article_snippet.sent: Evaluating the greatest ever fights is a complex variable of several factors including not only the quality and excitement of the action but the political, social and cultural undertones, the scale of expectation and outside influences.
article_snippet.sent: In this, the fifth in a series of 12 fights that shaped boxing history, I look back on one of the greatest sporting events of all time.
article_snippet.sent: THE NEAR-DEATH FIGHT .
article_snippet.sent: That star-spangled night in New York when Smokin' Joe knocked down and defeated The Greatest had been followed in 1974 by a tamer, scrappier, points victory for Muhammad Ali.
article_snippet.sent: Muhammad Ali (right) swings for Frazier, who eventually lost in the 14th round to a technical knockout .
article_snippet.sent: Both men had come through battles with George Foreman, Muhammad Ali losing and Muhammad Ali famously winning The Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire.
article_snippet.sent: Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali .
article_snippet.sent: JACK JOHNSON v JAMES JEFFRIES .
article_snippet.sent: JOE LOUIS v MAX SCHMELING .
article_snippet.sent: They would engage in one of the most brutal spectacles in the annals of the hardest game.
highlights_snippet.sent: Sportsmail's Jeff Powell has been counting down the greatest fights .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: In the fifth in a series of 12 fights that shaped boxing history, we have Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier, the Thrilla in Manila .
  