Ali's Debt to "Smoking" Joe Frazier

Muhammad Ali would never have been recognized as "The Greatest" without Joe Frazier. "Smoking" Joe made him earn it in their three epic battles, especially in "The Fight Of The Century" and "The Thrilla in Manila". The first was the fight where Ali showed he had heart and a chin. Nobody had ever hit him before. The Manila fight, the third of their trilogy became the greatest fight of all time. In every fight Joe fought with determination, courage, an iron will, and ferocity every second of every round, overcoming a bad eye he kept a secret throughout his entire boxing career. Frazier also overcame short arms and stature with unrelenting training, a great chin, heart, and an unorthodox boxing style even the great Ali couldn't figure out. Ali had to raise his own training and ability to endure Joe's "Smoking" machine like pounding to fight, then win wars of attrition with Frazier. These epics made Ali earn his claim to be "The Greatest" and cemented both fighters as the greatest fighters of their time, and among the greatest boxers of all time.