Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali (Part 5)
The year 1973 was no different for the Hurricane in the ring, sweeping away another four opponents in the 12 month stint. He swallowed Joe Bugner, Ken Norton on two occasions and then smacked the day lights out of Ruby Lubbers in his last fight of 1973.
His stellar victories were being noticed by fighters, the press, the media, boxing associations and his fans across planet Earth. The great had his eyes set on Frazier and his Heavy Weight Title and even the world wanted to see a rematch between the two.
However, things took a sudden turn. Surprisingly in 1973, the tough man from Texas, George Foreman finished off the reigning champion, the deadly Frazier within two devastating rounds in Jamaica. Foreman has overthrown the status quo to clinch the Heavy
Weight Title. This of course meant that the smoking Ali’s target was diverted to none other than George. His mission and aim had changed.
In an absolutely unlucky event for Ali, the top contender broke his jaw in a match against Ken Norton in San Diego on the 31st of March in 1973. It took the macho Muhammad almost five months to recover from that injury.
Once he recovered, he was given a massive chance to take revenge for his broken jaw. He was scheduled to take on the former Marine combatant Ken Norton once again on 10th September five months later to his loss. The match began with frenzy and
excitement, fans cheering him on to take revenge. Ali floated across the ring, delivering a combination of punches and blows to Norton’s body. The element of revenge could be seen in his actions and his eyes.
Muhammad was a very intelligent warrior. Even if he was looking for revenge and even if he was entering a bout filled with emotions, he would make sure that his emotions would never cloud his judgment.
This time around Ken Norton was overwhelmed with Ali’s beast like strength and his dancer like elegance in the ring. Ali won the match. This brought him a step closer to his aim.
Nevertheless, the resilient Frazier was back in the loop of things. It was decided back then that the fearless Ali was to fight the feared Joe Frazier. The match was mainly setup so that the top contender could be established.
It seemed a fair way at that time to see who deserved a shot at the Champion and his title in the Heavyweight division. There were many expectations from both the fighters. Their previous fight had taken place in 1971. It was an exciting and truly entertaining
match up. Hence fans and audiences, including the media were aware of the magnitude of the event.
Both the greats were to meet at Madison Square Garden in New York – the setting that would change boxing history. That time around Frazier received shattering blows by his challenger. He barely got a chance to make any impact on the steel like Muhammad
Ali. Ali won what was always his. The greatness of the great prevailed in New York that memorable evening.
The next event between the two boxers was the one that went down in the history books of boxing. It had significance on many different levels. The entire sporting world was glued to the event. The Heavyweight Championship had never taken place in an African
continent before this. Zaire, Africa was chosen as the location for this magnanimous event.
It was dubbed as the “Rumble in the Jungle”. Both players were sized up against one another. There were important differences that existed between them. At the time, powerful Ali was seven years older than the defending champion. The champion was much younger
and healthier. The fire ball of an athlete Joe stood at six feet three and a half inches tall, who had an amazing reach of eighty two inches.
On the other hand, the blazing Ali stood at an impressive six feet three inches with a reach of eighty inches. Apart from the age, both players looked quite evenly matched at the time. Big George had an edge when it came to their individual weights going
into the fight.
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