Versus Ali
In December 1970, he fought Ali, in the former champ's second bout after his three-year layoff, at Madison Square Garden. Bonavena absorbed punishment throughout but fought well, getting through with various head and body punches. But in the 15th however, Ali caught Oscar rushing in and decked him with a perfectly placed left hook. Bonavena got up but was clearly not fully recovered. Ali decked him twice more to automatically stop the fight under the three knockdown rule. The ending was somewhat controversial, as Ali stood over Bonavena as he was getting up, never going to a neutral corner as the rules of boxing require, which allowed him to quickly knockdown Bonavena twice more and automatically end the fight under the three knockdown rule. The knockout by Ali was the only time in Bonavena's career he was ever stopped.
Read more about this topic: Oscar Bonavena
Famous quotes containing the word ali:
“That was always the difference between Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn’t entirely conquer—he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)