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Sports Illustrated had to give Paris Match, Stern Magazine or whatever – magazines around the world were able to get our pictures. If they paid SI, it was very minimal. That’s the way we did it. The only other people that got credentials were the New York newspapers, obviously Daily News, the New York Post, New York Times, but the point is that there were two of us that basically shot for magazines all over the world. I was very excited about being one of two people shooting color ringside photos. It was a big deal, for me anyway. It was impossible not to like Joe, as much of an Ali fan as I was, and Ali was always my favorite fighter. Still is. But as much as I was rooting for Ali to win, Joe was a great fighter and a great guy; you couldn’t root against Joe. I liked him very much and got to know Joe fairly well. But I was rooting for Ali, and I also thought Ali was going to beat Frazier convincingly. I was positive of it. For my money, Ali is the greatest fighter that ever lived, but that’s just prejudice on my part because I saw so many of his fights and always thought that. You have to remember, with digital, you have 2,500 frames on a card, and
there’s two cards that add up to 5,000 pictures on a camera. So you don’t have to worry about shooting very heavy. When you shot with film cameras years ago, you only had 36 frames. And yes, I had an assistant reloading cameras for me, so he’d give me a second camera as soon as [the film ran out], but you don’t want to be on frame 30 when the knockout happens and you run out of film and you’re switching cameras when the fight ends. But on that night in Madison Square Garden, Ali would throw a punch, I got it. Frazier would throw, I’d hold up a little bit, because I knew Frazier wasn’t going to win the fight. There’s no way Frazier’s gonna beat Muhammad Ali that night, so the pictures that the magazines are going to be looking for are Ali looking great. I didn’t not shoot Frazier when he punched, but I made a much bigger effort to be sure to be on whenever Ali did something good. I was fairly confident I was having a good night, and it turned out I did. I had great pictures for 14 rounds. And there were no knockdowns, as you know. Comes to the 15th round, I forgot how early into the round, bingo! Frazier throws that punch, knocks Ali
to the canvas. I am in the seat where Larry Merchant is in that other photo. I am looking at Frazier from behind; I couldn’t see his face at all – here’s the new champ! I got Ali on his butt with his feet in the air. The referee walked between me and the fighters; half my frame’s got the referee’s leg going down it – I couldn’t have been in a worse seat. In fact, I’m very proud of the picture. If you’ve seen the Taschen book, that picture’s been published many times. I got a good picture, but the knockdown happened right in front of Tony Triolo, my competitor – he was in the seat that I was in for Ali-Liston. So it happened to me plenty, but that was the worst case for me. One thing about boxing: You can have the best night of your life, [but when] the champ is on the canvas or whoever it is, that’s the only thing the newspaper is looking for. So my 14 good rounds didn’t mean a whole lot. That night, the picture to have was Frazier standing over Ali, who was on his ass on the canvas. I got a good picture of it, and Sports Illustrated ran it, but I wanted the cover. And Tony got it, and it was the right picture. He was my friend and he was my competitor, but he got the cover and he deserved to. He didn’t miss.
NL: No, I think it’s the biggest mistake you can make. If you try to get into the heads of the fighters too much, or what they’re likely to do next, invariably you could be wrong. You want to just treat it neutral as if either guy could win. If you had sat with me before the Usyk- Rico fight and asked who was going to win, I thought like most people that it was going to be an easy fight for Usyk. Would he knock him out? Who knows? I told you that story about making the mistake of being so sure that Ali was going to win the fight – it got to be around I’m guessing Round 10 when I realized maybe Frazier’s winning this fight. And the reason I realized [was that] I could hear Eddie Futch talking to Frazier when he came back [to the corner]. I could hear every word he was saying. They were five feet away from me. Eddie didn’t say, “Joe, you’re winning the fight,” but they were very positive in his corner. So for the last five rounds of the fight – last four – I certainly started shooting Frazier as much as I shot Ali. But before that, I thought the only
Boxing photos don’t have to include punches to tell a story.
known boxing pictures ever. Certainly people like to say Ali-Liston is the greatest boxing picture of all time – I don’t believe that, but that’s what people say, right? I don’t think there’s a punch landing in my Ali-Liston picture. Liston’s on his back on the canvas. You just asked me about the Ali-Williams picture, which is my favorite. It’s my screen saver on my iPhone. Do you see a punch in it? I don’t see a punch. Every once in a while, there’s a fight where the most famous picture that comes out of it is a punch. And believe me, I try to get punches landing all the time. I’m not saying I don’t want to get them. When I was at Sports Illustrated, we had a managing editor who really thought a punch landing has to be the best picture every time. I don’t think so. The Ring: With so many of those iconic pictures to your name, do you feel pressure to come out of an event with amazing photos? NL: No, I just try to do my best. I feel pressure to do a good job. Remember, this is how I pay my rent.
pictures that mattered were the good ones of Muhammad Ali, because he was going to win the fight. After that fight, I never let that happen to me again. You always have to go into a sporting event, no matter how much of a fan you might be of one of the horses running in the Derby or you might love one of the boxers in the fight, you have to treat it as though it’s neutral, as if either one could win the fight. You want to be on the case when the moment comes. The Ring: Is a great boxing photo to you one that captures a perfect punch? NL: No. No, and that’s one of the great misnomers. I think the people that read Ring Magazine like those kinds of pictures, and you publish some really good ones, so I’m not criticizing at all. It’s a great question, and here’s the way I’ll answer: I’ve taken in my career two or three or four of the best-
The Ring: Coming from such a history with analog and now going digital where every frame is so precious, has that changed the way you shoot? NL: Not the way I shoot, but how careful I am about pressing the button. (laughs) The Ring: Do you find yourself at all getting inside the heads of the boxers during the fight to try and anticipate what they’re going to do?
Hall of Fame cornerman Russ Anber helps Usyk cool down after the fight.
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