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Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier - March 08, 1971 - Heavyweight Title - The Fight of the Century

In 1971, both Ali and Frazier were undefeated champions (in Ali's case, actually, former champion) who held legitimate claims to the title of "World Heavyweight Champion". Ali had won the title from Sonny Liston in Miami Beach in 1964 and successfully defended his belt up until he had it stripped by boxing authorities for refusing induction into the armed forces in 1967 (though he was still recognized as the Lineal heavyweight champion). In Ali's absence, Frazier won two championship belts, knocking out Buster Mathis for recognition as champion in five states (most notably, New York) and Jimmy Ellis, who had won the World Boxing Association's world title by winning a WBA elimination tournament, to replace Ali as the acknowledged, unified world champion. Frazier was plausibly Ali's equal, which created a tremendous amount of hype and anticipation for a match pitting the two undefeated fighters against one another to decide who was the true heavyweight champ. Ringside seats were $150 (equivalent to $1,129 in 2023) and each man was guaranteed $2.5 million. In addition to the millions who watched on closed-circuit broadcast screens around the world, the Garden was packed with a sell-out crowd of 20,455 that provided a gate of $1.5 million (equivalent to $11,285,127 in 2023). Prior to his enforced layoff, Ali had displayed uncommon speed and agility for a man of his size. He had dominated most of his opponents to the point that he had often predicted the round in which he would knock his opponent out. In October 1970, he stopped Jerry Quarry via cuts after three rounds in his first match after a three-and-a-half-year layoff. However, in his next fight, the last preceding the Frazier fight, Ali struggled at times during his 15th-round TKO of Oscar Bonavena, an unorthodox Argentinian fighter who was prepared by Hall of Fame trainer Gil Clancy. On the March 4, 1971 episode of The Dick Cavett Show, Howard Cosell, Joe Louis, and Jimmy Breslin all correctly predicted that because of Ali's lengthy layoff, Frazier would prevail. Frazier had an outstanding left hook and was a tenacious competitor who attacked the body of his opponent ferociously. Despite suffering from a serious bout of hypertension in the lead-up to the fight, he appeared to be in top form as the face-off between the two undefeated champions approached.