Round 1: Muhammad Ali

Ok, so I may stand accused of going too mainstream in my first blog but as I said in my introduction, we all have our own take on our sporting heroes. Muhammad Ali will doubtless be on many peoples list, for others he may only be considered a sporting great. Not everyone signed up to the full package!

Unlike the other sports legends I will write about, this is the only one where I seldom if ever actually witness him perform live in his prime. However, the aura he created sucked me in and, even after his passing 4 years ago, I still remain in that world of admiration and attraction.

I am 53, born 1966 and for most of my formative years I had little interest in boxing, consumed as I was by football. Ali turned pro in 1960 and when I started to even acknowledge the sport his best years were well and truly behind him. I missed the live performances, the hype around them – I had not heard of the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ until years after it had taken place.

No one it seems was immune to the magnetic personality of Ali and when he stopped to speak the world had little option but to listening. As a young lad I was all ears for this global phenomenon. Who was brash enough to proclaim he was ‘the greatest’?? His arrogance for many was too much, taken so literally, but even then, for me, the twinkle in his eye was always there. He knew what he was doing, he knew he had the world in the palm of his hand, he knew the competition was ignoring him – intently! Coming from a country where pronouncing you are the greatest would gain you almost no followers and a desire to see you fall flat on your face this was a real struggle of emotions!

Plus – he was the greatest, he was only stating facts!!

So here I am with a sporting hero who I had seldom seen perform?? I have made little attempt until now to read up on his history and neither am I a particular fan of boxing. The reality is – I am not alone. Ali created a global movement of people based on a heady mix of sporting excellence, heavyweight confidence and a platform utilised with supreme awareness. I still seek clips from the past hoping to hear another version of his ‘off the cuff’ poetry, his self-assured prophesies, his one liners which quickly became folklore and part of the language of not just of sport but of life.

However, fundamentally, and importantly, it was Ali’s ability and attributes in one of the toughest of sports that made it all work. Heavyweight boxing has a life of its own – big guys knocking lumps out of each other appears to capture the imagination. Maybe sometimes its described as an art form but at this heavyweight level it seems like raw aggression, courage and endurance at a magnitude few of us can comprehend. Sport has many, many champions – those that are clearly set apart from all of the competition. In my mind, to have been the undisputed best in this intense bubble of sport for such a sustained period was incredible. To do it with a swagger, a swagger which was earned and acknowledged is unsurpassed. There have been other incredible heavyweights, fantastic in their own right, but none who in my opinion have come close to Ali. Some would cite Mike Tyson for example – doubtless an incredible fighter, couldn't stand him!!

For all the self-confidence and charisma Ali exuded I always felt that underneath it all was a humility, the aforementioned twinkle in the eye that said “I am a showman” but this is not entirely me. I loved watching re-runs of some of his bouts – his dancing feet, his goading sometimes of opponents. I appreciate that was frowned upon by some as disrespectful, indeed it probably was. However almost every sport has its own version of psyching out opponents, of using means to win and be successful. You cannot proclaim to float like a butterfly then sometimes not float like a butterfly!!!

No one could argue with his sporting prowess, undoubtably one of the greatest ever boxers, but his all-round character was a mix like no other. He was funny, he was serious, he led the way in making a stand, he had values he stood up for, he could not be ignored.

Being around as I was as his career ended I have a vague recollection of his last comeback fight with Larry Holmes being widely denounced as both a money making venture and a sadness from onlookers as he started to show the impact of his years of punishment. Dispute not having watched him in his prime and been part of his career I remember indulging in the same feeling of sadness. I was part of that movement of people who had formed subconsciously an emotional attachment.

Ali then receded from the public gaze as his Parkinsons Disease took over. His opening of the Atlanta games in 1996 was another moment of sadness therefore, a shock to many seeing him in apparent distress after so long out of sight but also a fitting accolade to a man who at times appeared to lead a nation.

Around the same time the great man was touring the world publicising his autobiography and incredibly this brought him to Glasgow. A great friend of mine at the time, Nicky Whyatt, had him as his sporting icon and we shared our space in a queue befitting of the man. We waited, then had our few moments with Muhammad Ali – no iphones then for selfies and a record of the moment. Just a memory of a struggling and clearly very ill sporting colossus, barely able to speak or indeed sign our book.

Guess what was there though – that twinkle!! Never to be forgotten and makes me smile to this day.