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AFTER
THE FIGHT
After the filming was
complete, both Ali and Marciano made appearances on the popular
"Merv Griffin Show". Neither boxer knew whom the
computer had chosen as the winner of the fight. Unfortunately,
a few weeks after filming was completed, on August 31, 1969,
Rocky Marciano died in a tragic plane crash. The "Fight
of the Century" became Rocky's legacy.
National Cash
Register's NCR 315 (circa 1969)
THE COMPUTER PICKS THE WINNER
Hank Kaplan, the technical
director of the project, programmed a computer using only
the matches from each fighter's best five consecutive years.
Kaplan listed every jab, hook, uppercut, hard hit, soft hit,
hold and evasion - every move that made up every fight for
both fighters. Each statistic was assigned a value.
When Kaplan finished the calculations, Woroner flew him to
Dayton, Ohio, home of National Cash Register (NCR) - at the
time the cutting edge of computer technology. The NCR 315
took up an entire floor. There, a team of NCR's best minds
re-created the fight as a computer program. Using a complex
mathematical formula that took the boxer's motivation and
heart into consideration, along with technical prowess, speed
and strength, the computer spit out a script and picked a
winner.
CINERAMA THEATRE, NEW YORK CITY
On January
20th, 1970, the "Fight of the Century" was shown
one time in over 1500 theaters in the United States, Canada
and throughout Europe. At the Cinerama Theatre in New York
City's Time Square, a capacity crowd paid $5 a seat.
The undercard
was not very exciting - kayak racing in Germany, parachute
testing by the U.S. Navy - but the crowd roared when the fight
credits rolled.
It began in predictable fashion, with Ali controlling the
action with lateral footwork and a long left jab, and Marciano
countering with a body attack whenever he could get close
enough. After five rounds "blood" ran from Marciano's
nose and eyes and he trailed Ali by a score of three rounds
to two. Marciano rallied in the seventh with a body attack
that hurt Ali, but then was floored by an Ali right in the
eighth round.
In the tenth, Marciano cornered Ali and dropped him with a
flurry of body shots. Ali was still floundering on the canvas
when the bell saved him at the count of five.
Marciano had a close call in the eleventh when referee Chris
Dundee halted the action in order to examine his "cuts",
and for a brief moment it appeared that the fight would be
awarded to Ali on a TKO. But Dundee decided the cuts were
not serious enough to stop the fight and waved them both back
into action.
And then it happened. In the thirteenth round. Knock Out!
Fans greeted the ending with a mixture of cheers and boos,
depending on whom they were cheering. "It's a phony!"
"Worth every penny!" "I want my money back!"
"Live fights should be that exciting!"
PROLOGUE
Many of those lucky enough to acquire
a ticket to the event, including quite a few reporters, were
more than happy with the result. A newspaperman from the winner's
home state wrote that the film made it clear that the winner
would have licked the loser anytime, anywhere.
Years after Marciano's untimely death, Ali recounted that
he had developed a close relationship with Rocky, despite
"the wig incident".
"I can't believe how strong and how hard Rocky can hit,"
he said. "Marciano was a lot harder to hit with a jab
then he looked. I can feel how great Marciano must have been
just from being in the ring with him when he was 46 years
old. I can't even imagine what Rocky must have been like in
his prime."
It is unfortunate that Rocky did not live long enough to see
some of Ali's greatest victories.
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