DHAKA: Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao has led his country’s tribute to Muhammad Ali, whose death brought back fond memories of the October 1975 ‘Thrilla in Manila’ fight between Ali and Joe Frazier.
‘We lost a giant,’ Pacquiao, a newly elected senator, said on his Facebook account , offering prayers to Ali’s family.
‘Boxing benefited from Muhammad Ali’s talents but not nearly as much as mankind benefited from his humanity.’
Pacquiao, who announced his retirement last April, posted a similar message on Twitter writing: ‘You will always be GOAT’, referring to the designation of Ali as ‘The Greatest of All Time’, reports Al Jazeera.
In a separate interview with a local TV station, Pacquiao said that Ali served as his inspiration when he first started in boxing. He said the boxing legend, not only accomplished something in the boxing ring, but also in life.
In April 2015, Ali posted a message on Twitter for Pacquiao and his opponent Floyd Mayweather writing, ‘Rumble, young men, rumble!’
Sports commentator Ronnie Nathanielsz, who was assigned by then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos to act as Philippine government liaison to Ali for the bout, said: ‘We lost a hero, a peacemaker and a truly charismatic human being’.
The October 1, 1975, heavyweight championship, considered by sport critics as one of the greatest boxing matches in history, was won by Ali on a technical knockout at the jam-packed Araneta Coliseum in Metro Manila, and was watched by a worldwide audience.
After the bout, the ecstatic owner of the arena told Ali that he would build a shopping mall and name it after him. The popular Ali Mall stands to this day.
The bout got its name from Ali’s widely publicized boast that the 15-rounder would be a ‘killa and a thrilla and a chilla, when I get that gorilla in Manila’.
‘It put the Philippines on the map,’ Nathanielsz told the media.
Marcos reportedly wanted to hold the bout in Manila to deflect international and domestic attention from the political restiveness and growing Muslim and communist uprisings, after placing the country under martial rule three years earlier.
BDST: 1158 HRS, JUN 07, 2016
RR
