Post by themagi on Jul 30, 2016 15:28:08 GMT 1
Found this yesterday and although it's close to an hour and it appears that the fog of Parkinsons syndrome was beginning to descend upon Muhammad I still think this shows the essence of this truly special man.
Muhammad seemed to have a special affinity for UK charitable causes, often flying over to help out as long as his flight and lodgings were paid for, he would accept no appearance fee whatsoever. This particular one was for the NABC, which are still going in 2016 and host annual amateur boxing tournaments.
The fact that he, the most famous sportsperson in the world, then and now, would agree to operate "without a net" and take questions on the fly when in comparison to today where we have ex-athletes who make a very good living from the after dinner and Q+A circuit, of course each and every question has to be heavily vetted beforehand and every detail gone over with a fine tooth comb, God forbid they have to earn their money or even worse, improvise.
The part with Ali's superfan Paddy Monaghan is the stand-out for me. You can tell the genuine warmth and friendship between the two. Again, this isn't Billy McBungle, starting guard for the Huntsville Onion Rings, it's Muhammad F'N Ali. When Ali was stripped of his title in 1967 and had his licence taken away, Paddy was incredulous and took up a massive letter writing campaign to get both the fighter and his title re-instated. I believe, however I may be wrong, that Paddy actually taught himself to read and write in order to undertake this ordeal. So passionate about this that he once confronted Joe Frazier at a London airport, shouting and gesticulating at the then World Heavyweight Champion that the title he held was of the paper variety. Smokin' Joe, as proud a man as you were likely to find (and rightly so) was not one to hold back and security had to intervene before things escalated.
Ali saw this on the TV, could not believe how far someone was willing to go and fight for his name and reputation, immediately began asking questions and before you know it, Mr. Monaghan received a telephone call at his home from, yes, Muhammad Ali who informed him that due to his persistence and tenacity that not only a friendship was born but Paddy would have access to Muhammad's private phone number, plus it was collect, Muhammad would foot the bill. Oh, and the next time Ali was in London he would be paying Paddy, his loved ones and their family home a visit. The King and the council house and by all accounts, as he always seemed to when mixing with us "normal" people, he loved it as much as the Monaghan's did.
That's not all. When Ali fought Al Lewis at Croke Park, Ireland in 1972, Muhammad remembered that Monaghan had Irish ancestry so phoned Paddy and asked him if he wanted to work Ali's corner. (Ali doing the remembering AND the asking. Staggering) "Do squirrels like nuts?" came Paddy's reply. No problem, Paddy would be fitted out with a cornerman's jacket, just had to look important, Angelo Dundee would do all the important stuff (Ang knew what side his bread was buttered and welcomed Paddy into the fold, as opposed to stomping his feet at the thought of a complete rank amateur getting in the way), Paddy would be immortalised on film with his idol in the land of his father. Awesome. Or so he thought. The Irish boxing authorities threw a spanner in the works when they decreed that without an official Irish second's licence, Paddy would not be working Ali's or anybody else's corner. Obviously, Paddy didn't have one, so that was that said the Boxing Union of Ireland. No corner for Paddy.
That was until Ali caught wind of this and told Dundee, the event's promoter of record Harold Conrad and the rest of his retinue that they had better start packing quick, they were going home. The fight was off. Not realizing that they were dealing with somebody who at times simply would not budge from the smallest matter of principle, Irish boxing bigwigs chuckled at the thought of Ali cancelling the fight on account of the besmirching of a London based Irish traveller. Until word came through from Butty Sugrue, the Irish publican who had put the money up to stage the event that Ali was heading straight for the airport, as he himself had been asked to make the short notice call to the cab company. Scrambling and panicking, the BUI told Sugrue to tell Ali to hold on until the morning, at least before leaving, they would attempt to smooth things over.
Paddy Monaghan, who had been kept up to speed on these events, could only smile when by 10.00am on that very next morning his official second's licence, endorsed by the Boxing Union Of Ireland and with the ink barely dry, slipped through his letterbox.
The magic of Muhammad Ali.