11-4 a and for the first time in ins career Ali skipped a pos fight news Confer ence to have his swollen jaw a Rayed. Fra Zier spoke briefly but spent the next week in the Hospital suffering from dehydration and kidney damage. Ali had promised to crawl across the ring and kiss Frazier a feet if he lost but in the ring after the final bed Frazier told him a a we re both great. We done to do no  they met two More times Ali winning a decision in a Clinch marred non Titu bout in. 1974 and stopping Frazier after 14 rounds of the so called Quot thrill aun Manila a a great Battle Between two Peru Warrior so but never again did they capture the Aubi ice a imagination the a they did third just to Jose around. After All utre can be Only one True a fight of the Century per Century