Ali-Frazier I: A look back 50 years later

NEW YORK - On the morning of March 8, 1971, James Mercante's father, Arthur, received a phone call from New York State's athletic commissioner informing the boxing referee the commission had assigned him to the fight card at Madison Square Garden that night.

"He had a policy of not even reading any newspapers or the sports pages before a big fight like this," James said, "because he didn't want to be swayed in any way."

The big fight on this night was, what most recognize as, the most influential fight ever — perhaps the most influential sporting event in the history of mankind: Ali vs. Frazier I.

"There's nothing like it," author of Sparring with Smokin' Joe, Glenn Lewis, said.

The afternoon of the day Ali fought Frazier for the first time in the first-ever heavyweight title match between two undefeated boxers, Arthur Mercante took a steam and a sauna at The New York Athletic Club, ate dinner, and then headed to the locker room at the Garden where the commissioner lined up all his referees for that evening's fights and at 6 p.m. handed out their assignments.

"OK, Arthur," James recited the commissioner reportedly saying, "you have the main event. You can make one phone call and then you can't leave the locker room."

Arthur called his wife, who informed James and his siblings, who all cheered.

"Next thing we know we saw him in the ring with Ali and Frazier that evening," James said.

Ali-Frazier I, known simply as "The Fight" or "The Fight of the Century," the first in a trilogy of bouts between the two fighters, captivated the world in a way no one sporting event had before and, many argue, has since.

Lewis described The Fight of the Century as a touchstone for the entire era. "The rivalry became symbolic for all of the political and racial and generational upheaval that was going on at that time," Lewis said.

Nevermind that Frazier defended Ali and later sent him money when boxing banned the champ for refusing the draft four years earlier. Ali needed a foil for his anti-establishment, Vietnam War-protesting, racial-equity-championing persona. And so, he created a fictional version of Joe Frazier for the media, the public and the world to back or to oppose.

"Joe was shocked that he sort of threw him under the bus," Lewis said.

Each fighter received $2.5 million for the fight, the equivalent of $23 million each today. An estimated 300 million people around the world watched the closed-circuit broadcast. A sellout at the Garden set new records for ticket sales. Unable to get a ringside seat, Frank Sinatra attended the fight as a photographer for LIFE Magazine. The third man in the ring that night, James Mercante's father Arthur, told his son of all the banter between the two fighters in the minutes before and, at times, during the fight.

"'Joe, you're in the ring with God tonight,'" James said, mimicking Ali. "'You're in the ring with God tonight. You can't touch me. You can't hurt me.' And Frazier was really cool my father said and just said: 'If you're God, then you're in the wrong place tonight, God.'"

The fight went 15 rounds.

"Within the last 30 seconds of that 15th round," James said, "[my father] felt that if he broke them apart too swiftly or too aggressively, both fighters would've just fallen down. They were so exhausted."

Frazier dropped Ali in that final round but The Champ got up and stayed up, finishing the fight, which Frazier won by unanimous decision, giving Ali the first loss of his career. Ali and Frazier fought two more times, bouts both won by Ali, the third known as The Thrilla in Manila recognized by most as the greatest fight ever.

Arthur Mercante arrived home the night of that fight after his family had already gone to sleep. The next morning, his son James awoke to his dad's bloody shirt soaking in the bathroom sink.

"I went in and said: 'Dad, are you OK?'" James recalled. "He said: 'Oh, that's not my blood. That's from the fighters. I'm fine. Go back to bed.'"

Arthur Mercante was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995.