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Muhammad Ali once said of the Thrilla in Manila, "Frazier quit just before I did. I didn't think I could fight any more." Ali's biographer and a number of other sources seem to corroborate that Joe Frazier wanted to (and asked to) keep going before the fight was stopped by his trainer Eddie Futch. Meanwhile, Ali intended to quit but was convinced to stay in for another round by his corner. It therefore seems quite likely that TiM might have been 1. Ali's first loss by knockout rather than points, 2. the first time Ali was beaten twice in a trilogy of fights with another boxer, and 3. an utter humiliation to Ali given what had transpired between him and Frazier before the fight.

So if Ali's corner throws in the towel after round 14, what would be the ramifications in America? The ensuing debate over Manila would quickly and inevitably take a highly racial nature. I can imagine Ali making any number of controversial statements to the press and challenging Frazier to a rematch. That the perceived "Uncle Tom" contender defeated the "black militant" champion might have significant cultural butterflies given boxing's importance at the time.

Frazier would certainly benefit from a highly unexpected resurgence, but I don't know if he would be willing or able to take his boxing career further at that point. IOTL, he only fought two more matches after Manila: one of them was his second loss against George Foreman, and the other a draw with the otherwise forgettable Floyd Cummings. Nevertheless Ali's reputation as the greatest boxer of his era (or perhaps even of all times, as he would put it) would be significantly shaken. For some reason I think that losing in Manila might slow or impede the integration of his image into mainstream white American culture, but I can't pinpoint why.
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