1975 "The Thrilla in Manila" Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III Original Painting by LeRoy Neiman from The Don King Collection....

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Image was used to create closed-circuit broadcast advertising posters!

1975 "The Thrilla in Manila" Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III Original Painting by LeRoy Neiman from The Don King Collection.

UPDATE: This lot will come with a letter of provenance from Don King and an LOA from the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation.

They had called the first meeting between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier "The Fight of the Century," and it had lived up to that billing. The rematch was a decidedly less compelling affair, and Ali's controversial split decision victory left the boxing world clamoring for a satisfying and definitive conclusion. In Manila, they would find it.

For fourteen rounds in the boiling heat of Southeast Asia, these two iconic Heavyweight Champions waged a war of brutal attrition, Frazier withstanding Ali's deft and elusive early glovework, never slowing his forward progress, never going down. Ali had hoped and expected to make it a quick fight, certain that Frazier's recent decisive loss to Foreman was an indication of his decline. "Joe, they told me you was all washed up," Ali grunted during a seventh-round clinch. "They told you wrong, pretty boy," Frazier growled back.

The tide was beginning to turn, and Frazier dominated the middle rounds. Ali countered with sporadic flurries, and even tried without success to use the "rope-a-dope" strategy that had stymied George Foreman in Zaire, but Frazier was relentless in his onslaught and it appeared that Ali would soon surrender his title.

But somehow, in that hailstorm of blows, the Champion found a second wind, and, once again, the fight shifted on its bloody axis. Ali started to land power shots, and Frazier's legs started to wobble. With Frazier's left eye swollen to a slit, he stood helpless against Ali's straight right. A minute into round thirteen, Ali landed a thudding combination that sent Frazier's mouthpiece spinning into the crowd. Frazier's right eye likewise swelled to a close. Yet he returned for the fourteenth, able to do little more than absorb punishment. He returned to the corner at the bell to trainer Eddie Futch, who told him he'd seen enough. "I want him, boss!" Frazier protested. "It's all over," Futch replied. "No one will forget what you did here today." Ali biographer Thomas Hauser revealed later that Ali had returned to his own corner at the end of the fourteenth telling trainer Angelo Dundee to cut off his gloves. He, too, had had enough.

Legendary boxing promoter Don King commissioned LeRoy Neiman to create the offered oil on board painting for use in promotional materials related to this storied showdown in the Philippines, and the result is one of the most compelling and desirable works from Neiman's catalog raisonne. Both former Heavyweight Champions lock eyes with the viewer from their stacked kaleidoscopic portraits, the figures set against against a swirling white background. The thick application of background paint has been professionally restored to address minor areas of loss, but it's important to emphasize that the figures themselves are virtually untouched by this restoration, which only grazes the absolute edge of the figures in a couple locations. This effect is only apparent under black light--our catalog imagery should demonstrate that the figures show no such signs in natural light. You can see that Neiman painted over his signature to the right of Frazier's torso and reapplied it at left, certainly an alteration that was made accommodate the poster design, and a reason for that particularly thick paint application.

The oil on board measures 48x48" in size, with framing completing the dimensions at 53x53". Letter of provenance from Don King. LOA from the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation.