On 1 October 1975, heavyweight boxing star Muhammad Ali went toe-to-toe with his rival Joe Frazier in the Philippines for a title fight. Ali, poetic as ever, called that encounter ‘Thrilla in Manila’.

 The theme was inspired by the capital city of the Philippines, Manila.

What does a boxing match from fifty years ago have to do with us today? 

To answer that, one must understand the persona of Ali. He used his status as a prominent athlete to make a political statement. That statement was about raising awareness of the condition and “invisibility” of the black race, both in the US and around the world and mainstream white America despised him for it. The first thing Ali did as a form of self-identity was to renounce his “European” name, Cassius Clay. He converted to Islam and adopted the name Muhammed Ali. The misuse of Christianity to justify white “supremacy” pushed him away from that faith. 

Unfortunately, that has been a global trend; even though we do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. 

And that is a debate for another day.

Ali was very outspoken on many socio-political issues of his time. In 1967, he was sentenced to five years in prison for refusing induction into the US Army. The conviction was overturned by the US Supreme Court in 1971. However, despite avoiding jail, he was stripped of his boxing titles and banned from boxing for about three and a half years during the peak of his career. 

This happened during the Vietnam War, which was a major hotspot during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. 

Ali expressed his stance on Vietnam as follows: ‘’I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong; no Viet Cong ever called me nigger”. 

By that, he meant he wouldn’t fight imperial America’s war in a distant land while his own people faced discrimination in their homeland. 

And indeed, history justified him because the US later admitted that the Vietnam War was a big mistake.

As students at Augustineum High School in the seventies, we would get glued to a small portable radio to listen to an American commentator whenever Ali was fighting. 

This was before TV was introduced – more often than not, it would be during the “wee hours” because of different time zones. 

For us as young activists, Ali’s fights were more than just boxing; they represented black imagery in a world where the black race had been pushed to society’s margins as an “invisible” people. 

The ‘Thrilla in Manila,’ which Ali won by a technical knockout after the fourteenth round, was the last of the three fights between these two fighters. The first one, titled ‘The Fight of the Century,’ took place in March 1971, and Frazier won by a unanimous decision after sending Ali to the canvas with his powerful left hook.  Frazier was the first boxer to beat Ali. The second fight, called ‘Super Fight II,’ occurred in January 1975, which Ali won by a unanimous decision. The ‘Thrilla in Manila’ was perhaps the most brutal fight in heavyweight boxing history. Ali later said that was the closest he ever came to dying. 

When the Frazier corner threw in the towel at the start of the fifteenth round, they did not realise the Ali corner was nearly ready to do the same.The most important lesson from Ali’s life is that he symbolised black self-identification and representation. 

The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in the US, sparked by the killings of young Black people by police, is a clear reminder that what Ali stood for remains relevant today.

Another important lesson from Ali’s life is his resilience in enduring pain. 

Besides the brutal ‘Thrilla in Manila’ fight, Ali also broke a jaw in the second round during his match against Ken Norton in 1973. 

Despite the broken jaw, Ali fought the full 12 rounds, although he lost the bout by a split decision. The final lesson we can learn from Ali’s life is that one should use their talent to support a good cause. Ali, the king of the ring, died on 3 June 2016, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.  

*Gerson Uaripi Tjihenuna is a Commissioner of Elections. However, the views expressed here are entirely his and not those of ECN.