- Muhammad Ali KO 8 George Foreman, October 30, 1974, Kinshasa, Zaire
Photo from THE RING archives
Ali, though thought to be finished, was still an attraction. He remained relevant by fighting four times in ’73, opening the year by beating Joe Bugner, losing to Ken Norton, and then avenging the Norton setback with a controversial split-decision victory at the Forum. Ali then closed ’73 with a spirited 12-round sparring session with someone named Rudi Lubbers, before avenging another previous loss in beating Joe Frazier in January 1974. Foreman, meanwhile, was smashing everyone in his path. He knocked down Frazier six times in two rounds to wrest the WBC and WBA world heavyweight titles away. Then, he devoured Norton in two, setting up the fight with Ali in Zaire. What further fueled the crossover appeal for this fight was the backdrop: That earlier incarnation of Foreman carried a standoffish, dour demeanor. Ali, meanwhile, made a complete brand makeover. The despised Ali by some factions in America in the 1960s transformed into a sentimental underdog looking for one last gasp, much like Holyfield was viewed in the first Tyson fight.
Result: Ali won in what was Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year. Ali introduced the world to his rope-a-dope, but what gets lost is that Ali had dominated the early portion of the fight, getting out to a nice edge using the right-hand lead. “The Greatest” threw Foreman off by being first, instead of waiting and having Foreman come to him. But in the fifth, Ali changed tactics. He leaned up against the ropes and Foreman came to Ali, who would whisper in “Big George’s” ear, “They told me you could punch, George!” Foreman said later, “I thought he was just one more knockout victim until, about the seventh round, I hit him hard to the jaw and he held me and whispered in my ear: ‘That’s all you got, George?’ Yep, that was it.” Ali was up 70-67, 69-66 and 68-66 on the card of referee Zach Clayton, who stopped it at 2:58 of the eighth round.
- Gene Tunney W 10 Jack Dempsey, Sept. 22, 1927, Chicago, Ill.
Photo from THE RING archives
This was the rematch, the infamous “Long Count Fight.” Why it transcended anything at the time was because Dempsey transcended anything in the 1920s. The “Manassa Mauler” was an icon, and though he lost the first fight by decision to Tunney, many thought Dempsey would recoup the title in the rematch before 104,943 at Chicago’s legendary Soldier Field. The fight merited front-page attention in the New York Times, and the demand for tickets was insane. Though the ring was 20-square feet, favoring a mover and superior boxer like Tunney, Dempsey was the betting favorite. There were even some suspicions of a fix, since noted Chicago mobster Al Capone secretly had a few duckets on Dempsey.
Result: Dempsey blew his chance at history by becoming the first two-time heavyweight champion for not paying attention to the new Illinois rules that stipulated that if a fighter were to be knocked down, he had 10 seconds to get up while the opposing fighter had to go to a neutral corner. The twist is that it was Dempsey’s people who wanted the rule enforced. Only, their fighter didn’t pay attention when Dempsey floored Tunney in the seventh round with a left hook to the chin. Referee Dave Barry implored Dempsey to go to a neutral corner, but Dempsey choose instead to hover over the fallen Tunney. When Dempsey was convinced to retreat, Tunney used the added time to collect himself and went on to win a unanimous decision.
- Joe Louis KO 1 Max Schmeling, June 22, 1938, New York City
Photo from THE RING archives
Joe Louis was the first crossover African-American superstar athlete – and this fight set the stage. Nazi Germany was building toward war in Europe and Schmeling found himself propped up as Adolf Hitler’s strongman puppet, though Schmeling wasn’t a Nazi and had a Jewish manager, Joe Jacobs. Louis knew he was fighting for his country, but deep inside, he wanted to avenge the only loss of his career, when Schmeling stopped him in the 12th round in 1936. Again, as in many fights, ideologies were foisted on the two combatants. The grave fear was that Schmeling would win and take the heavyweight title back to Germany. Louis made certain it wouldn’t happen. Whereas the first fight he took Schmeling lightly, not training very hard, this fight carried a little more weight for the “Brown Bomber.”
Result: Louis destroyed Schmeling. He showed a ferocity that captivated the 70,000 that filled Yankee Stadium, including ringside movie stars Clark Gable and Gregory Peck. The irony is that Louis was fighting in an arena that wouldn’t allow blacks to play baseball against whites. Anyway, Louis beat Schmeling so severely that the German broadcast plug was pulled. Louis was exalted by both white and black America, while Schmeling was ignored by the Nazi regime for losing to an inferior race in their minds and relegated to a paratroop outfit during World War II. Schmeling and Louis became friends after the war. In fact, as Louis was ailing in his later years, Schmeling helped pay for some of his medical costs.
This fight could arguably be No. 1. It transcended anything sporting for its time. Johnson is the father of the modern-day athlete, full of self-confidence and piles of ability. He defied what was then the antiquated Victorian mores of the era, gallivanting with white women in public during a period in American history when black men were lynched for even holding a white woman’s hand walking down the street. The views of America were so racially skewed blacks and whites couldn’t even walk on the same sidewalk together. Johnson was well read. He even patented a wrench in 1922. He did what he wanted, when he wanted. Jeffries was buoyed with the unenviable mantle of being the “Great White Hope.” Jeffries was past his prime, but it didn’t really matter. He was a good fighter for his era going against Johnson, who possessed the skillset to fight in any era.
- Jack Johnson KO 15 Jim Jeffries, July 4, 1910, Reno, Nevada
Result: It wasn’t close. Johnson dominated the fight from start to finish. “Lil’ Arthur” proved his superiority by doing something no one had ever done to Jeffries, and that’s twist him up and pull his arms behind him during a clinch. Johnson knocked Jeffries down twice – for the first time in his career – and finished off the alfalfa farmer in the 15th. “I knew what that look meant. The old ship was sinking,” Johnson said after Jeffries’ reaction to an uppercut in the fourth round. “I could never have whipped Johnson at my best,” Jeffries admitted afterward. “I couldn’t have hit him. No, I couldn’t have reached him in 1,000 years.”
- Joe Frazier W 15 Muhammad Ali, March 8, 1971, New York City
Photo from THE RING archives
This was – and is – the granddaddy of them all. The strange thing, by today’s standards, is this fight was held on a Monday night. It was a multi-layered affair pitting two undefeated heavyweights in their prime, with the Vietnam War and nation’s underlying cultural and political tension as a backdrop. Consequently, the polarizing political views of the time were unjustly hoisted upon the two fighters. Frazier was miscast as “the establishment’s” champion, or “white man’s” champion, while Ali was an iconoclast who was looking perilously close at an uncertain future by refusing induction into the U.S. army during the Vietnam War. The fight had to be made quickly, because many thought, including Ali himself, that was he headed to jail. The fight, simply called, “The Fight,” stirred worldwide attention before the advent of social media and the internet and caused warring factions (they stopped shooting each other for a few hours in Northern Ireland) to shut down and put their differences aside just to watch The Fight.
Result: The fight lived up to its billing. Ali started off well, lumping up Frazier, who took a beating getting inside the jab of “The Greatest.” But Frazier eventually worked his way close, found his range, and began pounding away with his vaunted left hook. Each time Frazier looked as if he would gain control, Ali came charging back and made it interesting. A flash knockdown in the 15th off a textbook hook sealed it for “Smokin’ Joe,” who won 9-6 and 11-4 on the judge’s scorecards and 8-6-1 on referee Arthur Mercante’s scorecard. The two legends went on to be inexorably linked. They had a habit of bringing out the best in each other inside the ring, and sometimes regrettably, the worst in each other outside of it.
