The Ghosts of Manila: The Fateful Blood Feud Between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier

This was a really good read that didnt change my mind about Ali because I already knew what kind of man he was and have always been horrified by his treatment of Frazier and his other antics. The bottom line is that Ali wasnt a good guy. I mean the sports media celebrates his psychological warfare with opponents while ignoring the fact that he destroyed the reputation and pride of poeple like Joe Frazier along the way. Ali is the greatest heavyweight of all time, but hardly a role model.

This is a brilliant biography about a savage sport and what we observers do to the participants. Mark Kram has been criticized by those who feel he takes liberties and cheap shots with the hero-mania of Muhammad Ali and for that matter, "Smokin' Joe Frazier. The reality, I believe, is that Kram lifts up the rock and shows us that we live under it. At least from time to time.How can we fail to acknowledge what we did to these two men, what we expected of them, and what we turned them into? How could we expect Ali, who by all accounts while being self described as "pretty" and certainly personable, was seriously unintelligent, and Joe, who by all accounts, lacking personality, was at least Ali's intellectual equal, to shoulder the extraordinary burdens we placed upon them.We made them symbols of racial upheaval, liberal sexuality, Vietnam, the blue collar worker, the Black Muslims, agitation, revolution and class struggle. All this against the backdrop of the most savage of all sports, witnessed by millions who by the words of Cosell, rightfully castigated by Kram, "never played the game."We took athletes and made them spokepersons for issues that Phd's differed on. This would be like having Joe Dimaggio give political insight on the Korean War, Johnny Unitas explain Vietnam, and Micheal Jordon give a seminar on the fall of President Clinton. It doesn't make any sense. This is the use of the 'rock star' to save the whales and the ingenue to push margerine.It doesn't matter who won. Who won had nothing to do with the issues that we described, created, and hoisted upon their backs. They were bound to fail.Finally, the fight in Manila, the third battle of the brain damaging trilogy, just makes you cringe. Kram's book is excellent if you want a flavor of the '70's, the users, the hangers-on, the tragedy, the false issues, and the two hero-victems, Ali and Frazier.

Simply, this book needed to be written. It details the most significant rivalry in boxing history and challenges the legacy and legend of Ali. There is some choppiness to this book early on in terms of writing style but true boxing fans will not be able to put it down. I have this feeling that Mark Kram was as dismayed as I was when Ali was named the greatest Sportsman of our time by Sports Illustrated given his shabby treatment and cruel theatrics towards one of the most magnificent warriors of our time (Frazier). How can you blame Frazier for the way he feels? Finally, a sportswriter of great knowledge and literary capability has exhibited enough courage to challenge myth. Philly: Tear that silly statue down of Stallone and replace it with one for Smokin' Joe.

Mark Kram appears to know the boxing world inside and out. My biggest complaint is that at times the metaphors and allusions the author uses are more than a bit on the purple side. However, the book in general is well written and holds your attention. The author knows his subject well.What a subject! He's somewhat merciless to Ali. But he cites more than a little evidence to show Ali as an arrogant, pretentious, and mean bully to his opponents, and frequently to his close associates. One has to feel sorry for many of the women that he got involved with--although with some of them you have to feel sorry for Ali. Ali comes off in Kram's book as being the perennial petulant child. As a political leader he is portrayed as laughably uninformed which could not be compensated for by his very real personal charm and charisma. Kram sees the Black Muslims in a very negative light. He sees Ali as being almost totally dominated and manipulated by them. He touches on Ali's abandonment of Malcom X--a man of much distinction in Kram's eyes. He also hints that Sonny Liston might have thrown his two fights against Ali out of fear of the Muslims. He quotes George Foreman as saying that Liston was the only opponent who ever backed him up in a ring. He also draws a highly sympathetic portrait of Liston--much like David Remnick in his 1999 book. It's good to see the restoration of a man who has been maligned by so many people. Sonny was no saint, but then who would be with the kind childhood and life that he had to suffer from? May his spirit rest in peace. By comparison, Ali had a life of ease and privilege.Kram is very kind towards some of the other of Ali's opponents. He obviously displays much sympathy and compassion for Joe Frazier. The poor boy from a family of 25 children in South Carolina. He was the real flesh and blood black model for Stallone's Hollywood treatment/white transformation. He portrays Frazier as a sympathetic person and great fighter with little of the meanness and malice of Ali. The author deals at length with Ali's racist taunts of Frazier. The author is also obviously very fond Floyd Patterson. Another unfairly maligned heavyweight--and underrated one as well. Ali's verbal treatment of Patterson, Frazier, and others was not one of the highlights in his career. He apparently learned much from professional wrestling theatrics. And today's pro wrestling probably owes some of it's hype to his example.Kram, the veteran sports writer, writes admiringly of Sugar Ray Robinson and sees him as being truly the greatest boxer of all time. He admits that Ali might be the greatest heavyweight of all time--although he claims he was not a particularly good inside fighter and did not have particularly impressive hooks. He admits to his very impressive skills and also his magnetic charm. However, in this book he more or less tells the Ali worshippers that they need to take a lot of cold showers. From his view, this guy is not t

I waited and waited for this book to come out, knowing that it was going to be a great read. I conquered it in one night. It's even better than I expected it to be.The greatest thing about this book is that it doesn't lie. There are no heroes, no bad guys; it is simply the truth about the massive hatred flowing between two men and how it came to be that way. Frazier is shown for the brilliant fighter that he was, (finally), and Ali is brought down to the level he should have always been at.The story is somewhat terrible. They started out as friends. Now Frazier is almost obsessed with his hatred of Ali, and Ali refuses to mention the competitor that made him such a spectacle. Mark Kram writes with an intelligence that one would not expect from a boxing journalist. His references throughout the book to philosophers and writers might lose some people occasionally, (like me), the fact remains that he possesses an uncanny insight into human beings. His profiles of Ali and Frazier are awesome, and this book should go down as one of the great reports on the world of boxing.