On March 8, 1971, the “Fight of the Century” took place in Madison Square Garden, New York. This boxing match was between two boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. At the end of the bout, Ali had been dealt his first loss in a professional match ever. The popularity and hype of the Fight of the Century led to a rematch, which was carried out on January 28, 1974. Dubbed “Super Fight 2,” this second fight provided Ali with a chance to even the score between him and Frazier. Ali was declared the winner of the match by unanimous decision after the twelve rounds were up. This boxing poster is a masterprint of one of the promotional posters during the time.
Drama before the super fight
Before the second match, ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” invited Ali and Frazier to review their first fight. During the review of the 10th round, Ali started to make remarks about how Frazier stayed in the hospital for one month while Ali only stayed there for 10 minutes. This annoyed Frazier and he took a punch at Ali. The two ended up fighting in the studio and, after the fight was broken up, the two were fined and heated up for their rematch.
The significance of Super Fight 2
Many critics and boxing fans declare that Super Fight 2 was the most boring match of the three fights between Ali and Frazier. This is because the first match was met with all the hype of being the first fight between these two champions and the third match was popular for being the tiebreaker and one of the 20th century’s best boxing matches. The second match was not particularly exciting as the match was drawn out to the full twelve rounds with no significant action going on. Still, the second match is of great significance, because it allowed Ali to even the score and have yet another rematch.
To reminisce this significant fight between Ali and Frazier, this boxing poster captures a moment that made Ali and Frazier household names.