March 8th will mark the 50th anniversary of “
The Fight” between Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali and Philadelphia's Smokin' Joe Frazier. The Golden Age of Boxing saw the best heavyweights of their time, Joe Frazier at 26-0 against Muhammed Ali at 31-0 fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event, which was billed as the biggest fight in history, was the first time two undefeated boxers would fight each other for the Undisputed Heavyweight Title. Frazier won the 15 round bout with a unanimous decision. As a little boy I remember the hype of the fight which could only be seen on closed circuit TV, a prelude to modern day Pay-per-view. We couldn’t afford to watch it so like most Americans, we listened to the fight on the radio. The next day in the paper the headlines read, “Joe’s left right up Muhammad's Ally” - "The Fight of the Century" lived up to the expectations, something I’ll never forget. Americans were split on who they wanted to win because many people detested Ali’s anti-war stance against the Vietnam war and most Philadelphians wanted Frazier to win and bring a championship home!!