/ AP file

Joe Frazier is directed to the ropes after knocking down Muhammad Ali during the 15th round of their title bout in 1971.

updated 4:35 p.m. ET Sept. 18, 2007

CANASTOTA, N.Y. - It is 342 square feet of the most historic real estate in boxing, a place where some of the sport’s greatest champions have stood — and where some were laid flat on their backs.

After 82 years, Madison Square Garden will retire its storied boxing ring and donate it to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, where it will go on display this fall.

“The fans. The atmosphere. The Garden was special ... I think some of my most exciting fights were in that ring, and I always got the job done there,” said Joe Frazier, who had a 9-1 record in “The Mecca of Boxing,” including a 15-round decision over Muhammad Ali on March 8, 1971 in what became known as “The Fight of the Century.”

The Frazier-Ali bout was one of more than two dozen heavyweight championships fought in Madison Square Garden over its long history, along with hundreds of other title fights and thousands of non-title matches.

On Wednesday, MSG officials will stage a special “retirement party” for the ring. Frazier and nearly two dozen other Hall of Famers, past and present champions, and boxing dignitaries will attend.

“This was obviously not an easy decision for us, but we felt the time was right,” said Joel Fisher, senior vice president of MSG Sports Properties. “The ring is 82 years old and it was starting to show its age. In addition, today’s fighters are looking for bigger rings.”

Inside the ropes, the old ring is 18 feet, 6 inches on each side. A new 20-by-20-foot ring will be used on Oct. 6 when Oleg Maskaev defends his WBC heavyweight title against Samuel Peter.

The historic ring made its debut on Dec. 1, 1925, a month after the “old” Madison Square Garden opened in its third incarnation. In that first fight, Paul Berlenbach retained his light heavyweight crown with a 15-round decision over Jack Delaney.

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The ring’s metal and iron framework — which weighs more than a ton and comes in 132 interlocking pieces — is original, including its brass corner posts and buckles, Fisher said. Over the decades, the ropes, the padding and the canvas have been repaired and replaced.

One accessory that isn’t going into retirement is the old ring’s solid brass bell, which will be used for the new ring, said MSG spokesman Larry Torres.

Interestingly, MSG officials aren’t sure if the bell is an original artifact, he said. One story goes that the bell was taken off a sunken ship in the 1940s, Torres said.

Over the years, the MSG ring was the scene of triumph and anguish, of the expected and the unexpected.

It was there, in October 1951, that Rocky Marciano sent an aging Joe Louis through the ropes in the eighth round, a closing chapter in Louis’ fabled career.

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Lm Otero / AP file

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