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No Rumble in the Jungle for Ali and Frazier

October 20, 2004 10:46 IST

Laila Ali will not fight Jacqui Frazier in Kinshasa on the 30th anniversary of the "Rumble in the Jungle", the boxer's manager said on Tuesday.

"It's absolutely false," Ali's promoter and husband Johnny McClain told Reuters. "This guy called me a couple of times and I told him send me a proposal and we'll talk about it.

Laila Ali seen at her weigh-in at the Turning Stone Casino in Vernoa, New York"He sent me this insulting proposal and I kindly e-mailed him back and said no thank you.

"I told him he would have to get his numbers up immensely until we would even consider it.

"That was the last I heard of it until it resurfaced just recently and people started calling me and I'm getting all these e-mails."

It had been reported that promoters were trying to put together a fight between, Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali and Frazier, the daughter of another former-heavy great Joe Frazier.

The bout would have been on October 30 to commemorate one of boxing's hallmark moments in the capital of what was then known as Zaire but is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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In 1974, in a fight that became known as the "Rumble in the Jungle", Ali knocked out the supposedly invincible George Foreman, who entered the ring an unbeaten 40-0.

The

fight produced some of boxing's most memorable moments and quotes, including Ali's famous, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".

"It's nice for people to get excited and think there was going to be some kind of anniversary but there isn't," Ali told Reuters. "Jacqui Frazier hasn't fought in a while and she's 43-years-old and it really wouldn't do anything for me at this point in my career to fight her again.

"It might have been cool but the bottom line is it's a lie."
Source: REUTERS
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