Opinion | Why Thrilla in Manila was the equivalent in its day of handing the World Cup to Qatar

It was never about sport, at least not in the beginning. The most significant sporting event ever held on this continent turned 40 last week and amidst the endless gushing over the "Thrilla in Manila" it's important to remember just why this fight, the rubber match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, actually took place in Asia.

In 1975, there was significant push-back to Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos' brutal and oppressive rule. Despite his imposing martial law three years earlier, opposition critics were relentless and defiant.

But Marcos stifled the media while repeatedly destroying or ostracising most of his opponents in an endless purge and was actively in pursuit of high-profile distractions. At the time, there was no bigger name anywhere than Muhammad Ali, the single most famous person in the world.

There is much talk today of the ludicrous decision by Fifa to award Qatar the rights to host the 2022 World Cup. But imagine the reaction over 40 years ago when the venue for the culmination of the greatest rivalry in sports was announced.

The first Ali-Frazier bout in 1971 was dubbed the Fight of the Century, but it was actually more than that. It was the sporting event of the century and fittingly it was held in New York's storied Madison Square Garden, a global hub where the world's media could basically take a cab to the fight.

The rematch almost three years later was also held at the Garden and while much had changed in the ring before the third fight, with both the 33-year-old Ali and the 31-year-old Frazier past their prime, it was still a marquee match-up. And you are going to hold it where? Manila? But Marcos money would not be deterred.

Long before the likes of Fifa honcho Sepp Blatter and Formula One oligarch Bernie Ecclestone began extorting billions from pariah states to host events, there was Don King.