10 of 10

Associated Press

No sporting event in history has had the kind of anticipatory buildup, popular culture significance and lasting iconic resonance that the first fight between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali generated. This was a clash between two dominant and undefeated heavyweight champions.

Beyond that, each fighter was assigned an emblematic role representing opposing sides in the political and cultural conflicts tearing apart the nation.

Ali had spent the 1960s transforming himself from an Olympic hero to a controversial symbol for the most radical elements of the civil rights and anti-war movements. In 1967, he was stripped of the heavyweight title for refusing induction into the United States Army.

For three years, he was exiled from the sport while awaiting his fate in the legal system. By the time he was finally allowed to return in 1970, Joe Frazier had emerged as a new force in the heavyweight division.

It was unfair that Frazier was cast as the dramatic foil to Ali. Like any intelligent black person living in America in the 1960s, Frazier knew a change had to come. But he was of a naturally conservative temperament, and in his public behavior, he was a throwback to the generation of Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson.

The fight itself surpassed the hype and provided Frazier's finest moment as a boxer. Ali carried the first three rounds with his jab and straight rights, bruising Frazier's face. But in Round 4, Frazier rocked Ali with his legendary left hook and followed up with a brutal assault to the body.

Ali fought gamely throughout all 15 rounds, but it was Frazier's night. He hammered Ali with a hook in Round 11, and Ali should have been ruled knocked down when both his gloves touched the canvas.

In the 15th and final round, Ali went down flat on his back when Frazier landed another hook, securing the victory and title.