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June 18th 1974
Ali scored dramatic coming from behind KO!
Former champion Muhammad Ali 45-2-0 (32) went to the hell and cameback to score a KO11 victory against his nemesis and fellow former champion Joe Frazier 31-2-0 (26).
On the first round Frazier took the fight to Ali and outlanded him to win the round.
Ali controlled most of the second round but Frazier reacted on the last thirty seconds.
The third round was dominated by Ali's speed, his jab and his right cross.
Ali controlled the first half of the fourth round but on the second half Frazier conected him with a straight right and a pair of big left hooks to win the stanza.
On the fifth round Ali boxed niceley from the outside and connected a big cross to Frazier head. At this time the fight was very even.
Frazier hurt Ali with a hard cross early on the sixth round and then continued dominating for the rest of the stanza.
Frazier continued commanding the actions on rounds seven and eight clearly outworking Muhammad. At the end of the eighth round Ali's right eye was almost closed.
On the ninth round the action was brutal with both fighters landing big blows on even terms. Ali used his speed to score with combinations and Frazier used the uppercut as his main weapon.
On the tenth round both fighters again traded big blows but Ali looked tired and Frazier dominated most of the actions.
Early on the eleventh round Frazier connected a big cross and went for it but Ali caught him with a big hook to the jaw and came to life. Ali connected a left-right combination and again scored with a big hook. Frazier retreated and Ali connected a big straight right to his head. Another big right and Frazier stumbled backwards, another combination by Ali and Frazier looked ready to go and Ali didn't let him scape, Muhammad connected a perfect right to Frazier's chin and dropped him for the ten count.
At the time of the stoppage all three scorecards were 97-93 for Frazier.
Now Ali advanced to the tournament finals in which he will face Goerge Foreman with the unified heavyweight title on the line.
Briscoe stopped Monzon on a huge upset!
Bennie Briscoe 50-12-1 (42) scored a TKO4 victory against Carlos Monzon 82-4-9 (56) to win the WBA and WBC middleweight titles.
Monzon started fast giving Briscoe a real beating on the first round. The argentine snapped Briscoe's head with a pair of uppercuts and connected him with hooks.
On the second round Monzon continued in control for most of the round but on the last seconds Briscoe connected a big right to his head on his only meanful punch of the round.
On the third round Monzon connected Briscoe with several hard combinations from the outside, Briscoe landed a big uppercut but not enough to turn the round on his favor.
Early on the fourth Monzon failed with a straight right and Briscoe connected him with a body shot and dropped the champion.
Monzon got up but Briscoe connected him with two consecutive hooks, Monzon retreated to the ropes but Briscoe followed him and landed a pair more of big hooks to the head and the referee stopped the actions.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 30-27 (x3) for Monzon.
Now the champion Bennie Briscoe will fight against Emile Griffith on a very unexpected tournament final.
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