Ali at 70
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 22 Feb 2012
Muhammad Ali stayed in the Philippines for less than a month for his historic third fight with ?Smokin? Joe Frazier on October 1, 1975, but the then reigning world heavyweight champion earned the respect and love of the entire nation.
Not only because of his antics made to hype the fight but because of the sincerity in his words and his generosity to the poor and downtrodden.
Days after he set foot in Manila for Ali-Frazier ?Thrilla In Manila? showdown, Ali told newsmen in a press conference held at the Manila Hilton (now Manila Pavilion) where he was staying, about how many people discouraged him to come to the Philippines.
?They told me there were shooting on the streets and fighting and people getting killed,? he said. ?The said the people were no good, and that people hate me because I am Muslim. That your people are killing Muslims, it?s just like Hitler.?
Or something to that effect.
?Lying dogs, lying people,? Ali said in reference to the foreign press for spreading the bad news about the country. ?Filipinos are the sweetest people in the world. I see Muslims and Christians hugging and kissing each other.?
Ali said foreign news reports pictured the Philippines in a bad light, adding though that he was determined to get the truth. ?I told myself I will believe it when I see for myself.?
He said what he saw was the exact opposite and he vowed to ?spread the news about how great the Filipinos are.?
Ali turned 70 last month and as part of the celebration, a benefit ?Power of Love? bash was held last weekend at the MGM Grand with sports celebrities, including Filipino World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, their counterparts in the entertainment world, politics, business and media were in attendance. Rasheda Ali, the daughter of boxing legend, Muhammad Ali, compared Pacquiao with Ali, saying the Filipino pound-for-pound king reminds her of her father.
"Manny reminds me of my dad. He is a very generous person, a very loving person. He takes the celebrity status and gives it back to the community. That's what my dad has done. You know, he is one of the few boxers that give back to the community," Rasheda said as quoted by media.
Ali, acknowledged as the ?Greatest Boxer of All-Time,? disclosed that there are deliberate attempts to turn against the Filipinos because of the Muslim problems in Southern Philippines, but he stood firm, saying ?I am sure the Philippine government is doing what it can do to solve it.?
Referring to the Filipinos as ?my brothers,? Ali said ?no little black boxer can take his money and solve these problems.? He said he was merely trying to do what he could by ?being an example so other would join him and help the less fortunate.?
He even assured his listeners that in Manila, he felt ?more at home? than in his hometown in Louisville in Kentucky, adding that from the moment he arrived in Manila he realized he was among friendly people. Commenting about then President Marcos, Ali said ?he is a great and humble man who is trying to do what is best for his people. It was a great honor to meet a man of his stature and courage.?
Ali vowed to come back to the Philippines and that after retiring he planned to visit Manila at least once a year to fight exhibition bout and to use the earnings from such exhibitions for helping the needy in the Philippines.
Of course, Ali came back a year later during the inauguration of the Ali Mall, a shopping center named after him inside the sprawling Araneta Center. The owner of the Araneta Coliseum, the venue of the fight re-christened the arena the Philippine Coliseum for the ?Thrilla In Manila?.
He failed to meet though his second promise of going back to Manila yearly because of the Parkinson?s disease that does not allow him the long travel from the U.S. to the Philippines.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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