Super fights have always long been a popular theme in combat sports, in an attempt to answer the question on who really is the greatest fighter of all time. Sometimes the factor standing between a super fight is the weight class, other times it’s pure politics and then in some instances the fight is impossible due to the fighters being separated by completely different eras.

Released in 1969 ‘The Superfight’ was a fantasy project by radio producer Murray Woroner who wanted to see who the greatest boxer of all was, in a fantasy fighting setting.

In this case it was two of the greatest heavyweight boxers in recent times, the undefeated 49-0 Rocky Marciano and the then undefeated Muhammad Ali.

Sporting a 29-0 record at the time, Muhammad Ali recently had his boxing license stripped due to his defiance to participate in the Vietnam War.

By the time Marciano stepped back into the ring it had been thirteen years since he last fight, but the now 45 year old former champion shed an incredible amount of weight and even wore a toupee to resemble his prime self for the filming sessions.

Filmed in 1967 in a studio in Miami Florida, the two champions sparred for over 70 rounds, with the footage being cut together according to the results formulated on an NCR 315 Data processing system with the outcome not being disclosed until the films theatrical release.

Unfortunately three weeks after filming Marciano would meet his untimely demise in a plane crash on the 13st of August 1969.

Released on the 20th of January 1970 the bout was broadcast on closed circuit television around the United States, and the results were in with Marciano getting an upset of Ali with knockout in the 13th round from a combination of left hooks and right hands.