It is 30 years since world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier in Manila - in one of the most dramatic and brutal sporting events of modern times.
Known as the 'Thrilla in Manila', the fight excited audiences the world over with its relentless, explosive action and constantly shifting momentum.
As Ali's biographer Thomas Hauser recently noted: 'The result was a battle of epic proportions. Jack Johnson versus Jim Jefferies and the rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling were more historically important. But no heavyweight title fight ever had more dramatic sustained action.' Neither fighter was the same after such a punishing contest.
'Ali went to Manila as an 'is' but left it a 'was'. The game was over,' said former Sports Illustrated writer Mark Kram.
Indeed after the fight, Ali said: 'It was like death. Closest thing to dying that I know of.'
The bout was the denouement of an extraordinary 15-year-career by Ali, who had been stripped of the title in 1967 for refusing induction into the United States Army during the Vietnam War. The former 1960 Olympic gold medallist had won the title as Cassius Clay in 1964. He had converted to Islam and adopted the name Muhammad Ali in 1965. For the next two years, he proved one of the fastest and most skilled heavyweights ever.
Ali was finally allowed to fight again in 1970. In 1971, he met Frazier, then heavyweight champion, for the first time. In an action-packed battle, dubbed the 'Fight of the Century', Ali lost on points. One of the greatest rivalries in sport had begun. In early 1974 the two men clashed again, with Ali winning by decision. This was a non-title fight as Frazier had lost the championship to George Foreman the previous year.