OPINION:
March 8, 1971, is perhaps the most historic date in boxing history — one of the most celebrated dates in sports in the second half of the 20th century.
It was the night, 55 years ago Sunday, when two of the most legendary, undefeated heavyweight champions in ring history squared off in a hotly anticipated bout that captured the world’s attention.
The bout between the crowned heavyweight champion, Joe Frazier, and Muhammad Ali, whose title was stripped by boxing officials for refusing his draft induction into military service nearly four years earlier, had become more than a fight — it turned into a symbolic battle in a country bitterly divided by the Vietnam War.
Adding to the drama was where the fight was held — Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the world, creating an electric atmosphere with a sold-out audience featuring celebrities like Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Barbara Streisand and others.
Senators Ted Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey were in the crowd. Frank Sinatra was ringside taking pictures for Life Magazine. Leroy Neiman painted Frazier and Ali as the fight went on. Burt Lancaster did the color analysis for the closed-circuit broadcast, which reportedly drew 300 million viewers worldwide.
But many of you know this already. The first in their dramatic trifecta of battles was a historic moment in time documented and written about often, with Frazier winning a dramatic 15-round decision.
Here’s what you didn’t know, though — this bout could have had a whole different tone and been possibly derailed by a proposed closed-circuit televised fight in 1970 between Ali and his former sparring partner, Jimmy Ellis. Ellis had won Ali’s vacant title in a close bout with Jerry Quarry during a World Boxing Association tournament in April 1968 to determine a new heavyweight champion.
Ali, a 1960 Olympic gold medal winner on the USA boxing team, had been a controversial figure since he announced his conversion to the Nation of Islam following his win over Sonny Liston in February 1964. The FBI had designated the group as a threat to domestic security, and Ali became one of the focuses of the bureau’s surveillance, particularly after he refused to enter the draft and his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War.
According to FBI files I obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, negotiations for a fight between Ali and Ellis, possibly giving Ali a chance to win back his heavyweight crown, despite his inability to get a license to fight again, were taking place behind the scenes between Herbert Muhammad, Ali’s manager and one of sons of Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam leader and Angelo Dundee, Ellis’ manager and trainer (Ali’s trainer as well).
The fight, which would have been promoted as a heavyweight title match, was to take place in 1970 in a Miami television studio with no live audience and featuring Howard Cosell, who would be paid $50,000, on the closed-circuit telecast.
“The individuals involved hope such an arrangement will circumvent boxing commission bars concerning Clay’s (the FBI still refused to use the name “Muhammad Ali” more than five years after Ali announced his name change) boxing,” the FBI report states. “They feel there is no law or regulation which states two men cannot fight and have the fight shown on closed circuit television.”
As we know, the fight never happened. Ali would get a license to box in Georgia and made his return to the ring in October 1970 against Quarry, stopping him in three rounds. Two months later Ali defeated Oscar Bonavena in a hard-fought 15-round decision, setting up the historic showdown against Frazier a few months later.
Frazier was the undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion going into the fight. He won a version of the heavyweight title in March 1968, stopping Buster Mathis in 11 rounds. The New York State Athletic Commission — at the time the most powerful legislative body in the sport — recognized Frazier as the heavyweight champion. A month later, Ellis won the WBA heavyweight belt previously held by Ali. Frazier stopped Ellis in four rounds in March 1970 to add the WBA title to his resume, making him the undisputed champion.
If Ali and Ellis had met in this television studio fight, it’s likely Ali would have defeated Ellis, a small heavyweight who started his professional career as a middleweight nine years earlier.
The two fighters, who both grew up in Louisville, met twice as amateurs, splitting the outcome of those bouts. They would later face each as professionals four months after Ali’s loss to Frazier, with Ali winning a 15-round decision.
Defeating Ellis in this proposed television studio fight would have meant Ali, not Frazier, would have been the WBA-recognized heavyweight going into a fight against Frazier, who would have held the lesser recognized fragmented NYSAC belt. An Ali-Ellis television studio bout, after Ali’s three-year ring absence, certainly would have been a lucrative payday with a massive closed-circuit audience.
It could have changed the circumstances and conversation surrounding March 8, 1971.
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