At the close of a very trying ninth round, a visibly tired Ali went back to his corner, and told his trainer: "Man, this is the closest I've ever been to dying."
At the end of Round 10 Ali said to Angelo Dundee:
"He's too strong. I'm done. It's like Death." Dundee and Brown forcibly lifted Ali off his stool and shoved him out into the ring for Round 11. Guess what, that is a DQ. Frazier won right there.
"I'm through, Herb."
At the end of the 14th Round, on his stool, Ali nearly blacked out, then vehemently Ali ordered cornerman Herbert Muhammad to cut his gloves off, saying he was through, an order ignored by his trainer and seconds. Ali would later claim that this was the closest to dying he had ever been.
Bookmarks