photo #4611204

I don’t think two big men ever fought fights like me and Joe Frazier. One fight, maybe. But three times, we were the only ones. Of all the men I fought in boxing, Sonny Liston was the scariest, George Foreman was the most powerful, Floyd Patterson was the most skilled as a boxer. But the roughest and toughest was Joe Frazier. He brought out the best in me, and the best fight we fought was in Manila. That fight, I could feel something happening to me. Something different from what I’d felt in fights before. And God blessed me that day. He’s blessed me many times, and that fight in Manila was one of them. It was like I took myself as far as I could go, and then God took me the rest of the way.