BGM #5 Ali, Wepner and Referee Agree—A Dirty Fight!

BGM #5
Ali, Wepner and Referee Agree—A Dirty Fight!

@muhammadali THE GREATEST!!

This fight was dirty. WEPNER continues to hit Ali behind the head and the referee did nothing . So Ali retaliated.

Ali Wins in Round 15

Muhammad Ali retained his world heavyweight title by knocking out Chuck Wepner in the 15th round last night in Richfield, Ohio. Ken Norton stopped Jerry Quarry in the fifth round in a preliminary at Madison Square Garden. Details on Page 39.

RICHFIELD, Ohio, March 24—Muhammad Ali had much to say about Chuch Wepner after knocking him out in the 15th round tonight. Some of it was complimentary.

“He's better than you all gave him credit for,” Ali told his audience in a crowded interview room. “I knew he could scuffle. He punched himself out, but I was surprised he didn't do it quicker.”

That's O.K.,” said Ali. “That's his wife. I know how she feels.”

Rabbit Punches Cited

Ali was bitter about the requent rabbit‐punching angry at Wepner for doing it and angry at Referee Tony Perez for allowing it.

It's bad to let a man, especially a white man, fight a man like me that way,” said Ali. “Near the end, when he had his hands down, I tried to knock his head off. I used to back off. But this man fought me dirty all the way and the referee was dirty. I tried to annihilate Wepner. I got two lumps on the back of my head. He did that with rabbit punches.”

Ali save dmost of his anger for Perez.

“He's a dirty referee,” said Ali, “a dirty dog. He let that man bang me on the head. I never want him again. If he referees me again, someone is going to lose money because I won't fight.”

Perez offered another view.

“They were both complaining and both rabbit‐punching,” he said, “so I didn't take points from either. The words they were saying to each other cannot be printed.”

#MuhammadAli
#ChuckWepner
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