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1975 Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III (Thrilla in Manila) Full Ticket, PSA Authentic....
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$8,540.00
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Description
1975 Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III (Thrilla in Manila) Full Ticket, PSA Authentic. 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.
This is one of only seven full tickets from that hardest-fought victory of Ali's career to have been slabbed by PSA, "a thrilla" in its own right for its remarkable scarcity and marvelous aesthetics. Some scattered creasing is only apparent upon close inspection, and a surname written on verso may be a clue that the ticket was left unclaimed at Will Call, thus accounting for its unlikely survival in unused condition. Encapsulated by PSA, Authentic.
Auction Info
2025 May 16 - 18 Spring Sports Catalog Auction #50077 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
May, 2025
16th-18th
Friday-Sunday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 9
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 380
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
22% of the successful bid per lot.
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