Top 100 momentsNo. 39
Thrilla in Manila
Ali and Frazier go fourteen rounds in the heat. Eddie Futch will not let Frazier answer the bell. The trilogy ends as folklore, not a highlight reel.
Manila, October 1975. The heat is a third fighter. Ali has called Frazier names he should not have. Frazier has come to make him pay. They fight until Futch, in the corner, decides his man has had enough. Ali is on the way to the same decision in his own corner.
There is no pretty version. Both men are diminished after it. Ali will still beat Foreman in memory; this is the fight that aged him. Frazier will never get the respect the Garden night should have locked in.
The trilogy is the last time heavyweight boxing feels like the main story on earth. Manila is the last chapter. It is not a celebration. It is the cost.