Before the fight

"I'm going to make him quit. No matter what name he goes by, Clay or Ali, he'll quit. The fight won't last ten rounds," Joe Frazier.

"People want to see me whipped because I'm arrogant, because of the draft, because of my religion and for other reasons I even don't know about....But I thrive on pressure. If there's no controversy, I can't get ready. He'll be shaking, and I'll win easy," Muhammad Ali.

"He can keep that pretty head; I don't want it. What I'm going to do is try and pull those kidneys out. Then I'll be in business. He won't be able to take it to the body no more," Frazier.

"Frazier's no real champion. Nobody wants to talk to him. Oh, maybe President Nixon will call him if he wins. I don't think he'll call me. But 98 percent of the people are for me. They identify with my struggle, the same one they're fighting every day on the streets," Ali.

During the fight

"Ali's legs weren't what they once were, and Joe hurt him against the ropes. In fact, Joe should have knocked him out in the eleventh round but Ali conned him out of it," Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch.

"He punched hard; he pressured me good. And laying on the ropes to save energy, I lost some rounds I could have won. But it would be wrong to say I gave the fight to Joe. I didn't give it away. Joe earned it," Ali.

"When he went down, we were both dead tired. Fifteen rounds; that's how long we'd been fighting. And the only thing going through my mind when he got up was what was going through my mind all night. Throw punches; just throw punches," Frazier.

Post fight thoughts

"The scene in Ali's dressing room after the fight was transient. We dressed him like a drunk; he just lay there limp," Ferdie Pacheco, Ali's physician.

"Just lost a fight, that's all. Probably be a better man for it. News don't last long. Plane crash, ninety people die, it's not news a day after. My losing's not so important as ninety people dying," Ali.