The Thrilla in Manila Caps Off a Legendary Trilogy – TBT #19

It’s October 1st, 1975. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier are fighting for the world’s heavyweight championship. These two legendary heavyweight boxers look to settle their trilogy in the Philippine Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. Frazier beat Ali on points in their first fight in 1971, ending Ali’s streak of 31 consecutive wins. Nevertheless, Ali got his revenge in the second fight in 1974, when he beat Frazier unanimously on points after 12 rounds.  

As the referee announces these two legendary heavyweight boxers, the crowd is on its feet and eager to witness the most anticipated match of the year. 

The bell rang, and the match began. Ali is in the white trunks, while Frazier is in the blue trunks. 

Round 1 ends in Ali’s favor since he dominated Frazier with his jab and even wobbled him once. Ali also wins the second round thanks to his lightning-fast jabs. In Round 3, Ali wobbles Frazier twice, and it looks like this will be another win in the column for Muhammad. 

However, in the 4th round, Frazier looks far better than his opponent, successfully avoiding Ali’s punches. In Round 5, Joe’s defense improves even more, and he manages to land a couple of hard left hooks on Ali. Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy of avoiding punches didn’t work so far. 

In the sixth round, Frazier continues to pummel Ali with thunderous hooks, but Ali somehow succeeds in withstanding those strong punches. In the seventh round, Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy of avoiding punches works for over half of the round, but Frazier eventually starts to land punches. Frazier also won rounds 8, 9, and 10. Ali looks tired and beaten.

Then, in the 11th round, a momentum shift begins. Ali is landing power shots on Frazier, whose face started to swell. Frazier even said to his cornermen that he couldn’t see through his right eye. Round 12 also goes into Ali’s favor. Before the beginning of the 13th round, Frazier’s eye looked pretty bad from the swelling. In the 13th round, Ali landed two ferocious right hands and the gum shield from Frazier’s mouth fell on the floor. “Smokin’ Joe” was obliterated. In Round 14, Ali lands dozens of hard punches on Frazier’s head. 

After the end of Round 14, Frazier’s coach, Eddie Futch, decides to stop the fight since Frazier looks horrible. The bout has ended, and Ali defends his heavyweight title. All three judges had Ali ahead on the scorecards.

Five decades after the clash between two boxing heavyweight titans, the “Thrilla in Manila” is still one of the most well-known fights in history. 

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