2019 Winter Auction Closing March 2
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/2/2019
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier met for the first time in “The Fight of the Century”, a matchup of undefeated heavyweight champions at Madison Square Garden on March 8th, 1971. The fight delivered on its huge promise, with the two heavyweights contesting a 15-round slugfest that ended with Frazier declared the unanimous victor. Ali and Frazier would fight twice more, in Ali-Frazier II and the Thrilla in Manila, with Ali winning both fights.
Offered in this lot are two items from “The Fight of the Century”. The first item is a poster from the Bangor Municipal Auditorium in Maine advertising a closed-circuit viewing of the fight, as was common in the days before pay-per-view dominated combat sports. The poster measures 14 x 22 inches. The second item in the lot is a program from the fight. The program includes an unscored scorecard for the fight, which saw the referees Art Mercante and Artie Aidala score the fight 9-6 Frazier and Bill Recht score it 11-4 in favor of “Smokin’ Joe”. This lot is a terrific piece of heavyweight boxing history!