THRILLA IN MANILA GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY 10 - ALI WINS OVER PATTERSON, EVADES VIETNAM WAR DRAFT
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 06 Jul 2025
Muhammad Ali defended his world heavyweight title against former champion Floyd Patterson on November 22, 1965. Before the match, Ali mimicked Patterson, who was widely known to call him by his former name Cassius Clay, as an "Uncle Tom", naming him "The Rabbit". Although Ali had the advantage over Patterson, as the fight lasted 12 rounds before being stopped via technical knockout.
Ali was widely criticized to have played with Patterson during the fight. Patterson's biographer W. K. Stratton revealed that the squabble between Ali and Patterson was not true but was staged to boost ticket sales and increase the closed-circuit viewing audience, with both fighters conniving in the drama.
Stratton also mentioned in an interview by Howard Cosell in which Ali explained that he refrained from knocking Patterson after he knew Patterson was injured. Patterson later clarified that in his career he had never been hit by punches as soft as Ali's. Stratton said that Ali arranged their second fight in 1972, with the cash-strapped Patterson for him to earn enough funds to pay his indebtedness to the Internal Revenue Service.
After the Patterson fight, Ali established his own promotion company, named Main Bout. The company was primarily engaged in Ali's boxing promotions and pay-per-view closed-circuit television broadcasts. The company's stockholders were mostly fellow members of the Nation of Islam members, with several other investors including Bob Arum.
Ali agreed to fight then-WBA heavyweight champion boxer Ernie Terrell in a match in Chicago on March 29, 1966. The WBA, one of two boxing associations, the other one being the WBC. The WBA had stripped Ali of his title following his joining the Nation of Islam and refusing to join the Vietnam War.
In February Ali announced that he won't serve the draft, commenting to the press, "I ain't got nothing against no Viet Cong; no Viet Cong never called me nigger." Because of the media and public criticisms over Ali's opposition, the Illinois Athletic Commission refused to sanction the fight.
So Ali traveled to Canada and Europe and fought and won championship fights against George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Brian London, and Karl Mildenberger.
Ali returned to the United States to face Cleveland Williams at the Astrodome in Houston on November 14, 1966. The indoor crowd was record-breaking with a 35,460 audience. Williams was considered as one of the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division. Ali dominated Williams, winning a third-round technical knockout in what some consider the finest performance of his career.
Ali fought Terrell in Houston, Texas on February 6, 1967. Terrell, who was unbeaten in five years and had defeated many of the boxers Ali had faced, was considered as Ali's toughest opponent since Liston. He was big, strong and had a three-inch reach advantage over Ali. During the period leading up to the bout, Terrell repeatedly called Ali "Clay", causing Ali's indignation. The two protagonists almost came to fight over the name controversy in a pre-bout interview with Howard Cosell. Ali wanted intent on humiliating Terrell.
"I want to torture him", he said. "A clean knockout is too good for him." The fight was real tight until the seventh round, when Ali pummeled Terrell and bloodied him, almost knocking him out. In the eighth round, Ali insulted Terrell, while hitting him with jabs and shouted, "What's my name, Uncle Tom ... what's my name?"
Ali won via unanimous 15-round decision. Terrell alleged that early in the fight Ali intentionally thumbed his eye, making him fight half-blind, and then during a clinch, rubbed the wounded eye into the ropes. Because of Ali's clear purpose to prolong the fight to impose more punishment, critics described the match as "one of the ugliest boxing fights".
After Ali's title defense against Zora Folley on March 22, he was stripped of his title due to his refusal to be drafted to the military. His boxing license was also suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission. He was convicted of draft evasion on June 20 and sentenced to five years in prison and imposed a $10,000 fine. He posted a bail bond and remained free while the decision was under appeal.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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