Ali, Frazier daughters resume family feud

John Phillips

Embarrassing or irrelevant? American boxing enthusiasts are divided over the significance of the heavily-hyped fight this weekend between the daughters of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier have promoted their fight on Friday with appearances on national television shows, in countless newspaper and magazine articles and even on the cover of the widely-circulated TV Guide.

But such widespread publicity could backfire, say critics.

Boxing historian Bert Sugar says Ali-Frazier "will either make women's boxing or completely destroy it. The added exposure for an inferior product might be just enough to kill it off.

"This is a side show and the problem with boxing today is side shows get the most exposure and coverage. Everybody's going to be embarrassed. It's going to kill the sport," Sugar said.

Others, however, believe the bout is simply irrelevant.

"The fight has little to do with women's boxing," said Lou DiBella, the former head of boxing for cable broadcaster HBO and now a manager of boxers. "The status of women's boxing is yet to be determined."

Gary Shaw, the chief operating officer of promoter Main Events, said: "The fight has no significance. It's an event that has nothing much to do with boxing."

Shaw added wistfully and perhaps with a tinge of envy: "For someone to have three or four fights and be on the cover of TV Guide, it's absurd."

FATHERS' NAMES

Absurd or not, the fight, staged at the Oneida Indian Nation's Turning Stone casino and hotel in upstate New York, is being offered for $24.95 for the pay-per-view broadcast.

The daughters, promoted by their respective husbands, are unabashedly trading on the names of their fathers, who fought three times in the 1970s with Ali winning twice.

The idea for the daughters to fight was hatched several years ago, prompting the two women to quickly cobble together undefeated records with the help of talent-challenged opponents and kindly judges. Frazier, a lawyer and mother of three, is listed as 7-0 and Ali, 23, is 9-0.

A key element of the sales pitch for the fight is the epic dislike Frazier has had for Ali, dating back to the promotion of their first fight in March 1971, at Madison Square Garden, when Ali said Frazier was 'too ugly to be the champ' and was an 'Uncle Tom'.

Frazier has done little to hide his dislike of Ali through the years, rarely missing an opportunity to lash out at his former opponent who over the years has become a worldwide hero, which has fed Frazier's anger even more than the loss of two of their three fights.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, for example, Frazier was angry that Ali was chosen to carry the Olympic Flame to light the cauldron, signifying the opening of the Games.

Referring to Ali's unsteadiness from his Parkinson's disease, the former Smokin' Joe Frazier said he, not Ali, should light the cauldron because he would not be in danger of falling into it.

ALI APOLOGY

But finally, in March, Ali, whose legendary verbal riffs have been reduced by disease to mere mumbles, apologised in a newspaper interview to Frazier.

The daughters have been attempting to piggy back on to the apology, with the promoters strongly hinting that the two former greats will be at the ringside to watch their daughters fight and publicly demonstrate their reconciliation.

As a distraction from the questionable artistry expected from Friday's bout that would appear to be a smart approach.

Ali junior has some raw talent but is extremely inexperienced and was very lucky to have kept her undefeated status after a bout last October.

Many ringsiders believed she lost the fight, which her father watched. He appeared to doze off while his daughter was fighting which was understandable even without medical problems.

Frazier, the daughter, appears to have even less expertise than Ali, throwing looping punches with little idea of their direction.

"Lots of people will be suckered into the fight, thinking Ali-Frazier four," said Sugar.

"After all," he said paraphrasing the American social satirist H.L. Mencken, "Nobody went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."