Your Earlier Memory Of Ali.

[IronDanHamza]

Everyone knew who Ali/Clay was in the UK when Cooper almost stopped him.

My family weren't too fond of him so neither was I.

Earliest memory of him was the Liston fight despite being very young.

[McGoorty]

Every fight fan (and most sports fans) whether 7 or 77 has knowledge of Ali.

Really, you have to be over 40 (or so to remember him as a fighter. But I'm sure he stands out in younger fans memories too.

My earliest memories of him are vaguely of the Thrilla in Manila - although more so from him being on tv than the fight. I remember well his bouts with Spinks - the rematch was on my 10th birthday.

But I also remember he promoted these big burgers on TV. Burgers weren't a big deal in the UK in the 70's so it stood out. The commercial went something like "You need a big mouth to eat a big burger" & then he took a bite out of it. I can even picture him doing it.

I am pretty sure it wasn't until I was nine or ten when I first became aware of Ali, and it was because I had a small crystal radio set which was my first radio and one night (I think it was 1974) I heard the new song, "The Black Superman" where Muhammad Ali floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee and I loved the song immediately. --------- -------------------------------That was my introduction to Ali, naturally as a kid Ali was one of my biggest hero's and probably the first boxer I knew, though maybe it was Lionel Rose or Tony Mundine because my dad was a proud supporter of Australian boxers, he told me so many stories about Aussies being rorted in boxing ever since Les Darcy, as it turns out, he was right.