Arum rips Ali portrayal in Thrilla documentary

Bob Arum, the 80-year-old promoter who served as attorney and promoter for boxing legend Muhammad Ali, ripped the way the icon was portrayed in a recent documentary about fighter Joe Frazier.

Arum made his comments at a pre-fight news conference for Saturday's pay-per-view welterweight showdown between Filipino star Manny Pacquiao and Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez.

Two days after Frazier's death Monday after a long fight with liver cancer, HBO pay-per-view boss Mark Taffet said his network would replay "The Thrilla in Manila" documentary about the 1975 Ali-Frazier fight ahead of Pacquiao-Marquez.

That prompted Arum to follow with a harsh critique about the film being shown by his business partners, noting its portrayal of Frazier's feelings about taunts by Ali, who called Frazier ugly and a gorilla among other things.

"That documentary is disgusting," Arum said. "It's filled with stuff from a lot of people who weren't even around then. I was. It's chocked full of inaccuracies. It is an unfair attack on Muhammad Ali.

"You can watch it, but don't believe a word that's being said."