Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier wrote boxing's most compelling three-part saga:

Ali-Frazier I - "The Fight of the Century," at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971, was the most anticipated heavyweight title fight since Joe Louis defeated Max Schmeling in their 1938 rematch at Yankee Stadium.

   Ali was still held in contempt by much of the country.  He was viewed as a brash, draft-dodging Muslim radical who embodied the defiance and spirit of the anti-war movement.  Frazier, who read the Bible, was held up as the conscientious, blue-collar champion, and Ali cruelly chided him as an Uncle Tom.  Later, Ali claimed that he was only trying to hype the fight, but at the time Frazier was under constant guard by police after receiving death threats before the fight.

   The fight was unique in that for the first time in history it matched an unbeaten former heavyweight champion against the unbeaten current champ: Ali was 31-0 with 25 knockouts, while Frazier was 26-0 with 23 knockouts.  Frazier was 27 years old and in his prime.

   There has never been a pair of fighters who complemented each other more. Ali was the boxer and Frazier the puncher. The key to Ali's success was his speed - his lightning-fast hands and superb ring movement could dictate a fight, and he would work you over with his left jab. Frazier had a devastating left hook and an indomitable will: a fight with Joe Frazier was a war of attrition, and it was a war he rarely lost.

   Unfortunately for Ali, three years of inactivity neutralized his advantage in speed - he stood flatfooted and went to war on the champion's terms. It might not have been the best strategy, but it made for marvelous action at a pace that seemed more suited to lightweights.  For 15 furious rounds, Frazier stalked Ali with his sweeping left hook while Ali countered by flashing his jab and stiff left-right combinations.  The scoring by rounds was as follows: Judge Artie Aidala, 9-6 for Frazier.  Judge Bill Recht, 11-4 for Frazier.  Mercante had it 8-6, with one even round, for Frazier.

Ali-Frazier II - The long-awaited rematch on January 28, 1974, lacked the drama of their initial meeting in March 1971 - Ali had lost to Ken Norton and Frazier was relieved of the championship in brutal fashion by George Foreman, a 3:1 underdog - and there wasn't as much flow to the action as in Ali-Frazier I.  Ali would smother Frazier each time the Philadelphia-based bruiser would get in close.  All three judges scored this one in Ali's favor.

Ali-Frazier III -  "The Thrilla in Manila," the final Ali-Frazier tussle, their rubber match, is generally regarded as the greatest boxing match in the last half century.  Ali was by this time the heavyweight champion, and he and Frazier knew that history would treat the winner of their third bout as the greatest fighter of his generation.  A younger Ali could have run circles around Frazier's linear style, but at age 33 he lacked the agility and footwork that had confounded Sonny Liston.

   The bout was really three fights in one: The first had Ali outboxing and outscoring Frazier, nailing him with clean, sharp shots.  The second fight, from the fifth through the 11th rounds, had Frazier pounding the champion terribly, giving him the worst beating of his career.  The third fight started in the 12th and somehow Ali, with the will of a champion, tore into the younger Frazier for three rounds. Frazier was simply exhausted, and Ali hit him seemingly at will.

   When the bell rung for the 15th round, Frazier, with his eyes almost completely swollen shut, couldn't make it out of his corner; his trainer, Eddie Futch, threw in the towel.  Later, Frazier says, "Man, I hit him with punches that'd bring down the walls of a city.  Lawdy, lawdy, he's a great champion."

     No argument here.