NEW ORLEANS, LA – Trainer Eddie Futch leaned into Joe Frazier, took in the heavyweight’s swollen and bloody face, and told him, “It’s all over. No one will forget what you did here today.” In the far corner, Muhammad Ali raised his hands in the air, exhausted and triumphant.
Will Clemson and Alabama have the same drama?
The above scene came at the end of the 14th round of the Thrilla in Manila, the third fight between Ali Frazier. Ali, the brasher of the two fighters, lost the first fight to the humble son of a South Carolina sharecropper in 1971.