- Title: USA: LAILA ALI'S AND JACQUI FRAZIER-LYDE' S WEIGHT-IN
- Date: 7th June 2001
- Summary: VERONA, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES. JUNE 7, 2001 (ACCESS ALL) 2. CLOSE-UP OF SIGN PROMOTING FIGHT 3. WIDE SHOT OF INTERIOR OF WEIGH-IN 4. JACQUI FRAZIER-LYDE GETS ON SCALE 5. J. FRAZIER-LYDE OFFICIALLY WEIGHS-IN AT 164 LBS 6. PETER LYDE-HUSBAND AND MANAGER OF JACQUI FRAZIER-LYDE(SOUNDBITE)(English) saying: "I think you can look at the weight you can tell what the weight's going to be because one person came in at 164, one came in at 160-what's that tell you-marathon runner, but the ring's only 18 by 18 so you can't run but so far-you can run but you can't hide. Too light to fight, too thin to win." 7. LAILA ALI GETS ON SCALE-OFFICIALLT WEIGHS-IN AT 160 3/4 LBS. 8. JOHNNY MCCLAIN-MANAGER AND HUSBAND OF LAILA ALI (SOUNDBITE)(English) saying: "All they're doing is running their mouth and Laila is definitely going to shut Jacqui's. I mean, you know, you saw how cut and ripped up Laila was-it's not too light-she's cut up, I mean ripped up, that's what that hard work at Big Bear does." 9. LAILA ALI SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS 10. TIM SMITH-WRITER NEW YORK DAILY NEWS (SOUNDBITE)(English) saying: "You have a sub-novice against a prospect and if you had this as a male competitive situation it would be laughed out, i mean people would laugh about this, they wouldn't even show up for it." 11. EXTERIOR TURNING STONE CASINO 12. CLINT HILL-COMMISSIONER OF ONEIDA NATION ATHLETIC COMMISSION TAKES PODIUM(SOUNDBITE)(English) saying: "As you can see, the people around it are elated about this, I mean all week we've had customers coming in here. They've been referring to it, they've been asking about it, the media has been really great on it and the coverage we're getting on it is beautiful. It's getting international coverage on it-we're going to have 250 countries here tomorrow doing interviews with various people and Laila and Jacqui, of course and so we're getting real good support." 13. WIDE SHOT OF MEDIA AT WEIGH-IN Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 22nd June 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VERONA, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVABRF88B1NJ13U5OK4DCVJHQ4HX
- Story Text: Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde took the scales today
at the official Weigh-In for their June 8th bout at Turning
Stone Casino Resort in Verona, New York. J. Frazier-Lyde
weighed-in at 164 lbs while L. Ali tipped the scales at 160
3/4 lbs.
Jacqui Frazier was ecstatic at the weigh-in for
Friday's big fight showdown with Muhammad Ali's daughter
Laila, grinning and throwing her muscular arms into a
fighter's bicep-popping pose.
The 39-year-old mother of three had won her year-long
battle of the bulge, dropping 49 pounds (22.2 kg) to weigh-in
at 164 pounds (74.3 kg).
For her part, Ali weighed 160-3/4 pounds on Thursday (72.5
kg) for the two famous daughters' scheduled eight-round fight
on this sovereign American Indian nation's 15,000-acre
territory in central New York State.
Frazier, a Philadelphia lawyer who gave herself the ring
nickname of "Sister Smoke" as a take-off of her father's
"Smokin' Joe" tag, gleefully shouted her weight to the crowd
before an official announcement to the crowd in the Tuscarora
room in the Turning Stone Casino.
Frazier, with streaks of bright red in her hair and
dressed in a black business suit, stepped onto the scales
first. She quickly tossed off her jacket, revealing a black
halter top, and posed for photographers with a broad smile.
The 23-year-old Ali, busy chewing gum and looking more
serious than Frazier, wore a white halter top and white
trunks. "I'm a little light guys," she said with a smile as
she quickly left the room.
Frazier also left the room but her husband, Pete Lyde, who
is co-promoting the event with Laila's husband, Johnny
McClain, held court after the weigh-in.
"I'm more than happy," he said of his wife's weight.
"You're gonna see a very powerful woman -- notice I said
woman," he said in an apparent swipe at Ali's youth, which
some people say gives her an advantage in the fight.
Although individuals connected with the promotion have
billed it as a grudge match between the daughters of the two
famous fighters who have feuded for years, Lyde says his wife
is a Frazier "with no hatred -- just the pride."
But Lyde, who said both women will receive "six figures"
plus a cut of pay-per-view television sales, allowed himself
some boxing hyperbole, saying that the fight night will be
"Fryday" for his wife.
"On Friday black people do a lot of frying -- fish,
chicken, ribs, and on Friday we're gonna fry Laila Ali's
tail."
Earlier in the week Frazier, who has a 7-0 career record,
tried to put a friendly spin on the bout which is being held
on the 30-year anniversary of the first of the trilogy of
fights between their legendary fathers. Frazier won the first
and Ali the next two.
"I have a great sisterly feeling. This is a celebration of
our fathers and all they've done."
But Ali, who has called Frazier a "fool" for thinking "she
belongs in the same ring as me," rejected Frazier's sisterly
feelings.
"This is not a celebration. It's a fight," said Ali, who
is not nearly as jovial or talkative as her famous father was
in his prime.
"She's been in my ear for a long time now and it's time to
straighten this all out now. I'm gonna stick and move and jab,
jab, and I'm gonna slap her upside her head," said Ali, who
has a 9-0 career record.
Ali has predicted that the usually wild-swinging Frazier
will be awkward in the first two rounds, but "after the second
round I'll be able to do anything I want with her.
"She has no idea what a fast, hard punch can feel like,
and when I hit her I'm gonna turn my knuckles over," she said,
referring to a fighter's technique for getting the most torque
out of a punch. "So let's get cracking."
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None