The Super Fight

The Super Fight was a fictional boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali shot in 1969 and released in 1970. At the time, Ali and Marciano were the only undefeated heavyweight champions in history and fans often debated who would win had they met in their primes. Ali and Marciano were filmed sparring for 75 one-minute rounds producing several possible scenarios for a genuine fight, with the result claimed to have been determined using probability formulas entered into a computer. The final film was only shown once in select cinemas around the world, grossing ( adjusted for inflation) from 1,500 theaters across North America and Europe. After its run in theaters, the film was broadcast on television before eventually being released as a DVD over three decades later. Background In 1967, radio producer Murray Woroner had the idea of determining the all-time great heavyweight champion of the world by placing boxing champions of different eras in a series of fantasy fights. Woroner sent out a survey to 250 boxing experts and writers to help determine which boxers would be used in what would become a fantasy tournament. Hank Meyer, president and salesman with one other partner in SPS, was instrumental in setting this competition up and contended at the time that it was his idea. Woroner picked the first round of fantasy matches to be: Jack Dempsey vs. Gentleman Jim Corbett John L. Sullivan vs. Jim Braddock Bob Fitzsimmons vs. Jack Sharkey Jim Jeffries vs. Jersey Joe Walcott Joe Louis vs. Jess Willard Max Baer vs. Jack Johnson Rocky Marciano vs. Gene Tunney Muhammad Ali vs. Max Schmeling Punch-by-punch details of the boxer's records during their prime were entered into an NCR 315 computer. Their strengths, weaknesses, fighting styles and patterns and other factors and scenarios that the boxers could go through were converted into formulas. The NCR-315 with 20K of memory was supplied by SPS (Systems Programming Services), an independent service bureau in Miami, Florida. The algorithms were supplied by an NCR mathematician, and programming was done in Fortran by an employee of SPS. Hank Meyer, President and salesman with one other partner in SPS, was instrumental in setting this competition up and contended at the time that it was his idea.