After 40 years, it's still a Thrilla

Ali-Frazier III remains the ring's ultimate gauge of bravery - and brutality

Eddie Futch didn't live long enough to hear Joe Frazier fully forgive him. And Smokin' Joe himself died before Angelo Dundee and Muhammad Ali belatedly tried to close his emotional wounds, which had festered since the 'Thrilla in Manila' on Oct 1, 1975.

After starring in the most savage three-act drama in modern sports history, the four principals in that epic convergence of myth and legend never again managed to synchronize their scripts.