The Night Frazier Bested Ali: 40 Years Ago!

Joe Frazier at a recent public appearance in Philadelphia.

Stan Hochman has a great story in the Philadelphia Daily News today about the night 40 years ago when Philadelphia's Joe Frazier knocked down Muhammed Ali with a "lethal left hook" to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World. Here's part of it:
Joe Hand remembers the ferocious left hook Joe Frazier launched in the 15th round. Remembers it thundering into Muhammad Ali's jaw. Remembers Ali toppling backward, hitting the canvas with a thud.
"I was shocked that Ali got back up," Hand recalled the other day, sitting by the pool in Belleair Beach, Fla. "I remember the tassels on Ali's shoes. I remember thinking, 'Everybody's got an angle' and that Ali must have thought the tassels made him look faster."

Ali was faster than Frazier, tassels or no tassels. Just not fast enough in the final round of a brutal, primitive fight to avoid that lethal left hook, the one Frazier said he "reached down home" for.
It is 40 years to the day and Hand has vivid memories of what he calls "the greatest sporting event of all time."

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