Nearly 50 years ago, Joe Frazier, the unbeaten heavyweight champion decided to take a detour from a big-money rematch against Muhammad Ali in favor of a stopover in Kingston, Jamaica and what he expected would be an easy payday against a powerful but raw heavyweight named George Foreman.
Six knockdowns and less than two rounds later, Frazier was an ex-champion and that bonanza with Ali had been reduced to a nontitle fight for a small fraction of the money.
That bit of negative heavyweight history hung in the air at Barclays Center on Saturday night as Deontay Wilder very nearly took a similarly misguided detour.