Thrilla In Manila

Thrilla in Manilla is a documentary between one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. Featuring Muhammad Ali and Joe Fraizer, this documentary depicts the most storied rivalry which took place in Manila of the Philippines. Director John Dower is able to uncover truths and unseen footages from all three of their encounters and beautifully assembles them together in a piece which is widely considered one of the best sports documentaries.

The actual term “Thrilla in Manila” is actually a reference to the third boxing match in 1975 between Muhammad Ali, or Cassius Clay, and Joe Frazier. The documentary begins with a shot of Joe Frazier who still to this day, lives and trains in the same gym where he was training to fight Muhammad Ali decades ago. At 63 years of age, you can still find him and his son living a humble and quaint life away from publicity in the poor and deprived Badlands. Unable to let go of the rivalry, Joe walks around with an eternal burden, reliving the match that both defined and ended his boxing career.

At an early age in his career, Cassius Clay who also known as Muhammad Ali, was stripped of his at the time title and boxing license because of his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War. Being friends at the time, Joe Frazier loaned Muhammad Ali money and told him he would do anything he could to get his boxing license back. During Ali’s 3 year absence from the boxing realm, Joe went on to win the boxing title, dominating every opponent and claiming the title as the best boxer. Yet as Joe would win more titles and destroy more and more opponents, the buzz from the argument of who was better, Frazier or Ali, would get louder and louder. People still believed Ali was still the greatest, angering Frazier to the point where he wanted Ali back so he could beat him and prove he was the best. They needed each other. Ali needed Frazier to revitalize his dying reputation and Frazier needed Ali to show the world he was a better boxer. As tension grew between the two, their friendship turned into one of the most bitter rivalries in all of sports.

By 1970, the American public had turned against the Vietnam War and Ali was given back his boxing license. The public immediately wanted, and were granted, a Frazier vs. Ali fight, both whom were undisputed champions. As training began, the ever so cocky and confident Ali turned on Frazier, calling him stupid and ugly. In an interview he proclaimed “He (Joe Frazier) can’t talk, he can’t dance, he can’t write no poems.” The man who had once helped Ali was now at the forefront of his verbal abuse.

In March 1971, their first fight was viewed as the fight of the century. It was generally seen that if you rooted for Ali, you were black, young, liberal, against the Vietnam War. Whereas if you rooted for Frazier, you were generally a representative of a white conservative America. Frazier, to everyone’s surprise, won by decision. Muhammad claimed that the ruling was unfair and continued to taunt Frazier, calling him a gorilla and Uncle Tom. In their second rematch, Ali won in a decision. Their third and final battle was held in Manila. Ali and Frazier went toe to toe for 14 rounds, neither of whom would give up. They were fighting for something bigger than boxing and each were willing to give up their lives for the fight. Ali was overheard telling his trainer during the fight that this is what it felt like to be dying. Frazier, blind in both eyes from the fighting, continued on and would not give up unless he died in the ring. Ended by the ref

in the 14^th round, Muhammad claimed the victory by the narrowest of margins. His pride kept him from giving his respect to Frazier and to this day their rivalry continues. Yet many years later, Ali said if God had called a Holy War, he would want Joe by his side

Thrilla in Manilla was held in the Philippines during the corrupt dictatorship of the Marcos regime. Fights occur where they’re needed and President Marcos was key on demonstrating that Martial rule was not as bad as it seems. It was held in the Philippines to get people’s minds off of how bad the economy was, offering a much needed distraction. Imelda Marcos viewed it as an opportunity to show the world that this was not a third world country. It was rumored that they paid $10 million for the fight but both Marcos’ denied it. The corruption and the spending of public money on a publicity stunt is seen as further proof of the corruption of the Marcos regime.