#ali frazier

Joe Frazier famously beat Muhammad Ali in the Fight of the Century in Madison Square Garden in 1971, the first fight of their trilogy. Given that we feature it across the top of the blog,  it seemed right to have a deeper dive into these looks for the 10th volume of our Classics series.

Getting right into it - Frazier’s green and yellow gold was simply outstanding:

Simple, clean green and yellow gold Everlast trunks with gold waistband and stripes along the side of each leg. The delicate yellow gold floral pattern atop the green adds depth and an appropriate uniqueness for this special fight.

Its difficult to find a good shot of the waistband, so I’ll cheat and show a Hollywood remake of these trunks (worn by James Toney who played Frazier in the movie “Ali”) that gives a clear (if slightly flawed) view of the front:

You’ll notice that the Hollywood version seems to have darker green and gold, and the Hollywood initials (above) are a bit thicker and miss some of the flourish of the real deal (below). 

Frazier’s robe was auctioned off by Sotheby’s about 10 years ago for $20k. A close look shows the same subtle floral detail and great black typeface across the back:

Frazier wore white Adidas with white socks:

Both fighters wore standard burgundy Everlast gloves:

Ali also had a great red and white look. His trunks were red crushed velvet Everlast trunks with white waistband and stripes along each leg. These were auctioned in 2002 for $100k.

As we discussed previously with Ali, his signature look was white trunks with black trim. It has been rumored that Ali superstitiously believed the choice of red (although he had worn it previously) was at least partially culpable for the result that night. Whether or not true, Ali never wore red trunks again (aside from white trunks with red stripes versus Mac Foster in Tokyo in 1972).

Ali wore red Adidas with red trim and tassels and red & white socks:

Ali’s robe was old school and great as well:

Amazing fight and one of the inspirations for this site.

Army’s Lady Troopers steamrollered the PNP  Lady Patrollers 25-14, 25-15, 25-15 today to pose a challenge to the league-leading Cagayan Rising Suns in the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference. Starring Jovelyn Gonzaga and Mary Jean Balse, the Lady Troopers…