Celebrations for the 50th year anniversary of the Thrilla in Manila on 28 September at the Smart Araneta Coliseum are starting to heat up.

In fact, Sean Gibbons, the do-it-all American boxing man, has spoken with the Thrilla’s key players as he has been given the go-signal to get the ball rolling.

This early, a massive celebration of the golden anniversary of the Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier rubber match is in the offing with eight-division legend Manny Pacquiao spearheading the project that will see multiple world title fights involving Filipino fighters.

“We could see Melvin Jerusalem, Pedro Taduran and even Mark Magsayo,” Gibbons said.

Jerusalem is the World Boxing Council strawweight champion while Taduran is the International Boxing Federation titleholder.

As for Magsayo, who is a former world champion, he could end up getting a title shot given Gibbons’ strong connections, making the Thrilla card truly a huge showcase of Filipino talent.

Even untitled but top Filipino fighters like Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial might even make the Thrilla card, noted Gibbons.

“Just imagine the magnitude of this event. This is huge,” he said.

To spice things up, some of the major players of the 1975 Thrilla are also going to be brought in from the States, including Top Rank head Bob Arum and even referee Carlos Padilla, who now resides in the States.

The descendants of Ali and Frazier are also going to be invited.

Ali passed away in June 2016 while Frazier was the first to go in 2011, their three fights revered not just by fight fans but by sports followers.

Don King, with the electric-shock hair-do, might not make it owing to health reasons.

“(If he doesn’t arrive), we’ll just get a standee,” Gibbons said.

But the 93-year-old Arum is a go.

In fact, last week, he told a group of Manila-based writers that he is more than willing to come and visit the Philippines again.

“I travel to Japan four times a year and Tokyo’s just a short hop from Manila,” he said.

During the height of Pacquiao’s career, Arum was a frequent visitor, having gone here to oversee a fight card, grace a media tour and show his support to Pacquiao’s election campaign.

With a little more than four months remaining, Gibbons is going around speaking with people who would get heavily involved in the celebrations.

This early, things are looking really good.