57 Years Ago
Rocky Marciano vs Muhammad Ali
Computer Fight Released!
(January 20th) In the late 1960s, boxing fans were deeply divided. Rocky Marciano had retired 49–0, while Muhammad Ali was in the prime of his life but barred from the ring due to his refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam War.
Radio producer Murray Woroner saw an opportunity to capitalize on this tension. He had already produced a successful "All-Time Heavyweight Tournament" on the radio using computer simulations, but he wanted to bring the concept to the big screen.
Woroner used an NCR 315 mainframe computer (which had only about 20KB of memory) to act as the "implacable neutral" judge.
250 boxing experts were surveyed to rate the fighters on 58 factors, including speed, punching power, "chin" durability, and even their tendency to cut.
Using COBOL and FORTRAN programming, the computer performed roughly four million computations per round to generate a punch-by-punch script.
In July 1969, Ali and Marciano met at a blacked-out gym in Miami to film the action based on the computer’s output. The 45-year-old Marciano, who had been retired for 14 years, took the job seriously. He lost over 50 pounds and wore a toupée to look like his 1950s self. They filmed between 70 and 75 one-minute rounds of choreographed sparring. While they mostly pulled their punches, they occasionally landed real blows. Ali later admitted that Marciano’s strength was "frightening."
Since the computer’s final verdict was kept secret even from the fighters, they filmed several possible outcomes: a Marciano KO, an Ali KO, and a stoppage due to cuts.
The film was released on January 20, 1970, as a "one-night-only" event shown via closed-circuit television in 1,500 theaters. It grossed roughly $5 million (about $40 million today).
In a bizarre marketing move, the ending changed depending on where you watched it: North America: The computer determined that Marciano knocked out Ali in the 13th round.
Europe: Audiences saw Ali win by a TKO in the 13th round, as Marciano was stopped due to simulated facial cuts (created using ketchup).
The Super Fight remains shrouded in a bit of melancholy and legal drama. Just weeks after filming ended, and months before the premiere, Rocky Marciano was killed in a plane crash. He never saw the final film.
Ali, who saw the American version where he lost, was reportedly humiliated and sued the producers for defamation, claiming the "scientific" nature of the film was fraudulent. He dropped the suit after learning that European versions showed him winning.
To settle the legal heat, the producers claimed to have destroyed the film prints. The movie was considered "lost" for 35 years until a surviving print was discovered and released on DVD in 2005.
Sylvester Stallone credited the computer fight as the direct inspiration for the plot of Rocky Balboa (2006).
Despite the "computer" result, Ali later spoke of Marciano with immense respect, famously stating that "The Rock" would have likely been his toughest ever opponent because of his relentless pressure.
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