Muhammad Ali to Ron Lyle in the 6th round of their fight:

" I want you to bear witness, I am the greatest! I'm the greatest thing that ever lived."


Ali on Frazier, July 1975 Wide World of Sports:

“Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.”



After winning the heavyweight title in Ali's absence, Frazier had loaned money to the struggling deposed champion. But when the two men agreed to the 1971 fight, Ali appeared to forget about that largesse.

In public appearances, and in interviews with Philadelphia's newspapers and TV stations, the charismatic Ali belittled Frazier as stupid and ugly. He labeled him an Uncle Tom, someone who had sold out to white interests. He belittled him and humiliated him for his pronunciation of certain words, and for being ignorant and ugly. (Later, before 1975's "Thrilla in Manila," he even called him a gorilla and mocked him with a toy ape.)

"A lot of it was cruel," Peltz said. "Joe felt like he had reached out to Ali when he needed help and he didn't think that was the right way to pay him back. He held a grudge for the rest of his life."

Many years later, after Ali's voice was silenced by the illness, a still bitter Frazier seemed to delight in his rival's condition.

"God's shut him up," Frazier said. "He can't talk no more because he was saying the wrong things. He was always making fun of me, telling me I'm a dummy. Tell me now, which one talks worse? He's finished and I'm still here."