MUHAMMAD ALI. Joe Frazier. George Foreman.
The three boxing legends will share the spotlight in the “Mano-a-Mano” card headlined by Manny Pacquiao and Oscar Larios on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.
In a chance interview, a tourism official, who requested anonymity, said ABS-CBN has asked the Department of Tourism’s assistance to bring Frazier and Foreman to the country to spice up the boxing program.
The television network is promoting the fight with Manny Pacquiao Promotions Inc., but is virtually handling the publicity of the event, which promises to be the biggest boxing blockbuster in the country since the Ali-Frazier “Thrilla in Manila” on October 1, 1975, at the same arena.
‘A moving spectacle’
“In fact, ABS-CBN wants to play up the fact that it has been over three decades since that historic showdown between Ali and Frazier at the Araneta Coliseum. ABS-CBN wants to pay tribute to Ali during the Pacquiao-Larios fight,” the source said.
“The plan is to bring over Frazier and Foreman to the Philippines. Frazier will receive the citation on behalf of Ali with Foreman as the witness.
“On the other hand, Ali will acknowledge the recognition in a satellite television feed from the United States, which will be flashed on a wide-screen [monitor] inside the Araneta Coliseum and broadcast by ABS-CBN worldwide,” the source added.
“It will be a moving spectacle.”
Ali’s most famous rivals
The official declined to say what kind of assistance the tourism department would extend and the arrangements to be made for Ali’s two most famous foes.
The 1960 Rome Olympics heavyweight gold medalist, Ali, who was first known as Cassius Clay Jr. before converting to Islam, fought his most memorable bouts against Frazier and Foreman.
Known as the “Louisville Lip” for his smooth talk that matched his fluid and dazzling boxing style, Ali split his two epic matches against Frazier, who won the first fight on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York with a unanimous decision.
Ali had just come out of a two-year forced retirement after refusing to be drafted for the Vietnam War, which forced world-boxing organizations to strip him of his heavyweight championship and revoke his license.
Although he won his battle in court, Ali lost to a fitter “Smokin’ Joe,” who knocked him down in the 11th round, in his first return to the ring after a two-year layoff.
For that first fight, both Ali and Frazier earned what was an unheard-of sum then: $2.5 million each.
Fabulous purses
Ali’s next big payday was against Foreman, an Olympic champion like him and who was considered virtually invincible because of his devastating knockout punch.
Both boxers were paid an awesome $5 million each to slug it out on October 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire, in what was dubbed the “Rumble in the Jungle.”
Unveiling his now famous “rope-a-dope” strategy, Ali, 32 and facing a fighter seven years younger, took most of Foreman’s punishment before knocking out his tiring nemesis in the eighth round.
At the invitation of President Marcos and nearly a year later, Ali and Frazier fought for the second and last time in Manila, which was also the first and final time that a heavyweight title fight was held in the Philippines.
The two battled long and hard in that remarkable encounter, the tide of battle seesawing from one side to the next.
Bloody but victorious
In the end, however, Ali emerged a bloodied but well-deserving winner, forcing Frazier to retire in the 14th round.
Because of the beatings he received in his storied career, Ali, who once boasted that he could “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” became a victim of Parkinson’s disease.
Although he now stutters and is forced to amble about because of his lingering illness, Ali has seen his stature grow larger, beyond professional boxing.
In his latter years “The Greatest” has become an ambassador of good will for Islam.
Last year a memorial center was opened in Ali’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, a museum chronicling his colorful exploits in and out of the ring.
