Ali took command during the closing stretch. Frazier’s face was severely swollen, his vision heavily compromised, and Ali repeatedly landed clean right hands. Futch had seen enough, stopping the fight before the 15th round began.
Frazier protested. He had spent his career walking through punishment to get close enough to land his left hook, and quitting voluntarily was never an option.
Futch’s responsibility was different. He had to decide if sending a fighter who could barely see back into the ring was worth the risk.
Ali Was Near His Limit Too
What Futch could not fully know was the physical state of the man in the opposite corner.
Ali survived a ferocious stretch in the middle rounds as Frazier attacked his body and forced exhausting exchanges. The oppressive heat inside the arena made the physical toll even worse.
Ali later described Manila as the closest he had ever come to dying.
“It was like death. Closest thing to dying that I know of,” Ali said to ESPN.
That admission has kept the hypothetical final round alive for decades. Frazier was in worse visible condition, but Ali was badly exhausted after spending enormous energy taking control of the fight again.
Frazier also understood how much punishment Ali had absorbed during their 14 rounds.
“Man, I hit him with punches that’d bring down the walls of a city. Lawdy, lawdy, he’s a great champion.”
Could Frazier have produced one final left hook? Would Ali have found the strength to continue punishing an opponent who could barely see? Or would those extra minutes simply have inflicted unnecessary damage on two fighters who had already given everything?
Futch Had Only One Fighter to Protect
The temptation is to look backward and wonder if Futch deprived Frazier of a final opportunity. From his position in the corner, however, the choice was simple.
Frazier was absorbing punches he was having increasing difficulty seeing. Futch couldn’t gamble his fighter’s health on the possibility that Ali was just as exhausted across the ring.
The stoppage gave Ali the victory and a 2-1 advantage in their trilogy. Frazier never fought Ali again.
Had Futch allowed the final round and Frazier somehow stopped Ali, their rivalry would be remembered differently. Frazier would have owned two victories over the most famous heavyweight of his generation, winning both the first and final fights of their trilogy.
Instead, the 15th round exists only in imagination.
Perhaps nothing would have changed. Ali may simply have continued what he had done in the 13th and 14th rounds.
After everything they had survived that morning in Manila, those remaining three minutes were an eternity.
