"I made sure we had enough ice in the corner to keep Ali going," Kilroy recalls. The conditions ensured they earned every dime as estimated temperatures of 43C under the glass roof of the Araneta Coliseum served to all but cook both men. Kilroy, one of the only surviving figures from Ali's team on that morning in 1975, tells the Greatest Fights podcast the ferocity of what played out made him "think" about the nature of the sport.Īli made some $9m (£4.4m in 1975), Frazier around $5m (£2.45m). Heat, hustlers and more heat Ali lost to Frazier in 1971 but beat him in 1974 and in Manila in 1975 Frazier, swollen and unable to see from his left eye, felt he hit his rival with "punches that'd bring down the walls of a city" and yet he was left contemplating defeat. He stood in Ali's corner, shouted messages from ringside and later watched his friend and employer - who should have been celebrating - sit battered and bruised in his hotel room.Īli simply said the 14 rounds felt "like death".
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