so i'm becoming more and more fascinated with sports. it's no secret that i have a slight obsession with tennis (my roommates can attest to this, seeing as i made them watch a three hour match between andre agassi and ivo karlovic). texas hold'em can't exactly be classified as a sport, but i watch it on espn and bravo and the numerous other poker channels that my grandparents get on satellite.

the latest sport that i'm into is boxing.

that's not entirely true, actually. i'm freshly fascinated with muhammad ali, cassius clay, the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. my cousin dan rented a double dvd set on him recently - one, a documentary, and two, footage of a few of his fights (rumble in the jungle, thrilla in manilla, and a couple more). we watched it all last night, stuffing our incredulous faces with sicilian pizza. "did you see that?" dan screamed, pointing at the screen as leon spinks got served. "what the fuck!" i yelled as ali perfected his "rope-a-dope" technique (leaning back on the ropes and absorbing everything his opponent threw at him, waiting for the guy to tire himself out) during a fight with george foreman (who, by the way, was quite the pimp in his day). at the end of the long dvd, i was surprised at how much i didn't know about one of the greatest athletes ever.

ali always said, "i'm the greatest." have you ever seen this guy fight? he's really incredible. i mean, yeah, everyone knows he's the greatest, but shit dude, he's amazing. he gets in four or five punches to his opponent's one. did you know he won the gold medal at the olympics in 1960? did you know that he won the title of heavyweight champion THREE times? i don't know, maybe this is common knowledge, but it's all new to me.

the thing that i love about him is that he was always talking shit. all the time. on the record, off the record, even in the ring while fighting his opponent. one of the things that was cool about him was that he was funny and witty, while still insulting his opponent. he said, "frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the united states bureau of wild life."

however, the most astounding thing about his trash talk (aside from the frequent rhyming) was that ninety nine times out of one hundred, he could come through on it. "i'm not the greatest; i'm the double greatest. not only do i knock 'em out, i pick the round." AND HE DID. i was watching a match last night, and before it even began, he said something to the effect of "i'm going to kick this sucker's ass in the fourth round." and he took him out in the fourth round. when people started hating on him for bragging so much, he said, "it's not bragging if you can back it up," and "it's hard to be humble, when you're as great as i am."

i guess what i really like about it all is that muhammad ali was an entertainer. he had true showmanship. when he knew something was going to go down, he let the world know so we could all watch it.

every good sport needs a legendary pair of rivals. yankees vs. red sox. agassi vs. sampras. .....some other sports-related rivalries that i'm sure i'm unaware of.

boxing had ali vs. frazier.



his epic rivalry with joe frazier was one of sports' greatest. march 8, 1971 at madison square garden, ali and frazier met for the first time. they were both undefeated, and frazier had been holding the heavyweight title for a year. ali was doing his famous pre-fight smack talk, but frazier was unfazed. the fight was epic. ali continued his trash talk throughout the fight, but frazier was grinning the whole time. those cocky bastards fought until the fifteenth round, when frazier knocked ali down by a left hook to the chin. frazier held the title, but was immediately sent to the hospital. this was ali's first professional loss. ever.

they met again a year or two later, and ali kicked his ass.

the third match, though... "the thrilla in manilla" lasted a total of one hundred and thirty two minutes in the ring, and it's widely considered one of the most brutal and bitter fights in the history of boxing. so ali has the title, taken from george foreman a year earlier, and successfully defended it three times within three months against some lame boxers who tried to take it from him. ali's trash talking frazier, as usual, giving him the nickname "gorilla." (he went on to talk about himself and the gorilla at the thrilla in manilla... i really like the rhyming.) frazier was pissed. "i want to hurt him. i don't want to knock him out. i want to take his heart out." everyone knew that this was huge. the fight begins with ali putting pressure on frazier, but frazier knows his time will come, smiling snarkily the whole time. once in awhile he gets a hook through to ali's head, but ali is all about the jabs and combinations to the head. a third of the fight is over, and ali is getting tired. frazier starts in. ali's "rope-a-dope" tactic doesn't really work this time because frazier's plan is to batter ali's arms until taking a blow is less painful than blocking it. frazier's getting tired too, though, so the two are fighting at a really low pace. ali's energy comes back eventually, but frazier's doesn't. from round twelve on, frazier gets his ass handed to him. round fourteen, frazier's left eye is completely shut. ali kicks frazier's ass, but seconds after winning the fight, he faints in his corner.

they fought to their limit. they fought until they couldn't fight anymore. it was huge. it was epic.

i didn't even get to his incredible devotion to his religion, his imprisonment, or the controversy surrounding it all. i know this was more than you were planning on learning about boxing today, but you don't get an athlete like this very often.

"i am the greatest, i said that even before i knew i was."

preach.