THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, with that sound, an old family feud takes on a new face tonight: Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier, daughters of boxing legends Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier -- remember the "thrilla in Manila"? -- will enter the ring, where the ladies vow to, quote -- and I am quoting them now -- "kick some butt."
CNN's David George has more on what the fuss is all about.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Thank heaven for little girls, for little girls get bigger every day. Thank heaven for little girls: They grow up in the most delightful way.
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DAVID GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Laila, daughter of Muhammad Ali. Tonight, she goes into the ring to fight Jacqui, daughter of Joe Frazier. You won't watch the daughters without thinking of the dads, Frazier and Ali.
JOE FRAZIER, FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: You can't separate the one from the other. When you mention Frazier, who else can you think about? When you mention Muhammad, who can you think about? It's not a bad thing.
GEORGE: No, it wasn't a bad thing back in the '70s, when Muhammad Ali was taking two fights out of three from "Smokin'" Joe Frazier. Outside the ring, the men were friends until, to hear Frazier tell it, Ali changed.
JOE FRAZIER: He always run around and said, "I am the greatest, I am the greatest."
MARVIS FRAZIER, JOE FRAZIER'S SON: My father felt that Ali was being sacrilegious when he called himself "The Greatest."
GEORGE: So there you have it: The gripes of the fathers visited upon the daughters, causing tonight's Ali-Frazier bout to be billed as a grudge match.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first opponent that I really cannot stand.
Jacqui Frazier, for her part, promises to give Ali a, quote, "butt kicking." Ali's record is 9 and 0, 8 by knockouts. Jacqui Frazier, with 7 KOs, has never been beaten either. One of them will lose tonight for the first time.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Thank heaven for little girls, for little girls get bigger every day.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to bust her up.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Those little eyes, so helpless and appealing, for they will flash and send you crashing through the ceiling
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I may not be a boy -- I'm a girl -- but I definitely have the skills.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): No matter where, no matter who -- without them, what would little boys do?
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GEORGE: Ouch. David George, CNN.
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O'BRIEN: So who's going to win, who's going to lose tonight? Let's check in with an expert and try to get a few predictions. Bert Sugar is a writer, analyst and historian of boxing. He joins us now on the line from upstate New York. He will, after all, be -- what? -- ringside, Bert.
BERT SUGAR, BOXING ANALYST: Unfortunately, yes. I'm not in favor of this fight for many reasons. But I'll be there because I have to cover it.
O'BRIEN: All right, I want to get your reasons in just a moment, but let's get a quick live chat question in here, which is a good place to start as any. Marlene Jones says: "Is this just glorified mud wrestling?"
SUGAR: No, it's a step up above that but not far up. I do agree with her that mud wrestling is an interesting comparison, because again that's a promotion of part of sort of a sideshow, and this is a sideshow. O'BRIEN: What's the matter with a sideshow, though?
SUGAR: Well, first of all, I think that there have been girls out there who have been plying their trade as boxers, who have worked hard at it: Christy Martin, Lucia Rijker. There are about five or six good ones within the context of their sport. People will watch this...
O'BRIEN: Yeah, but Bert, Bert, who? No one knows who those people are.
SUGAR: Well, I haven't finished.
(LAUGHTER)
They're good, and unfortunately, these -- they don't who these people are either. They know they're only daughters. They don't know who they are.
O'BRIEN: Right.
SUGAR: They're selling a name here; they're not selling fighters. And I think if it's bad -- and I fully expect it to be -- then I think it's going to ruin the sport of women's boxing.
O'BRIEN: It could ruin the sport -- really?
SUGAR: I think so. It's going to be -- I look for this to be a terrible fight.
O'BRIEN: Really? What -- I mean, I suppose the flip side of that would be this could bring some people into the tent for women's boxing.
SUGAR: If it's any good. If it's any good. And I -- my over- under on that is 7 to 4 it's no good.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, but Bert, you're watching boxing from the viewpoint of an expert. I mean, you know the subtleties of it. The average person watching this doesn't have that benefit. How are they going to know if it's a bad fight?
SUGAR: Well, these are the same people who probably thought Elvis Presley versus Matilda the fighting kangaroo was a good fight. It's if entertainment they want, they'll get it. If it's a fight they want, they won't.
O'BRIEN: All right, but that -- that does bring us to the $64,000 question, or in this case probably a lot more. Jason Parker poses it well. "Why?"
SUGAR: I think -- I think basically that there is still, particularly from the Frazier family, a lot of hurt, because Muhammad Ali back 30 years ago called Joe Frazier an Uncle Tom and it didn't rest well. He's never really apologized to him sort, and it's sort of a family feud being carried on. And as opposed to in years of old where you used to say, "My father can beat your father," "My daughter can beat your daughter."
O'BRIEN: Very interesting. Before you get away, I want to put you on record. Who's going to win?
SUGAR: Laila Ali, not that I really -- and I have to tell you, it's not that exciting a fight. But I put to you that it will be seen by a lot of people, and they'll judge women's boxing by this. All I want is if they think this is boxing, I want their numbers and their addresses, I've got a Brooklyn Bridge I want to sell.
O'BRIEN: All right. With the story of Sugar and spice, Bert Sugar joining us from upstate New York. Thank you very much. We appreciate your insights.
And I guess we could pose the question how does Bert really feel about this fight.
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