On January 17, 1974, Ali and Frazier appeared together on The Dick Cavett Show, where there was both humor and obvious tension – which included the removing of jackets and mock blows between the pair.

[4] The fighting was uneven, with flashes of excellence marred by Ali initiating 133 clinches,[5][better source needed] many by holding Frazier's head and pushing down on his neck, which referee Tony Perez did not regard as a violation under the rules.

Many rounds were close and difficult to score and punch volume was unusually low for the two fighters, and for heavyweight boxers in general.

In the opinion of sportswriters Bob Cannobio and Lee Groves: "Had they fought this way three years earlier, boxing would have been greatly harmed and the world probably never would have seen a second fight, much less a third.

In hopes of making more contact with the relentlessly bobbing and weaving Frazier, he often employed a new punching style, flurries of a half-hook half-upper cuts coming from both sides.

[2] Extremely anticipated at the time, it lacked the absolute drama of the first bout, but, evening the score at one win apiece, served to set the stage for the now iconic tie-breaker between the two historic champions a year later in Manilla, once again for World Championship recognition after Ali's electric dismantling of Foreman in Zaire.