The “Thrilla in Manila” is not just about Muhammad Ali’s victory in his third and final fight with Joe Frazier, 50 years ago.
In the months before the fight, Ali set a cruel agenda and, on the night, against a backdrop of 50-degree temperatures in the ring, the pair took suffering to a new level. It was their “shared agony”. It was also a level that few have come close to since that morning in the Philippines.
