Fifty years ago today, at Madison Square Garden in New York City; Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought in the second of three boxing matches between the heavyweight titans.
Sandwiched between the epics The Fight of the Century and The Thrilla in Manila, Super Fight II is by far in the hype leading up, the fight itself, and its legacy; the lesser of the three Ali-Frazier bouts. Unlike the other fights Super Fight II wasn’t a title match, and both competitors, coming off bad losses, were considered washed-up by 1974. Ali had lost, for only the second time in his career, to Ken Norton; with Norton breaking Ali’s jaw in the process. Frazier lost the heavyweight title he won from Ali their first fight to George Foreman in epic fashion.
There was two major events in the promotions leading up to the rematch. The first occurred January 17th on The Dick Cavett Show, in which the two fighters were in good humors with each other. Ali and Frazier jokingly exchanged mock blows with each other, but there was still some tensions. The second, five days before the fight, on Wide World of Sports with Howard Cosell was far more intense. While reviewing The Fight of the Century Mohammad Ali began trash talking Frazier unmercifully. Joe Frazier came back at Ali’s taunts and brought up the fact that Ali treated in a hospital after the first fight. Ali in turn called Frazier “ignorant” and mentioned that though he spent a night in the hospital, Frazier ended up hospitalized for a month from the effects of the fight. “Why you call me ignorant? How am I ignorant” replied Frazier while standing up, not even looking at Ali. The studio crew and his entourage tried to calm Joe Frazier down, as Ali grabbed Frazier by the neck and force him back into his seat. A straight up fight broke out between two in the studio, and both boxers were subsequently fined for their action. The stage was set for the rematch.
On January 28th 1974 the fight began with Muhammad Ali, the slight favorite, coming out aggressively; looking to avenge the earlier defeat as quick as he could. The most furious action of the bout occurred during Round Two. Late in the round, Ali hit Joe Frazier with a hard right; dazing him. Ali then came in fast; looking to put Frazier down. Referee Tony Perez, however, mistakenly thought he heard the bell ending the round and sent Ali to a corner. The short stoppage gave Frazier time to readjust himself and he was able to finish the round on his feet. For the rest of the fight Ali used a tactic of throwing a flurry of quick punches followed by clinching and tying up his opponent while holding his neck down; not allowing Frazier to work the inside. A visibly frustrated Frazier tried to come in on Ali with his own punches, but Ali’s clinches mostly tied up Frazier, nullifying his vaunted left hook. In the Seventh Round, Frazier managed to get though Ali’s clinch tactics and was able to score a couple of devastating left hooks, but, was unable to capitalizing on the shots. Frazier was by far the more accurate puncher, landing 42% to Ali’s 25%, but it was Ali’s clinching that dominated the fight. The fight was close, with many rounds difficult to score, as both boxer threw an usually low amount of punches for the two fighters, and heavyweight boxers in general, with Ali landing 181 hits to Frazier’s 172. After the full Twelve Rounds, Muhammad Ali won the fight with a unanimous, but close, decision.
Like the first fight, the result was controversial, but Joe Frazier’s camp didn’t make any official protest. Many boxing pundits at the time felt that Ali’s clinches cheapened the win, but the boxer simply blew the criticisms off with his signature bravado.The victory solidified Muhammad Ali as the number one contender, and set up a match with Heavyweight Champion George Foreman to be fought later on in 1974; the classic Rumble in the Jungle. Joe Frazier fought a couple more fights in late ‘74 – early ‘75 to re-establish himself as the number one contender setting up a third and final fight with Ali in October 1975 between the arch-rivals: the legendary Thrilla in Manila
