THE death of George Foreman at age 76 on March 21 in his native Texas revived memories of the Sunshine Showdown, the heavyweight boxing match in which he defeated Joe Frazier for the title at the National Stadium in St Andrew just over five decades ago.

Although Foreman came into the January 22, 1973 fight undefeated in 37 bouts (including 34 knockouts), he was considered easy pickings for Frazier, the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) champion who had defeated Muhammad Ali two years earlier in an epic bout dubbed Fight of The Century at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Foreman knocked Frazier out early in the second round, stunning spectators with a powerhouse performance. In all, he floored Frazier six times to pull off a major upset.

Mike Fennell was president of the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control, which negotiated the fight in March 1972 with a promoter from New York. At the time, the Administration of Prime Minister Michael Manley was in office only one month, and Manley was apprehensive about hosting the fight, saying it would be too expensive to stage in Jamaica.

After he was convinced there would be private sector support, Manley appointed National Sports Limited — a precursor to INSPORTS — under Chairman Paul Fitz-Ritson to work with Fennell and his team to see that everything ran smoothly.

Frazier, with a record of 29-0 (25 knockouts), and Foreman arrived in Jamaica two weeks before the fight. They trained at National Arena with future contender Ken Norton, one of Foreman’s sparring partners.

Fennell and Leroy Brown, an executive of the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control, recalled their interaction with Foreman, who was the Olympic heavyweight champion in 1968.

“He was very nice, a very nice person to deal with. What I also remember was, he was a huge man,” said Fennell.

“A fantastic guy; tended to be on the quiet side but very nice,” Brown stated.

According to Fennell, the fight was covered by international media, including
ABC whose team was headed by legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell. His ecstatic, “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!” became part of sports lore.

Former heavyweight champion Joe Louis and former light heavyweight champion Archie Moore also attended, while a little-known Don King was part of the Frazier camp.

Given little chance of winning, Foreman left Jamaica as a star. He successfully defended his title twice before losing to Ali in the famed Rumble In The Jungle in Zaire on October 30 1974.

He retired from boxing in 1977 but made a comeback 10 years later at age 38. Remarkably, he defeated champion Michael Moorer to win the WBA and International Boxing Federation titles in November 1994, before officially retiring a second time in 2004.