Muhammad Ali vs. Alfredo Evangelista

Muhammad Ali and Alfredo Evangelista fought a boxing match on May 16, 1977. Ali won the bout through a unanimous decision on points (71-65, 72-64 72-64). There was a crowd of about 12,000 at the Capital Centre and this bout was televised in primetime on ABC.

Evangelista entered the bout ranked eighth by the WBA and 10th by the WBC.

The Fight (or lack of it)

The best moments of this lackluster fight occurred when Evangelista's best punch is the left hook. But Evangelista only stunned the champion twice in the sixth and eighth round. When Ali played defense and into his rope-a-dope, he came close to shutting out the 209.5 challenger. but he did not hit well at all. Ali had slimmed down from 240 to 221 1/4 for this bout, but his arms appeared heavy. The more he punched, it seemed, the braver Evangelista got. In the end, though Ali won, he was booed heavily by The Capital Centre crowd.

Undercard

• Alfredo Escalera KO 8 Carlos Becerril Escalera retains WBC Juniot Lightweight Title
• Roberto Duran UD 10 Javier Muniz Duran retains WBA Lightweight Title
• Tyrone Everett TKO 4 Delfino Rodriguez

Quotes

"I'm sorry, we televised it" Howard Cosell doing the bout for ABC who later said that this was one of the worst bouts he's ever seen.

"I'm 35 and I danced for 15 rounds, it's a miracle". Ali after his bout with Evangelista.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

References