"From the other side of the arena, dressed in a white satin robe with his name embroidered on the back, walked Muhammad Ali. Even at age 33, approaching the twilight of his career, Ali was electromagnetic, drawing the crowd to its feet and polarizing its constituents all at once. The noise was raucous. When match officials placed a more-than-three-foot-tall trophy in the middle of the ring, Ali grabbed it and feigned running away with it."
"This was the third bout between Frazier and Ali. Held on October 1, 1975, in the Philippine Coliseum, the fight was the first ever broadcast live overseas by satellite, and hundreds of millions of people watched from abroad. It was not the most dazzling display of pugilism as an art. There were no knockdowns, no calls from commentators that now live on as sound bites."
The fight occurred October 1, 1975, at the Philippine Coliseum before nearly 30,000 fans amid oppressive heat and failing air-conditioning. Joe Frazier entered in a dark-blue robe, stern and granite-jawed, while Muhammad Ali entered in a white satin robe and drew raucous reactions with theatrical antics. The bout was the third meeting between the two and the first live overseas satellite broadcast, watched by hundreds of millions. The contest featured no knockdowns and few technical flourishes, instead becoming an elemental test of wills and an exploration of the outer limits of human endurance, culminating a relationship that had begun in friendship.
Read at The Atlantic
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