By Chris Williamson
“I wish I'd made a different choice,” Scott Quigg the former WBA Super bantamweight champion known for obsessive devotion to training told BoxingScene when recalling the one chance he had to meet Muhammad Ali.
“I had to go running at night, so needed my rest and didn't go to the (Hatton's) gym (when Ali last visited the U.K.). It's one of my only regrets that I missed the opportunity to meet a legend and inspiration.”
Quigg, an engaging character in person, adds incredulously: “The same happened with Joe Frazier. Frazier was over at Joe's [Gallagher, Quigg's trainer] old gym and I missed (meeting) him again because of my training.”
“We'll never get another Ali in boxing, or sport in general,” he continued. “How charismatic. He (Ali) was what he wanted to be. It wasn't rehearsed. It was him. It was real. He talked the talk alright but he could back it up.
“I used to watch a lot of his fights (when developing as a fighter) and just today watching the tribute footage has reminded me just how great he was. It's a sad day but it's nice to see how much he meant to everyone.”
The sheer volume of tributes since his death suggests virtually everyone, everywhere, feels connected to the iconic champion. It's fitting that the first major UK boxing show since his passing was hosted in Liverpool, as this city feels that connection strongly, and proudly—the fans at the Arena loudly celebrated his life Saturday night.
When Liverpool's most celebrated musicians made their own iconic invasion of the USA in 1964, they visited the Fifth street gym in Miami to meet Ali, then Cassius Clay. The band were charged from a breakthrough appearance just two days earlier on the Ed Sullivan show, filmed in the same city.
Clay was preparing for the appearance to make him a superstar, against fearsome champion Sonny Liston, secretly counting the Beatles among his own fans. The humorous selection of photographs taken that day in Miami are still purchased in Liverpool shops.
A man proudly wearing a grey sweater bearing Ali's image and famous signature buzzes around ringside in Liverpool as Dev Sahni, in charge of Boxnation's Digital media, confirms that an Ali tribute hosted by Jim Rosenthal will be aired on the channel.
Journalist and broadcaster Steve Bunce, also ringside for Boxnation, deservedly promotes a terrific “Gorilla Productions” YouTube tribute to all within earshot.
Chris Sanigar, trainer to IBF world champions Lee Selby (featherweight) and Lee Haskins (bantamweight) recalls: “As (I was) a youngster, he (Ali) was the man. You spoke about boxing and you spoke about Muhammad Ali. When he challenged Liston all anyone in my family or at my school would talk about was how bad Sonny Liston is.”
“They talked about his (Liston's) big fists of 14" circumference,” recalled Sanigar before laughing: “That's about two of my hands!”
He added: “Then Ali, in his words, ‘shook up the world’. After that I remember the defences and of course he fought the Brits, Henry Cooper (the second time as defending champion) and Brian London. He had that rapport with the British public, (maybe as a result of) the famous interviews with (TV host Michael) Parkinson.”
Sanigar went on to analyse Ali's famous 1974 upset of champion George Foreman. “Every expert would say (Ali) must stick and move and come on in the last few rounds of the fight,” he recalled. “Well, Ali did the opposite and invented the rope-a-dope.”
As we discussed just how significant both the Liston and Foreman wins were, Sanigar said incredulously: “We could sit here for hours and hours talking like this about his great fights.”
“Jimmy Ellis”, continued Sanigar, emphasising the strength of Ali's competition, “would be a world champion today. Not only that he would be a good champion.”
Two years after the Beatles meeting, in 1966, Everton football club prepared to play the final of the FA Cup in London. Ali, in training for his world's heavyweight title defence against Henry Cooper, attended Wembley to watch Everton lift the cup.
On the morning of the game Ali was photographed in several iconic images running through Hyde park as fans waved their flags in anticipation of the big match.
Fifty years later, Everton fans still talk proudly of Ali being a famous part of this day. I know, because at the very first boxing match ever held at Everton's home (Goodison Park) last week (Bellew v Makabu), I was one of them.
MC Mark Burdis would later introduce a moving tribute and remembers the champion less for boxing than his vibrant personality. Burdis told me that: “When growing up as a kid I was football mad. It was Ali who made me want to watch boxing. I'm 48 so in 1975 (the year of the rubber match with Joe Frazier) I was 7.”
Burdis was already an actor at that young age.
He added: “He was the first boxing star who really came alive on TV. With (his predecessors such as) [Rocky] Marciano you might read about it in the papers, but with Ali you could actually see it. My mum and my granny wanted to watch him.”
Liverpool's most beloved boxing son, former WBC world light-heavyweight champion John Conteh, once trained alongside Ali when filling a spot on the undercard of Muhammad's 1973 Las Vegas world title defence against Joe Bugner.
Conteh was a heavyweight at this early stage of his career. Ali, reportedly impressed with young Conteh, suggested his frame was too small for the heavyweight division. Of course, this was before the cruiserweight division as we know it today (the term cruiserweight was used interchangeably as the 175lb limit), so Conteh moved down to light-heavyweight, winning the EBU title in his very next fight.
Part of Liverpool's famous boxing family and current mandatory challenger for the WBC super middleweight title Callum Smith also paid tribute to Ali. “Our dad was always watching him and talking about him,” stated Smith.
“Obviously Ali has done a lot for boxing and 90% of the world population know him. He did so much for the sport and it's a sad loss.”
Following news of Ali's death, promoter Frank Warren made a limited number of £5 tickets available for the Liverpool show with all money going to Parkinson's UK charity in tribute.
This writer's friend and colleague works at the British Broadcasting Corporation. We discussed the superb footage shown earlier in the day by the Corporation of Ali singing with Sam Cooke and many, many more notable moments. “We (the BBC) are so lucky to have all that wonderful archive footage,” he said proudly.
Queensbury Promotions and broadcaster BoxNation arranged a wonderful tribute prior to the main event in Liverpool, with ten bells of respect met with uninterrupted standing applause as speakers relayed a selection of Ali's famous quips. Applause felt far more natural than silence. This was a celebration, not mourning.
As Muhammad sang through the applause “I done wrestled with an alligator...” promoter Frank Warren and trainer Anthony Farnell smiled broadly as they clapped. They've surely heard the line many times and couldn't help be charmed once again by the outrageous energy, ambition, humour and humanity of the great man. Who could?
