Trainer Yancey Durham (R) applies an ice pack to Joe Frazier's face on March 8, 1971 (AP file photo)It's been 42 years and still, there is not a bout that even comes remotely close to being as massive as was the March 8, 1971, heavyweight title fight at Madison Square Garden between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

As significant as a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight would have been, it would have paled in comparison to the intense worldwide interest that there was in the Ali-Frazier bout.

It remains one of the signature events in not only boxing history, but in sports history.

They were both undefeated men in the primes of their careers with a claim to the heavyweight title. It doesn't get much bigger than that.

Millions upon millions of words have been written about that event and dozens of books. In the prologue of his 2006 autobiography, "Inside the Ropes," the late referee Arthur Mercante Sr. recounts the story of how excited he was to find out on the morning of the event that he'd been chosen to officiate it.

At four o'clock the phone rang, ending the suspense I pretended not

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not only far and away the best fighter of his era, but he's also one of the best at trash talking and getting into an opponent's head.

In this Showtime video, Mayweather is at his trash-talking, intimidating finest as he goes nose-to-nose with Robert Guerrero, his opponent in a May 4 pay-per-view bout in Las Vegas.

The meeting between the fighters was designed to shoot a commercial and get marketing materials for the fight. As he often does, though, Mayweather turned it into a marketing opportunity by playing the bad guy role and trying to intimidate Guerrero.

Guerrero is coming into the fight with great momentum, including solid wins over Andre Berto and Selcuk Aydin. That, though, didn't impress Mayweather, and he wasn't shy about letting Guerrero know it.

Mayweather: This ain't Berto

Guerrero: Think what you want. I don't care

Mayweather: This ain't Berto.

Guerrero: Man, I don't care.

Mayweather: This ain't Berto. This

Floyd Mayweather taunts Shawana Bundrage at a Feb. 23 fight (Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News)Terry Foster, a columnist for the Detroit News, painted a disgusting portrait of Floyd Mayweather Jr., alleging the pound-for-pound king harassed the wife of another boxer and made sexually suggestive actions toward her.

Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, said Mayweather and Shawana Bundrage were trash talking about the fight and that nothing untoward or unsavory occurred.

The men were at the same show on Feb. 23 in Detroit, which featured Cornelius "K9" Bundrage defending his IBF super welterweight title against Ishe Smith, but left with dramatically different impressions of the incident that occurred between Mayweather and Bundrage's weife, Shawana, that unfolded during the Showtime-televised bout.

Foster referred to Mayweather's actions as "despicable" and said Mayweather gyrated his hips in her face. Later in his column, he characterized Mayweather's actions as bullying.

Shawana Bundrage did not deserve to have a man gyrate his hips around her face while watching husband Cornelius Bundrage fight in the ring last week at the Masonic Temple. She did not deserve a grown man getting in her face and screaming while minding her own business. She also did not deserve the laughter that surrounded this despicable act that was captured by our photographer, Clarence Tabb Jr.

But that's exactly what happened.

The culprit was champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who was in town to promote the fight and his fighter, Ishe Smith, who took Bundrage's light-middleweight title belt during the bout. Here is the funny part about it: Mayweather wore a hat that said "Money. Power. Respect."

Mayweather showed he had the money and power. He certainly did not show respect, although I am sure he wants everybody to respect him.

Later, Foster, who like Mayweather is African-American, suggested Mayweather's actions were typical of the way black men treat black women.

We, too, often talk about how much we love our black queens and that they are the greatest women on Earth. But then we demean them in rap songs and, in this case, in public. Mayweather treated Shawana Bundrage poorly. He showed no respect for her or her husband.

Bundrage and Mayweather (Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News)Mayweather couldn't be reached for comment. But Ellerbe, who was promoting the Bundrage-Smith show, vigorously defended Mayweather. He said if Mayweather's actions were so bad and out of line, Bundrage should sue him.

"We would defend this one, believe me," Ellerbe told Yahoo! Sports.

Ellerbe pointed out that Shawana Bundrage serves as her husband's boxing manager and that the incident dated back to an early news conference to announce the fight (which Mayweather didn't attend). Ellerbe said Shawana Bundrage told Smith that her husband would beat him and then go on to fight and beat Mayweather.

[Also: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s huge fine shows need for updated regulations]

It was Ellerbe's opinion that everything was simply trash talk and part of the fight game.

"I was there and this is straight [expletive]," Ellerbe said. "I know what was said. I heard and saw what was going on. She said her fighter -- and that's the context we were dealing with her, as K9's manager, not his wife -- she said her fighter was going to whip Floyd's fighter and then was going to whip Floyd's ass. ... I heard the back and forth going on, and I was part of it. This is completely irrelevant and stupid, believe me.

"Floyd said nothing harassing to her and he did nothing to harass her. He was trash talking her, but she was trash talking him. This was written by a hometown reporter who I guess was upset that the hometown boy [Bundrage] lost. There is no truth, none, in any of what he says. None of this was personal, and what that reporter didn't write was that after it was all over, we all shook hands and [embraced] and left with no hard feelings."