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On January 12, Joe Namath walked off the field with his index finger extended high above his head. Having just led his team to victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, the iconic image was supported with the words, “The Jets are champions of the football world.”
Just over a week later on January 20, President Richard M. Nixon was sworn into office as the 37th President of the United States. He had his work cut out for him as Americans were looking for U.S. forces to withdraw from Vietnam.
Television, still relatively new in some households at the time, aired wildly popular shows like Laugh-In, Gomer Pyle, and Bonanza.
On July 16, all eyes were on Apollo 11 as it blasted off from Cape Kennedy. Americans gathered in record numbers around their televisions as, just four days later on July 20, Neil Armstrong lowered himself from the Eagle lunar capsule onto the moon’s surface.
In an instant he became the first man to ever walk on the moon’s surface. The millions watching at home, the largest audience for any single event in human history, heard the iconic words, “That’s one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind.”
The year was 1969.
While Americans were captivated with the upcoming Apollo 11 launch, the sports world was readying itself in anticipation to see Heavyweight champion “Smokin’” Joe Frazier defend his crown against the always tough “Irish” Jerry Quarry.
The bout wouldn’t disappoint and would later be named, by Ring Magazine, the “Fight of the Year” for 1969.
Frazier hit the world stage by winning a gold medal in the 1964 Olympics. In March of 1968, Frazier won the vacant Heavyweight crown with an 11th round TKO over Buster Mathis.
The title, which was held by Muhammad Ali, had been declared vacated when Ali refused to be inducted into the United States military. Stripped of his title, Ali was forced into exile and watched Frazier capture the title he once held.
There was an enormous split between boxing fans as many recognized Frazier (23-0, 20 KOs) as the rightful champion while others held firm that the undefeated real champion, Ali, had been unfairly vanquished.
None-the-less, Frazier, 25, was the recognized kingpin of the division. He brought with him an unyielding seek and destroy attack along with a devastating left hook. He was set to make the fourth defense of his title against Quarry.
Quarry began to gain recognition by winning the 1965 National Golden Gloves championship in Kansas City. Only 19 at the time, Quarry won all five of his bouts by knockout, a feat never before accomplished and one that hasn’t been matched since.
Now 24, Quarry (31-2-4, 18 KOs) had built a reputation for being a relentless attacker with a granite chin. He was prepared to give Frazier all he wanted and then some.
The bout was held at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden in New York City, on Monday night, June 23.
The undercard saw a man who would figure into the Heavyweight picture down the road, George Foreman, win his professional debut after having won a gold medal in the 1968 Olympics.
With the main event now moments away, nearly 17,000 fans were packed into The Garden.
Frazier was firmly installed as a 2-1 betting favorite.
The bout was broadcast on closed-circuit television with ABC’s Howard Cosell seated ringside to call the action. Angelo Dundee joined Cosell to score the fight round by round.
Referee Arthur Mercante provided instructions at center ring while both men intensely stared daggers at each another.
The packed house was into the fight from the opening bell as Cosell observed, “The crowd noise here is terrific!”
Feeding off the energy inside The Garden, the first round quickly turned into a brawl. Both men stood toe to toe and hammered away at one another.
Both wearing black gloves, Quarry was outfitted in red trunks with white trim. He held his hands high, almost in a peek-a-boo style, and banged away at Frazier’s head and body.
Frazier, wearing black trunks with yellow trim, accommodated his challenger and elected to stand in close and trade punch for punch.
It was great stuff as neither man was willing to concede an inch of turf.
The see-saw action continued into Round 2 as Cosell, chomping on a cigar, exclaimed, “This is a slugfest!” Frazier rocked side to side while moving forward to hammer at Quarry’s body. Quarry continued to respond and fired back with jabs and right crosses.
The champion slowly began to back up his challenger, who was now bleeding from the nose, into the ropes. Cosell summed up the first six minutes of action, “A lot of leather thrown in the first two rounds!”
Rounds 3 and 4 saw an unrelenting Frazier begin to take command. Although Quarry continued to battle back, he was now receiving more than he was giving. His right eye, now swelling, began to bleed as Frazier continued to bomb away with his left hand.
The champion jumped Quarry at the opening bell of Round 5. Cosell’s voice was electric, “Frazier keeps coming after him! Getting him with the left! The left is working in there with almost meticulous precision.”
The battle was slowly turning into a contest between the champions devastating left hand against Quarry’s iron will and concrete chin.
Dundee announced that he scored the first round for Quarry and rounds two through five for the champion.
Quarry was as brave as Frazier was relentless.
Cosell enunciated his view of the battle, “Joe Frazier, utterly unmarked, completely dominant now in the bout. Moving in strongly, aggressively, relentlessly, confidently.”
The cut under Quarry’s right eye was now bleeding profusely in Round 7. On the defensive, he was now picking his spots to fire punches back at Frazier. The champion pressed him into the ropes and continued to blast away with a steady, ceaseless pummeling.
The bell echoed through The Garden to end the seventh.
Just seconds after the challenger returned to his corner, the crowd roared as the bout was stopped. Cosell bellowed, “They stopped the fight! The commission doctor and referee Arthur Mercante examined his right eye. Puffy. Closed. The left eye, too, now substantially closed!”
Joe Frazier had retained his title via a TKO in Round 7.
Cosell’s post fight interview with Frazier nearly erupted into a melee as Jimmy Ellis climbed into the ring while Frazier’s team was calling for a fight with the banished Ali. Ellis and Frazier were soon separated and they would collide, officially, less than eight months later.
Frazier would go on to demolish Ellis inside of five rounds, brutalizing and then finishing him with his vaunted left hook.
Quarry would get another crack at Frazier five years down the road. The result was much like their first encounter as the referee, former Heavyweight champion Joe Louis, stopped the bout in the fifth round.
