“I just viewed the 11th round again and from the footage I watched I did not see Ali leave his feet at any point or way.”
If you get HBO, watch the “Thrilla In Manilla” documentary. They show Frazier watching the slip/knockdown, which comes very early in the 11th round. I don’t know at what time, but both Joe and I definitely see Ali go down. He didn’t kiss the canvass, but he was at least on one of his knees.
If it wasn’t official, that’s fine. But the “slip” curiously comes right after Frazier hits him, so I’ve always thought of it as knockdown.
“good to talk boxing with someone again, I have followed it extremely close since I was kid but I haven’t found very many boxing fans left lately, the younger ones seem to have gone for the mixed martial arts styles and I guess there are not enough older ones left period!”
I am relatively young, a teenager during the Lewis/Holyfield/Tyson era. It’s true, mixed martial arts has conquered the world. I think it has less to do with the superiority of that sport (the rules are less stifling, but how fun is it, really, to watch people grapple on the ground?) than the complete lack of popular heavyweights. Vitali Klitschko is no Ali.
I will find that HBO show, sounds like it has some footage that might not have been shown on that first NBC replay of the fight, and I have might not have seen it. IIRC the ‘71 fight has only been shown on TV in it’s entirety just a few times. (I myself have never seen it on TV once since that first showing, but youtube has had it up forever). I never see it on any of the boxing specials on various channels and have you noticed on the Ali retro looks at his career they show every fight BUT Ali/Frazier 1? I just started watching the mixed fighting and is def. interesting and different, those men are in incredible shape. from 1972 thru 1988 I went to every closed circuit (showing if it was not on TV) of every big time fight, any weight class or division but there was nothing like the last couple of days leading up to an Ali title fight. whether a guy disliked him or liked him, it was really something, all the fancy dressers, pimp like characters running around, fancy cars around the theaters. etc. at one time I had a heck of a bunch of his old ‘fight programs’ ya could buy at the theater fight night but they are all gone or lost now. the only thing I have left, memorabilia wise, other than boxing books is a ticket stub from the Ali/Foreman’s ‘rumble in the jungle’ fight. saw the black and white theater closed circuit broadcast of that fight live at the Paramount theater, Seattle Washington. that was my favorite fight of the entire bunch.