Here's a question: is there one event which, more than any other, has led to modern, professional sport being as we observe it in 2010?

Were I asked for a nomination, I would draw a circle around 9 March. Today. An American who shares my opinion would circle 8 March and this would be more accurate, but we can only catalogue history according to our own experience.

In Australia it was 9 March 1971 when we gathered around black-and-white televisions and watched, live from Madison Square Garden, "The Fight of the Century": Ali-Frazier I. My own memory of it is of a packed television room within a residential college at the University of Tasmania. I lived in the college for three years and remember two events in that room: the first moon landing in 1969 and Ali versus Frazier in '71.

This was the most hyped head-to-head contest in the history of sport to that time. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier both raked off $US2.5 million from the gruelling 15 rounds to which each subjected the other, yet they could have earned much more. Had either, or both, risked accepting a percentage of the fight's takings, rather than a guaranteed fee, he would have pocketed $6 million. Neither fighter had realised how big the event would become.

The story of how the two warriors personified the liberal and conservative factions of American life at that time has become clichéd, yet all of it is true. Ali did it by design, having refused to be drafted for Vietnam War service, being stripped of his heavyweight title and banned from the ring as a result. He claimed representation of oppressed, black America. Frazier's position was thus created for him. In response to Ali's provocation he knew no other way than to accept his lot and come out swinging.

The fight was a classic confrontation between boxer and slugger. Both were still on their feet at the end, although Frazier had decked Ali with a thunderous left-hook in the final round on his way to a unanimous decision. There had to be a re-match, indeed there were two, and the "Thriller in Manila" is best remembered of the trilogy. The first fight, though, was every bit as tough and dramatic.

At a time when the potential was still emerging for sport and its players to be packaged and promoted, "The Fight of the Century" was now the archetype. Promoters of all sports, everywhere, have been searching for the elusive formula ever since. What many of them fail to realise is that such magic cannot be contrived. Beyond his athletic gift, the genius of Ali was that he could tread the fine line between beguiling salesman and brilliant sportsman without losing sight of his objective.

Of course it required a rare alignment of the planets for "The Fight of the Century" to occur as it did. There was war. There was black America's struggle for equality. There were two unbeaten, genuinely great world heavyweight champions. And one was Muhammad Ali. While we are unlikely to see the like of it ever again, this event gave a glimpse of how big sport could be.