I believe in doing a job of work, not talking about it. I don't know, but maybe."įrazier: "I remember when I heard the bell, I looked at Ali and said, 'Yeah, I kicked your ass.'"ĭefeats to both Frazier, against George Foreman, and Ali delayed a rematch, but the pair resumed their rivalry, returning to Madison Square Garden on 28 January 1974įrazier: "Maybe I don't rap as good as he do. I know I lost to a great champion, but maybe another time when both of us had been fighting regularly, the result would have been different. I'm satisfied with the fight even though I lost. I made a lot of people unhappy when I beat them, so it's my time now. Beat it into him."Īli: "I'm not going to cry. It became my mission to show him the error of his foolish pride. Well, he wasn't The Greatest, and he certainly wasn't THEE Greatest. I always talk in my fights and I've got something special to say to him after all this crap about me being an Uncle Tom."įrazier won the fight on a unanimous decision, inflicting upon Ali his first defeat as a professional, in what was called the Fight of the Century.įrazier: "A white lawyer kept him out of jail. I don't see the job taking more than 10 rounds. He will find the ring will get smaller and I will get bigger. He says I won't reach him but that's a broad statement. You can do better than that.'"įrazier: "Clay's a big guy but I've fought big guys before. He'll be trying all those short hooks and not reaching me and I'll be moving and saying, 'Come on, champ. I'll just hold his head and I'll tell him, 'Come on, Champ.' I'll just play with him. You got to go out and do."Īli: "You don't understand, Frazier will be easier than Quarry or Bonavena. Tell him I picked him up when he was down. I was poor once and he never sent me anything.
He works for the enemy."įrazier: "He never done nothing for me. During that ban, Frazier had supported Ali both financially and in public statements.Īli: "Joe Frazier is an Uncle Tom. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought for the first time on 8 March 1971, shortly after Ali's return from a three-year ban for his refusal to fight in the Vietnam war.