George Foreman was not supposed to defend his crown against Muhammad Ali in Africa until Sept. 10, 1974, but New York Post columnist Larry Merchant had arrived in Kinshasa, Zaire, several days prior to what he called "the crush" of other international media members."I had actually gone over there earlier in order to write a book about it. I was there for a couple of weeks," said Merchant, now a renowned 78-year-old HBO boxing analyst.
"As a matter of fact, I was in the gym when Foreman was sparring and got the cut," said Merchant. "I believe that I called the [New York] Post and I told them that I thought that the fight would have to be postponed."
Foreman's laceration would, in fact, delay until Oct. 30 -- exactly 35 years ago Friday -- the champion's famous eighth-round knockout loss to Ali in one of the sport's most historic upsets.
"I guess that you could say that I broke the story, because there were only a few [reporters] there," said Merchant. "It was before the great mass of reporters that were coming had arrived."
Merchant's actions set in motion a caustic conflict between the then-43-year-old journalist and then-Zaire President, Mobutu Sese Seko.
And Merchant-Mobutu turned out to be a pretty good undercard bout.
"When I saw where George was cut, over his eyelid, I followed him and his handlers to where his dressing room was. But they wouldn't let me in. So I ran about a half a mile to the communications center," said Merchant, who had braved sweltering conditions of the nation now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"To me, it was clear that George couldn't fight with a cut on his eye like that. Just from what I had known about boxing, and had seen in boxing, I knew that the fight couldn't go on," said Merchant.
"But when I reported it to the Post, it was qualified this way: There was a cut on the eye, but I said that it didn't look like the fight could go on," said Merchant. "I didn't make it definitive. But with the time difference [between Zaire and New York], it was early enough in the day for the Post to get something into an afternoon edition."
Word spread quickly about the injury. However, at the same time, the worldwide media already was congregating for the long trip, including those from New York who had read Merchant's story.
"I was told that they tried to check with the promotion and particularly in the government to see exactly what was going on," said Merchant. "But this was such a big deal for Zaire, and such a tremendous PR campaign by [Mobutu], that the government denied everything."
Mobutu was tight-lipped concerning what had happened. After all, Mobutu had given promoter Don King some $10 million for the fight -- a reported $5 million each for Foreman and Ali.
"The fight had not been formally or officially postponed, but they denied that it was going to be postponed," said Merchant. "So, anyway, the writers all came over and then the fight was postponed."Merchant said that he further angered Mobuto, a renowned dictator, "by writing a couple of pieces that they didn't particularly like."
Merchant recalls one such column "being the one about the two gray-haired little old ladies from Michigan," whom Merchant "saw speaking to [Don] King in a hotel one day.
"They looked agitated. So after their conversation broke up, I went over to them, introduced myself, and asked them what was going on," said Merchant.
"These two little old ladies told me that, as part of the promotion," said Merchant, "they were told that Zaire was opening up a game preserve in the Eastern part of the country that had been closed off to the public for a very long time."
The women had purchased tickets for the trip to the preserve, said Merchant.
"They were told that as part of the promotion, you would get a flight to the game preserve," said Merchant.
"They said that when they showed King the letter confirming this -- which I think was from King -- King said that he didn't know anything about it," said Merchant. "So I wrote a column about it, which certainly couldn't have pleased King."
Another zinger of a column was aimed directly at Mobutu.
"I wrote about the fact that this was a poor, almost primitive country with a dictator running it, and about the fact that the fight was in a stadium where they had hangings and that was used for public executions," said Merchant. "Plainly, the people of Zaire didn't appreciate that."
Over the course of the six-week postponement, Merchant -- like many other media members -- returned home.
And that's when Mobutu went for the knockout.
"I go back to New York, and now I'm going to go back to Zaire on a flight out of JFK [airport,]" said Merchant. "But I am told by a member of the Zairian embassy that they were not going to allow me to come back into the country. So I never got back for the live fight."
Merchant wound up watching a closed circuit screening of Ali-Foreman at New York's Madison Square Garden.
"Everybody thought Ali would get beaten up by this powerful, unbeatable force, George Foreman, and that was supposed to be his last hurrah," said Merchant. "But the lead I wrote on my fight column was that, in victory, 'Ali turned what was supposed to be an electric chair into a throne.' "
What he wrote about Ali's performance, he could easily have written about himself. For in the world of boxing commentators, Larry Merchant is still among the kings.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
i miss watching merchant do the interviews in the ring. he always had some crazy question that no one else wants to ask.
Larry Merchant is an arrogant blowhard who helped to ruin boxing with his arhcaic, self-promoting approach to interviews and commentary. He's a dinosaur who should have long since gone behind the scenes if he cared about the future of the sport of Boxing. I found him so annoying I'd mute the TV when he gave his opinions. Bye Larry.