Editing Joe Frazier (section)

====Fight of the Century: first fight versus Ali====
{{main|Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali}}
On March 8, 1971, at [[Madison Square Garden]], Frazier and Ali met in the first of their three bouts which was called the "Fight of the Century".<ref>{{cite news |title=The Great Fights: Ali vs. Frazier I |newspaper=[[Life Magazine]] |date=March 1, 1971 |url=http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/23032/the-great-fights-ali-vs-frazier-i |access-date=May 4, 2010 |archive-date=April 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100416054651/http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/23032/the-great-fights-ali-vs-frazier-i |url-status=dead}}</ref> With an international television audience and an in-house audience that included singers and actors and with [[Burt Lancaster]] (who served as "color commentator" with the fight announcer, [[Don Dunphy]]), both undefeated heavyweights met in a media-frenzied atmosphere.

Several factors came together for Frazier in the fight. He was 27 and mentally and physically at his peak. Ali was 29 and coming back from a three-year absence.  He had had two good wins in his comeback, including a bruising, fifteen-round technical knockout win over [[Oscar Bonavena]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-frazier-the-peoples-champ/ |title=Joe Frazier: The people's champ |last=Rosen |first=James |date=November 9, 2011 |publisher=CBS News |access-date=October 9, 2012}}</ref>

Frazier and Futch noticed Ali's tendency to throw a right-hand uppercut from a straight standing position after dropping the hand in preparation to throw it with force. Futch instructed Frazier to watch Ali's right hand and, once Ali dropped it, to throw a left hook at the spot that they knew Ali's face would be a second later.

In a brutal and competitive contest, Frazier lost the first two rounds but was able to withstand Ali's combinations. Frazier was known to improve in middle rounds, which was the case with Ali. Frazier came on strong after the third round by landing hard shots to the body and powerful left hooks to the head.  Frazier won a 15-round unanimous decision, with scores of 9–6, 11–4, 8–6–1, and claimed the lineal title. Ali was taken to a hospital immediately after the fight to check that his severely-swollen right-side jaw was not actually broken. Frazier also spent time in hospital during the ensuing month, the exertions of the fight having been exacerbated by hypertension and a kidney infection.

Later that year, he fought a three-round exhibition against hard-hitting veteran contender [[Cleveland Williams]]. In 1972, Frazier successfully defended the title twice by knocking out Terry Daniels and [[Ron Stander]] in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively. Daniels had earlier drawn with Jerry Quarry and Stander had knocked out [[Earnie Shavers]].