Romy's encounter with Ali

In 1975, well-known election lawyer Romy Macalintal was a 27-year-old UE second year law student when he sought out to meet Muhammad Ali who was in Manila for his epic battle against Joe Frazier Macalintal was an Ali fan since his high school days in the ‘60s and painstakingly, made a scrapbook of newspaper and magazine articles about the fighter’s life. He wanted to show Ali the scrapbook, which was done with a lot of love, patience and passion.

The exact date was Sept. 22, 1975 – 37 years ago – when Macalintal met Ali in the Presidential Suite of the Manila Hilton Hotel, now Waterfront Hotel. At the time, Macalintal was single, a working student employed as a clerk by the US Veterans Administration at the US Embassy Building on Roxas Boulevard. He would become a lawyer after passing the bar exams in 1979. Macalintal got married on June 12, 1982 – ironically, “losing” his independence to his wife Mila on Independence Day.

“I was captivated by Ali’s fighting skill, speed and power and his poems predicting the round he would stop his opponent,” said Macalintal. “When I showed Ali my scrapbook, he told me, ‘You know, your album is authentic as I’ve seen a lot of albums but they were prepared only when people knew I’d be coming.’ Then he signed about seven news clippings with his pictures in my scrapbook.”

Macalintal said his Ali encounter didn’t end there. “Ali invited me to watch an 8mm film with him, ‘The Lawbreaker’ starring Lee Marvin, and I stayed with him for two hours,” recalled Macalintal. “At that time, there was no Betamax, VHS or DVD player yet. Another highlight of that historic meeting was when for a couple of times, Ali would stand up to make juice and get biscuits for the two of us to drink and eat. I was practically floating like a butterfly, to borrow Ali’s famous phrase, when he personally served me as we sat on the carpet watching a movie together.”

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As Macalintal was about to leave, Ali noticed he didn’t bring a camera. “He told me to see him the next day at the Folk Arts Theater where he did his daily training so we could take a picture together,” said Macalintal. “So the following day, I saw Ali at the Folk Arts Theater and an aide took our picture together. My personal encounter with Ali was one of a kind. Ali will always be known as a legend but for me, he’s more than that – he will forever remain in my heart as I still feel his compassion whenever I remember how he welcomed me into his suite without any appointment and without even knowing him.”

Reminiscing the glory days of Ali at his peak, Macalintal recited lines from a poem that the fighter himself composed – “To whom it may concern, for all the world to learn, the greatest fighter of them all, is Cassius Clay who makes them fall.” He said “those poetic lines characterized the style of boxing that Ali introduced to the world of sports in the ‘60s when he was known as Cassius Clay who would compose a poem where he predicted the round he would knock out his opponents.” Macalintal noted that in 1964, as a 7-1 underdog, Ali became the world heavyweight champion when he stopped Sonny Liston in the seventh round – the round he predicted he would win. “After the fight, Clay joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali,” he added.

Macalintal said some fans remember Ali as a boastful and feared warrior in the ring. “But without fear of contradiction, I believe that deep inside his armor, this warrior is a child, quoting from Gary Valenciano’s song,” he continued. “Ali’s wife Lonnie perfectly described him as ‘gentle and caring with a heart purer than any I’ve ever known.’ In 1996, despite his Parkinson’s affliction, Ali once again showed his ‘caring and gentle heart’ to millions of fans when he lit the Olympic urn with his right hand while his left hand was shaking. I could only say a prayer for him. Today, I still look forward to seeing him again even just to shake his shaking hand.” 

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Macalintal has a regular radio program over DWBR104.3FM every Saturday from 8 to 9 p.m., playing love songs and quoting love poems with celebrities as guest readers like his good friend Manny Pacquiao, Boyet de Leon, Vilma Santos and Aga Muhlach. In tomorrow’s program, Sen. Loren Legarda will be Macalintal’s guest reader and in the coming weeks, Mayor Fred Lim and Boy Abunda. “All the proceeds of the radio ads in the show go directly to the scholarship program for the poorest of the poor students from various parishes nationwide,” he said. “We are now sending 600 scholars to school through the radio show.”

Macalintal and his wife have three children – Junel, 28, now a lawyer with the Office of the Solicitor General and Victor, 26, a second year law student working at the Office of Vice President Jojo Binay and Michael, 25, an IT graduate of La Salle now employed by the GSIS.

The widely publicized “Thrilla In Manila” was held on Oct. 1, 1975, at the Araneta Coliseum. Because the bout was beamed live via satellite to the US on prime time, action began at about 10:45 a.m., local time. In the US, the date was Sept. 30. It was the third encounter between Ali and Frazier who were paid a combined purse of $10 million to complete their trilogy. 

Hollywood celebrities flew in to witness the fight. Actor Hugh O’Brien of “Wyatt Earp” TV fame and comedian Flip Wilson joined heavyweight contender Ken Norton on the TV broadcast panel anchored by Howard Cosell. Promoters Bob Arum and Don King were in town to hype the bout. In Ali’s training staff were Angelo Dundee, former middleweight contender George Benton and loyal second Drew (Bundini) Brown. The legendary Eddie Futch, who taught Freddie Roach the tricks of the trade, was in Frazier’s corner.

Ali’s chief sparring partner was future heavyweight champion Larry Holmes who knocked out Rodney Bobick in the “Thrilla” undercard. Three referees were brought in as candidates to work the main event – Zach Clayton, Arthur Mercante and Harry Gibbs. But President Marcos instructed Games and Amusements Board chairman Louie Tabuena to pick a Filipino instead. The job went to Carlos (Sonny) Padilla. The judges were all Filipino – Padilla, Larry Nadayag and Alfredo Quiazon. The ring announcer was Smokin’ Joe Cantada who wore a barong Tagalog in introducing the “Thrilla.” Stephen Totillo, writing in Boxing Illustrated, estimated a crowd of 25,000 at the Big Dome.