Boxing in The 1970s - 1971

1971

• March 8- The Fight of the Century: before a jet-set crowd that included Cher, Frank Sinatra, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Diana Ross and others, Joe Frazier drops Muhammad Ali in the fifteenth round and wins a unanimous decision to retain the world's Heavyweight title, at New York's Madison Square Garden.
• April 3- In the last chapter of the Olivares-Castillo trilogy, Rubén Olivares recovers from a knockdown to regain the world Featherweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Chucho Castillo in Inglewood.
• May 9- Carlos Monzón retains his title with a three round knockout of Nino Benvenuti in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It is Benvenuti's last fight.
• June 4- José Nápoles recovers his world Welterweight title with a fourth round knockout of Billy Backus in Inglewood.
• July 26- Former world Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali beats his friend and gymmate, former Heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis, by a knockout in round twelve in Houston.
• August 9- Rodrigo Valdez beats Bobby Cassidy by ten round unanimous decision in New York, but gets infected with Hepatitis, which Cassidy did not know he had before entering the ring. Both boxers then enter quarantine.
• September 25- Carlos Monzón retains his world Middleweight championship with a fourteen round knockout of multiple time world champion Emile Griffith in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• November 5- Pedro Carrasco becomes Spain's first world boxing champion, beating Mando Ramos by an eleventh round disqualification in Madrid, Spain to take the WBC's vacant world Lightweight title. This bout was extremely controversial; Ramos was disqualified because, after Carrasco hit the deck in round eleven, the referee decided to declare Carrasco the winner because he didn't know if Carrasco had been felled by a punch or a push.