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including Smokin’ Joe’s rise to world champion, although – a year later – the entire globe could not resist the charm that came with the Fight of the Century when Frazier beat Muhammad Ali in 15 brutal rounds.
A vicious left hook by Frazier in Round 15, which floored Ali, is regarded by many seasoned boxing analysts as the best punch ever by a boxer in a world heavyweight title fight.
The fight was a collision of beliefs with Ali, returning to the ring after a ban imposed for his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War, representing a rebellion against the establishment of Uncle Tom while Smokin’ Joe was the nice, obedient, black guy who was not a thorn to white authority and policies.
Ali dubbed Smokin’ Joe an Uncle Tom, who worked for the enemy, and that set the tone for the taunts, some of them very personal, and many of them very hard-hitting, which would characterise the two boxers’ duel.
The Fight of the Century, a smashing triumph for the establishment, was the first of the famous three-part series, which culminated in the Thrilla In Manila in 1975, but it was also the last for Frazier, with Ali winning the last two contests against an opponent, so relentless, he never stopped coming.
In the build-up to the Thriller in Manila, Ali tore into Frazier as a very ugly man.
“Joe Frazier should give his face to the Wildlife Fund. He’s so ugly, blind men go the other way,” said Ali.
“Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! He not only looks bad, you can smell him in another country. What will the people of Manila think?
“That black brothers are animals. Ignorant. Stupid. Ugly and smelly.”
Smokin’ Joe, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all-time, died on Monday after losing the biggest fight of his life, a brief battle with liver cancer, at the age of 67 and the world has, this week, been paying in the tributes for a man who came, saw and conquered.
The man who famously claimed, after winning his Olympic crown, that his left hook was a heat seeking missile.
I have always felt a special connection to Smokin’ Joe simply because he became world heavyweight champion on the very day I was born and I have always loved him the way I love the Samba Boys, simply because they were World Champions in the year I was born.
Smokin’ Joe represented the ultimate triumph against the odds because he was small, for a heavyweight boxer, and weighed just 93kg when he won the world crown, but his size did not deter him from achieving greatness in the most brutal of all sporting contests and, crucially, in the toughest division of them all. At just 1.82m, Joe kept giving height advantage to his opponents but, still, that didn’t stop him from achieving greatness, being ranked by boxing authorities among the top 10 greatest heavyweight fighters of all-time and being inducted in the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Joe’s poor vision, in his left eye, meant that he was considered legally blind and he had to technically use his right eye only for his attacks, and also to defend himself in his entire career in such a brutal world, which only helps to showcase how special his achievements were.
I didn’t meet Smokin’ Joe in his life, despite it being one of my dreams, but I have watched a lot of him on Espn Classic, and other television channels, to satisfy my passion for a boxer who lived his dream and rose from a humble background to become a legend.
The power of television brought me closer to Smokin’ Joe and, while I was too young to understand what the hell was going on during the Fight of the Century in 1971, and too young to follow the Thrilla in Manila in 1975, with time I saw everything that happened then on TV and, the more I watched the man, the more I loved him.
Television has not only kept Smokin’ Joe’s greatest fights alive but has also helped some of us analyse the brilliance of Pele and his immortal Brazilians of 1970 who, did not only turn on the style in Mexico, but set a benchmark for football excellence, at national team level, that is yet to be surpassed.
In the week that Smokin’ Joe waved goodbye to our world of the living, television was there to bring me closer, not only to what was happening in Philadelphia where Joe passed away, but also to the stunning beauty of football when the cameras come around to capture all its golden moments, from all angles.
On Wednesday, the television revolution that has transformed Super Diski and the top-flight leagues in Zambia, Angola, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana, arrived at the stadium that we call home, in a test case for pay-per-view giant SuperSport that we all hope could end up being a kiss of life for our domestic Premiership.
A Premiership, ignored by its national broadcaster throughout a riveting season that is set to reach a climax at Mandava tomorrow when FC Platinum host Dynamos in a winner-take-all showdown, suddenly found itself being broadcast live to large parts of Africa on an unforgettable Wednesday.
Cuthbert Malajila, whose last images on national television were related to his sporadic attachments with the Warriors, suddenly found his every run, and every move, being tracked by cameras that captured it from all angles and, in an instant, beamed it across large parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
Who will write our fascinating story and do it with such authority it will capture every detail of the journey we have traveled as a Premiership since that year, in 1993, when Chris Sibanda and Morrison Sifelani rolled on the maiden top-flight season?
How will our national broadcaster capture the moment when, as it now appears, we finally complete our clubs – may the Good Lord bless every one of them – finally complete the transformation from rags to riches, thanks to a helping hand from television?
Which are the sponsors, who have so far been keeping a distance from our low-key life and pretending as if they don’t see our daily grind just to remain alive, who will find the bravery to come on board, even without an apology, now that the power of television can transform the fortunes of their organisations?
Exactly 40 years to the day that television gave the world every minute of Smokin’ Joe’s finest moment as he beat Ali in the Fight of the Century at Madison Square Garden, in a brutal 15-round contest widely acknowledged as the finest boxing match of all-time, its power turned the humble heroes of our poor domestic Premiership into artists whose show was watched by a continent.
Smokin’ Joe is gone but our domestic Premiership lives and, in its fortunes, lie the future of a generation of footballers who have the package of skills, probably good enough to grace any league on the continent, but were probably just unlucky – until now that it – to have been born in a country whose Premiership is not powered by the magic of television and the money it brings.

In The Splendor Of Live Television
Coverage
So, there we were at dear old Rufaro on Wednesday, on a bright sun-drenched afternoon perfect for such an occasion, as the SuperSport cameras rolled and captured the sights and sounds of a Premiership contest between Dynamos and Motor Action.
So, there was Alois Bunjira and Ben Mahaka doing the pitch-side analysis of the game, just the way we have seen it being done in Super Diski games by Robert Marawa and his guests, and – in those sober business suits – our boys were dressed for the occasion and looked good and sounded authoritative. So, there was Simon Makape, remember him, the young cameraman who used to work for ZBC before deciding it was time to look for fresh challenges, landing in South Africa with nothing in his pockets but just the fiery determination to pursue a dream that told him that, given a chance, he could compete with the best in the world and make a comfortable living.
I was with Simon at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where he worked for Host Broadcast Services, the host broadcaster of the tournament, and did very well there that he was guaranteed that he would be hired again to be part of the cameramen who will cover the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
But Wednesday was special because Simon was back home, where it had all started when he used to commute from his base in Chitungwiza to get to work at Pockets Hill, and back at Rufaro, where his coverage of the domestic game, in the colours of ZBC, fired his spirits to become one of the best television cameramen the world has ever seen.
There was no hiding the joy of the homecoming show, and when he ventured into the VIP Enclosure at Rufaro to get off-beat shots of what was going on there, he felt so much at home, he talked to virtually everyone that he passed as he switched his camera on and off.
Robson Mhandu, one of the senior personnel at ZBC then when a greenhorn Simon Makape arrived there, was one of those sitting in the VIP Enclosure.
Simon was not the only guy who provided the Zimbabwean touch to the production crew at Rufaro that day. He was just one of the four guys who used to come to the same stadium, doing the same camera work, but who chose, at different stages of their lives, to try their luck elsewhere outside the country only to be reunited again by fate.
Together they helped feed a Zimbabwean success story, because our league is certainly that, to Zimbabwe and large parts of the continent, showcasing the amazing skills of our talented but poorly-paid football stars and capturing the moment when Denver Mukamba’s scorcher, like a guided missile, flew past goalkeeper Marlon Jani for a goal for the archives.
Every 15 minutes, after the game had ended at Rufaro, Mukamba’s moment of magic was replayed, on the SuperSport Blitz channel that captures the highlights of the day, and – for a long run on Wednesday night and Thursday morning – Denver’s magical goal was being shown side-by-side with Andreas Iniesta’s wonder goal that won Barcelona their King’s Cup contest.
And, looking at the two goals again and again, it was hard to tell who – between our own Denver Mukamba and World Champion Andreas Iniesta – had scored the better goal of the day and, don’t ask me for my choice, because you very well know that I will be biased towards our boy.
I went into the gym straight after the game at Rufaro and the discussion, from musclemen who normally would not talk about our domestic game, was about that Denver goal – which they had seen live on SuperSport – and a number of them clearly were feeling that they had lost out by not coming to Rufaro or Gwanzura regularly this season.
Guys who, four hours earlier, wouldn’t have cared even a hoot about whether Denver Mukamba was a Studio 263 Actor or the guy who loaded commuters onto the kombis at Warren Park One terminus, were now talking endlessly about this lanky talent, who reminded them of Nwanko Kanu, who was set to go places with his football.
That’s the power of television.
When I returned home on Wednesday night, I was surprised to hear my son Kalusha talk authoritatively about Denver Mukamba, the goal that he had scored, the way he dribbles past opponents, and all that stuff, and I knew that my Grade Five boy had a new hero.
That’s the power of television.
Our prayers are for this deal to come through and our football will certainly never be the same again.

Who Will Be Champions?

After featuring on the Channel of Champions, and ending the defending champions’ hopes of winning the league title, Dynamos will go to Mandava tomorrow, needing to become the first team to win at the home of FC Platinum in the Premiership, for them to keep their Premiership hopes alive.
It’s not an easy call and the good money is on FC Platinum holding out for even a draw, and taking the contest into the final weekend, where they will fancy their chances against a Shooting Stars team that might be relegated by then should they lose to CAPS United tomorrow.
FC Platinum are carrying the hopes of all the neutrals who cherish the beautiful picture of seeing the Premiership title being taken to a small town like Zvishavane rather than being monopolised by the giants of the big cities of Harare and Bulawayo.
The last time a team from outside the two main cities won the league title was exactly 45 years ago when St Paul’s Musami, a team created by Father Davis, conquered all before them in 1966.
FC Platinum are yet to lose a match in their fortress but they have never played a team like Dynamos before, they have never played a home game were the majority of the crowd will be rooting for the opponents, they have never played under such intense pressure and they have never seen such a huge test.
DeMbare have been poor, in matches played outside the capital in the league, and they were lifeless in their defeat by Masvingo United in dropping three big points which have come back to haunt them.
But those who believe in the Glamour Boys will also point to the fact that they have never lost a match, outside Harare, when both Washington Arubi and Cuthbert Malajila have featured in their line-up and, when they lost in Masvingo, their two major stars were away on national duty.
The Harare giants will also feel that they have a psychological edge, over their rivals, after beating them in two of the matches they have played against each other this season, scoring three goals and conceding none, and – crucially – dominating the last game in Bulawayo, they would have been full value for four goals. After all that has been said about this Castle Lager Premiership race, the good and the bad, the great thing is that we now have the two teams – who are fighting for the title – fighting each other to effectively decide the marathon and noone can cry foul after tomorrow.
If Dynamos really believe that they should be champions, then a win at FC Platinum will confirm their status as the best team in the country and, I am pretty sure, even the platinum miners will be there to congratulate them for not only ending their unbeaten run at home but also beating them home and away.
The FC Platinum critics have said a lot this season but if the Zvishavane side can beat Dynamos tomorrow then they would have earned their stripes.
It’s a huge game, whichever way you look at it, and I agree with Lawrence Moyo when he says that whoever wins tomorrow will be champions.
Of course, statistics will show that FC Platinum can still lose tomorrow and be champions on the final weekend should Dynamos either lose to Kiglon, and they beat or draw against Shooting Stars.
But only a crazy guy will see this Dynamos team losing against Kiglon, should they win at Mandava tomorrow, and those who are saying that FC Platinum could still squeeze through by hammering Shooting Stars, in the final game, even if they lose tomorrow, and getting the big prize by virtue of a better goal difference.
The point is that if FC Platinum lose tomorrow, Dynamos will have a plus three or better goal difference, and a 1-0 win over Kiglon – which will be a conservative estimate by any standard – will have to be bettered by a 5-0 win, or better for FC Platinum.
Only dreamers can see that happening.
The decider, ladies and gentlemen, is on tomorrow.

Too Bad, Farai Is Quitting
Those who have worked closely with CAPS United in the last four years will know the big role that Farai Jere has played in just keeping this team afloat, even in the most trying of circumstances, investing considerable resources into a team that he loves with a passion unrivalled on the domestic football scene.
He always wanted the best for his Makepekepe and, although the big prize of the league championship eluded him in the past four years, it’s clear that it wasn’t for lack of trying.
It’s hard to imagine a CAPS United without Jere but he seems to have made up his mind that the time has come for him to step down because he believes he has failed in his mission.
He is a brave man, who acknowledges that he failed, and for that he deserves credit.
He has many critics, and many guys who also believe in him, but to me Farai Jere remains one of the finest football administrators I have ever come across and I wish him all the best in whatever he will be pursuing in the future. That’s life Farai and, you just have to look at all those who believed in Smokin’ Joe, and now have to live with the reality that their main man is gone.

Joke Of The Week – Samuel Mutembo
Mufundisi akati achiparidza: “Mhombwe dzose kudenga raMwari hamuende”. Chidhakwa chimwe changa chiri muchechi chikadaidzira: “Vaudze mufundisi, vaudze, havaende kudenga”. Mufundisi akenderera mberi nevhangeri achiti: “Vose vanoba Kudenga havende”. Chidhakwa chiya chikwati chamera mapapiro ndokudaidzira: “Vaudze mufundisi, vaudze, hapana kwavoenda kudenga raMwari”. Mufundisi akazopedziria nokuti: “Kana zvidhakwa zvose hazvipinde denga raMwari’. Chidhakwa chiye ndokusimuka ndokudeedzera: “Iwe mufundisi, iro denga raunoda kupinda wega wega dera amai vako here denga racho iroro.”
Come on DeMbare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Come on Kugona Kunenge Kudada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitoooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
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