Opinion | How Muhammad Ali befriended us and then delivered his magic
The Greatest mesmerised millions but being in the presence of greatness was truly something else as we discovered for a few days in September 1994
“The hands can’t hit what the eyes can’t see. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! Rumble, young man, rumble!”
Like millions of fans, I was mesmerised by Muhammad Ali, whose brash talk and magnificent skills in the ring captivated audiences the world over during the 1960s and ’70s.
He proclaimed “I am the Greatest” and he backed it up with some of boxing’s most thrilling bouts such as Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman and Thrilla in Manila against “Smokin Joe” Frazier. His fights were shown on terrestrial TV here.
And, like millions of fans, I was saddened by Ali’s death after a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.
I was fortunate enough to have met Ali twice: once at the height of his career – a few months after he regained the world heavyweight title a third time – and then much later in 1994 when he travelled to Macau on a goodwill visit.
I won’t forget the first time I laid eyes on him as a kid in 1979. I was lucky to have been invited to meet him at the Peninsula hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, where he was staying with third wife Veronica.
