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Holmes even attempted to caution Ali, telling him, “You better be care- ful. You want to be prepared . . . and that’s when he told me, ‘Shut the hell up. I know boxing. You don’t tell me what to do.’ So I shut up and went about my business. Like he said, he knew what he was doing. He won the fight”.{{sfn|Brunt|p=287}} | Holmes even attempted to caution Ali, telling him, “You better be care- ful. You want to be prepared . . . and that’s when he told me, ‘Shut the hell up. I know boxing. You don’t tell me what to do.’ So I shut up and went about my business. Like he said, he knew what he was doing. He won the fight”.{{sfn|Brunt|p=287}} | ||
Following his apprenticeship with Ali, Holmes would go on to become one of the longest-reigning heavyweight champions and in | Following his apprenticeship with Ali, Holmes would go on to become one of the longest-reigning heavyweight champions and in 1980 defeated his mentor in a sad, one-sided affair that, toward the end, had Holmes waving the referee in to protect a proud-but-defenseless Ali. | ||
Two other individuals featured in the film—promoter Don King and President Sese Seke Mobutu—are essential to understanding the context of the fight. Like Ali and Foreman and Mailer and Plimpton, they each | |||
Mailer comments in the film, “This fight came into existence because of Don King’s desire to be famous . . . if it failed, he was destined to go back into obscurity”.{{sfn|Gast}} Consider the fact that just three and a half years earlier, King had listened to reports of the Ali-Frazier fight in his prison cell in Mar- ion, Ohio, where he was serving time for a manslaughter conviction.{{sfn|Hauser|p=261}} He had been convicted in | Two other individuals featured in the film—promoter Don King and President Sese Seke Mobutu—are essential to understanding the context of the fight. Like Ali and Foreman and Mailer and Plimpton, they each possessed a huge ego and led complex and controversial lives. | ||
Mailer comments in the film, “This fight came into existence because of Don King’s desire to be famous . . . if it failed, he was destined to go back into obscurity”.{{sfn|Gast}} Consider the fact that just three and a half years earlier, King had listened to reports of the Ali-Frazier fight in his prison cell in Mar- ion, Ohio, where he was serving time for a manslaughter conviction.{{sfn|Hauser|p=261}} He had been convicted in 1967 for stomping Sam Garrett, an ex-employee in his numbers racket, to death on the street in Cleveland. It was the second time he had killed a man. In 1954, he shot Hillary Brown in the back and the killing was ruled justifiable homicide. Paroled in 1971, King was eventually granted a full pardon by Ohio Governor James Rhodes in 1983. Rhodes justified the pardon by saying he relied heavily on letters of support submitted by Reverend Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, Steve Davis, executive director of the National Publishers Association, Cleveland Mayor George Voinovich, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell, and Cleveland Indians president Gabe Paul, among others.{{sfn|Cengage}} | |||
Thomas Hauser, Ali’s biographer, said, “Don King is one of the brightest, most charismatic, hardest working people in the world . . . he’s also totally amoral and I can’t think of a man who has done more to demoralize fighters, take from fighters, and exploit fighters and ruin their careers. But you have to give him his due for what he did to make Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire”.{{sfn|Gast}} Since 1975, King has been sued by Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Tim Witherspoon, Mike Tyson, Terry Norris, Lennox Lewis, and ESPN, to name but a few (“Don King,” Wikipedia). | |||
According to the popular legend of how the fight was put together, King more or less willed it into existence through a combination of guile and gumption. As the story goes, King first went to George Foreman, told him he could get him five million dollars for fighting Ali, and got him to sign a contract. Then he went to Ali and did the same. However, at that point, Don King had not a penny to actually promote the fight.{{sfn|Gast}} | According to the popular legend of how the fight was put together, King more or less willed it into existence through a combination of guile and gumption. As the story goes, King first went to George Foreman, told him he could get him five million dollars for fighting Ali, and got him to sign a contract. Then he went to Ali and did the same. However, at that point, Don King had not a penny to actually promote the fight.{{sfn|Gast}} | ||
Madison Square Garden matchmaker Teddy Brenner, who knew a thing or two about such matters, said, “Actually, King didn’t promote the fight, al- though he did his best to make it seem that way. Video Techniques put it to- gether, with up front money from a British corporation and the rest from the government of Zaire. King was helpful in lining up the fighters, but the deal could have been made without him. For ten million dollars, which is what Foreman and Ali split, anyone could have done the job”.{{sfn|Hauser|p=263}} The five million dollars each fighter was paid in is worth a total of roughly $,, now in.{{sfn|CPI}} | Madison Square Garden matchmaker Teddy Brenner, who knew a thing or two about such matters, said, “Actually, King didn’t promote the fight, al- though he did his best to make it seem that way. Video Techniques put it to- gether, with up front money from a British corporation and the rest from the government of Zaire. King was helpful in lining up the fighters, but the deal could have been made without him. For ten million dollars, which is what Foreman and Ali split, anyone could have done the job”.{{sfn|Hauser|p=263}} The five million dollars each fighter was paid in is worth a total of roughly $,, now in.{{sfn|CPI}} | ||
Brenner’s explanation makes sense. The big money was going to come in through worldwide television coverage and the fight ended up being broad- cast live to an estimated one billion viewers, a record at that time. We’ll never know for sure, but chances are President Mobutu may have put up far less than the ten million he has been credited with. Like Don King, though, he did his best to make it seem that way. | Brenner’s explanation makes sense. The big money was going to come in through worldwide television coverage and the fight ended up being broad- cast live to an estimated one billion viewers, a record at that time. We’ll never know for sure, but chances are President Mobutu may have put up far less than the ten million he has been credited with. Like Don King, though, he did his best to make it seem that way. | ||