Recently, I had stumbled across one of sports documentaries finest films entitled “Thrilla in Manila” that details the iconic bout between world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and challenger Joe Frazier – a fight that took both men to brink of death that ultimately led to the demise of their careers. 32 years after the fight, HBO takes a look back at two men who changed the world and the sport of boxing with recounts from members of both camps including Joe Frazier himself. The opening shots provide viewers of the Philippine Coliseum that once held the bout where today it showcases Cockfights. With the jungle music heard in the background, this acts as an analogy for viewers as the Ali and Frazier are compared to two animals fighting to the death with one interviewee saying, “its an animalistic quality where we want to see two people fight it out, wars are fought that way”. Dubbed “the greatest fight of the 20th century”, this war between two gladiators had spawned on bad blood, racial politics of the 1970s and shear hatred towards each other that left Frazier seeking to destroy Ali at any cost – even death. Moreover, as the intro concludes, we are taken to the world of Frazier today, to the ghettos of Philadelphia where he owns he’s own gym and resides only next door. With the country guitar playing in the foreground, viewers witness a weary yet cheerful Joe who’s just about to start work for the day. What the documentary brings up is the distant fortunes that the duo have today. Ali, who has earned roughly $50 million post his career his substantially higher than Frazier “who is living in a room above a gym” (Hauser). This is almost a cruel blow for Frazier who undoubtedly was in Ali’s category as one of the greatest yet his life after boxing tells a different tale. “It just shows how America treats its former sporting icons, some are recorded a special status and others a largely forgotten”.
The film begins to dissect the pair who were once very close and how this fearsome rivalry had come about. Ali, who was stripped of the title after refusing to head to Vietnam in a time of war, was exiled for three years that allowed Frazier to take the mantle of champion of the world. In effect, to ensure that their were no doubters of Frazier’s reign as champion, he was more than happy to set the fight up for the foreseeable future and even went as far as helping Ali get his boxing license back.
However, Ali did not return the favor in kind and began a tirade of abuse on Frazier that lasted until the conclusion of Manila. What the film does well is showcasing the ferocity of both men and how Manila staged a spectacle of blood and guts, the will and win, and whatever it takes to ensure not only victory, but also respect – something Frazier finally received after years of animosity.
In the end, the brutality that both men endured still haunts the pair today but their comrades as well. The moment where they both deserved to “to go forth into the sunset” had passed where Joe still resented Ali more than thirty years after the bout – a sad end to two of sports most courageous warriors.