Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao will be the biggest fight of all time financially and the most significant this century . 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 . Where Money Man v PacMan comes to rank among the most important fights in ring history will depend upon what happens that coming night in the MGM Grand Garden Arena . 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 . THE NEAR-DEATH FIGHT . Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier . The Thrilla in Manila . Quezon City , Philippines . October 1 , 1975 . Just as they are saying about Mayweather v Pacquiao , the perceived wisdom was that Ali-Frazier was coming five years too late for two great boxers in their 30s . Let us hope they are so spectacularly wrong again . 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 Ali . A poster for Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier , also known as the Thrilla in Manila , in Quezon City , Philippines . Ali ( right ) swings for Frazier , who eventually lost in the 14th round to a technical knockout . And so to the trilogy , a year later . Both men had come through battles with George Foreman , Frazier losing and Ali famously winning The Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire . GEORGE FOREMAN V MUHAMMAD ALI . October 30 , 1974 , Kinshasa , Zaire . JOE FRAZIER v MUHAMMAD ALI . March 8 , 1971 , Madison Square Garden , New York . JACK JOHNSON v JAMES JEFFRIES . July 4 , 1910 , Reno , Nevada . JOE LOUIS v MAX SCHMELING . June 22 , 1938 , Yankee Stadium , New York . This time Don King had Manila in mind as the next heavyweight stop for his globe-trotting circus . Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos , like Zaire 's President Mobuto before him , saw sponsorship of the fight as a distraction from the poverty and social unrest in his country . It was Ali who became most distracted during the build-up . When invited to a photo-opportunity with Marcos and his infamously big-spending wife Imelda , he took his mistress Veronica Porsche along and introduced her as his wife . Mrs Belinda Ali watched that happen on US television and immediately flew to Manila to confront her husband , loudly , in his hotel suite . Ali returned to his customary psychological baiting of his opponents . He had insulted Frazier before their first fight and did so again chanting : 'It will be Killa and a Thrilla and a Chilla when I get The Gorilla in Manila . ' Thus the title for the fight , The Thrilla in Manila , was coined . Ali pictured alongside his infamously big-spending wife Mrs Belinda Ali in September 1975 . Frazier , the quiet man , was plotting a strategy of breaking down Ali with shots to the stomach , ribs , kidneys and liver , quoting the old ring maxim : 'If you kill the body , the head will die . ' Ali would target the Frazier head and won the early rounds while his legs were at their freshest . But it was impossible for him to keep dancing in the pressure-cooker heat , with the ring temperature reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit . As Muhammad started slowing , Joe began Smokin ' . They would engage in one of the most brutal spectacles in the annals of the hardest game . Ali was forced to lower his guard as they landed more than 100 blows to the head between them , each of such force that any one of them would have stopped lesser fighters . Ali supplemented those power shots with his quick jabs and combinations and thereby inflicted more of the facial swelling . Boxing greats Frazier and Ali pictured in the ring on October 1 , 1975 , for the Thrilla in Manila . Ali and Frazier engaged in one of the most brutal spectacles in the annals of the hardest game . Frazier 's eyes began closing in the ninth . By the time he came out for the 13th he could barely see and Ali sent his gum-shield flying with the second of two massive right hooks . Exhausted though he was , Ali went for the Killa in the 14th . Although the monstrous barrage which sent Frazier reeling and staggering could not put him down , it was enough to bring a sensational end to an epic battle . Ali ordered his corner-man Herbert Muhammad to cut off his gloves , saying he could not go on . But before he could do so Frazier 's trainer Eddie Futch called a halt . A relieved Ali famously said : 'This is the closest to death I have ever been . ' Frazier begged to be allowed to see out the 15th and final round but Futch told him : 'It 's over . No-one will ever forget what you did here today . ' Frazier never forgave him . Not fully . Nor Ali for the trilogy of insults . Ali defied the rigours of Parkinson 's to attend Frazier 's funeral . Ali lifts his arms in the air after defeating Frazier in the 14th round , but later attended his great opponent 's funeral when he died at the age of 67 .
Floyd Mayweather v Sportsmail is now just eight days away . Manny Pacquiao 's Jeff Powell has been counting down the greatest fights . In the fifth in a series of 12 fights that shaped boxing history , we have Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier , the Thrilla in Manila . It was said to have come five years late , much like Mayweather v Pacquiao . Yet those doubting the two greats in their 30s were spectacularly wrong .