A night to live in the memory

When the great boxing trainer Eddie Futch stopped Joe Frazier from going out to face Muhammad Ali late on in Manila all those years ago, he had good reason.

Frazier’s eyes were shut.

Of course, blindness was a minor impediment to a fighting heart like Frazier’s, and he wanted to continue, but Futch stilled him: “Sit down son, nobody will forget what you did here today.”