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done so for some events sponsored by The Ring, including the Dmitry Bivol-Artur Beterbiev rematch in Saudi Arabia and the Ryan Garcia- Rolando Romero card in New York’s Times Square. But none of those, he says, compared to the unexpectedly dramatic heavyweight headliner between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in Egypt. The Ring spoke with Leifer, the only photographer enshrined at the International Boxing Hall of Fame, to record his thoughts on the unprecedented “Glory in Giza” event and revisit some moments in the lifelong journey that led him to The Pyramids.
The Ring: What was it like witnessing that scene in Giza? Neil Leifer: That was spectacular. And what made it extra special was what a great fight it turned out to be. I mean, Rico wasn’t lucky; he was good. I thought it was fascinating on every level. There was a who’s who of boxing – there’s Triple-G sitting next to Canelo, and Crawford and Joshua. I mean, His Excellency always has great guests, but this was pretty special. You see these guys who fought such hard battles. Triple-G and Canelo are laughing and having a great old time. And Crawford, who beat Canelo – badly – sitting right there and getting along great. I loved photographing them watching the fight. And Eddie Hearn – I’ve photographed Eddie before, so I know he gets very intense, and he makes good pictures. The whole thing was just a very good experience. The Ring: What’s the most memorable event from your career? NL: I told H.E. this ringside. I told him I was on the ring apron in Manila [for Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier III] and I was on the ring apron in Zaire [for George Foreman-Ali], and I thought those were the most exciting events I could ever see. I said, “This is better.” As soon as I told him that, he took me over to tell Canelo and to tell Triple-G, to tell Joshua, “You gotta hear what Neil just told me. Neil, tell them what you just told me.” I mean, I knew Times Square would be pretty spectacular, and it was, but I’ve been to Egypt before, I’ve been to the Giza Pyramids before – I actually did an Olympic preview for Time Magazine for the L.A. Olympics in 1984. I went there and I shot an Egyptian discus thrower right in front of the Sphinx with the Pyramids behind him. So I knew a little bit about what it could look like. I never expected the fight to be a great fight. I was one of the non-believers. I thought that Usyk was going to have no problem. How can you beat a setting like that? When are you ever going to see a scene like that at a sporting event? I mean, look at some of the great settings where the Olympics
were held over the years – nothing like that. That was magnificent. I think anybody’s realistic expectations, it was better than that. The Ring: Why do you think everyone was so wrong about Rico? NL: Who knew anything about him? In my case, I did see a video clip. There was no question this guy could punch, but in watching the video – I think maybe it was on DAZN – they had about six or eight of his fights, and he was wide open to be hit. I was very surprised. He telegraphed his punches. He was throwing haymakers. Any good defensive fighter, and Usyk is a great defensive fighter, is gonna be able to get out of the way of that. Young Muhammad Ali was so great because, among other things, you couldn’t hit him. Nobody could touch him. He always used to end the fight boasting about how pretty he looked and not a scratch on him – well, yeah, because no one could hit him! He was a terrific offensive fighter, but he was never a big knockout [artist] – he wasn’t George Foreman or Mike Tyson or even Sonny Liston. The thing with Ali was that he wore you down and then he knocked you out, but he was not a guy who would knock you out in the first or second round. So I didn’t think Rico was that good, but I knew nothing about him. I did think I knew a lot about Uysk. He’s a great fighter, and I haven’t changed my mind at all about that. When you see some of the punches Rico landed, I’m amazed Usyk never went down. The Ring: Do you think Rico would’ve recovered in between rounds, had it not been stopped? NL: I don’t know how hurt he was. He walked back to his corner right in front of me where I was sitting, and I will tell you he was wobbly. Definitely wobbly. I don’t think the ref should’ve stopped the fight, but I’m not faulting him, because I couldn’t hear the bell either. If there was a bell that rang, I never heard it. You always hear the 10-second warning
A statue of Leifer’s most iconic photograph decorates the home of friend Turki Alalshikh, who holds a copy of Leifer’s book featuring Ali vs. Zora Folley on the cover. (Photo by Corey Leifer)
The Ring: Do you watch boxing when you’re not photographing it? NL: Yes! I’m not taking photos most of the time. The only fights I’ve done in the last few years were Times Square, two trips to Riyadh, now one to Cairo – I only do things that interest me now, and this is fun. I’ve enjoyed it. The Ring: So you’re a fan. NL: Oh, sure! But I’m a sports fan. I come from a poor family, and we couldn’t afford tickets for fights, that’s for sure, or even NFL games or baseball. When you’re a sports photographer, and particularly if you’re a photographer working at the level I worked at – I worked for Sports Illustrated; I worked for Life Magazine; I worked for Look Magazine and for Newsweek and Time, and the point is when you’re working for those magazines, they are paying you to go see an event that you would be glued to your television screen if
where they bang the wood or whatever, but I didn’t hear the bell. Now that we’ve had a chance to see the scorecards, I also thought that Rico should’ve been further ahead than he actually was. I thought he should’ve been way ahead. But this is important: I’m a lousy scorer when I’m photographing. Look, I was in Zaire, Foreman was in a hotel and Ali was out in training camp – he never left. He really worked very hard. I knew Foreman was very overconfident. But how can you not be overconfident when you’re George Foreman and you haven’t seen the third round in years? Everyone who faced Tyson fell in the first round, second round, third round, and then the fight was over. So they get a little overconfident and maybe they don’t work quite as hard – who knows? But Usyk is a great fighter and I haven’t changed my mind about that. Rico was the big surprise.
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