Muhammad Ali’s passing highlights current pitiful state of heavyweight boxing
The death of Muhammad Ali was a sharp reminder of a glittering era of heavyweight boxing that contrasts starkly with the anemic state of the sport’s marquee division today.
Ali, who died of septic shock on Friday at the age of 74 after decades of battling Parkinson’s disease, was the cornerstone of a heavyweight triumvirate that also included Joe Frazier and George Foreman, whose flair and ferocity kept boxing at the forefront of the cultural conversation.
Muhammad ruined us for everybody. He was great outside [the ring]; he was great inside. We got so accustomed to it, we thought we deserved it
They were themselves the heirs of Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, Rocky Marciano and Sonny Liston.
And amid the the social turmoil of their age they made the heavyweight world crown relevant worldwide.
Even the names of the bouts still resonate: Ali-Frazier 1, known as “The Fight of the Century” pitted the two undefeated heavyweight champions in famed Madison Square Garden with seemingly the whole world watching and taking sides.
Frazier absorbed tremendous punishment but relentlessly out-worked Ali and dropped him in the 15th round to win by unanimous decision and launch an epic trilogy capped by the “Thrilla in Manila”.
