Muhammad Ali will return to the UK one last time to pay tribute to his adoring British fans as he attends a series of fund-raising events for charity over the coming week.
Ali will visit Ricky Hatton's gym in Manchester this morning, but in contrast to the athletic man of hype and bluster, and blistering physical skills who came to these shores in May 1966 to fight Henry Cooper, there will be no media interviews or speeches this time, just that silent shuffle from the iconic sportsman, now 67, who has been living with Parkinson's Disease since 1984.
Ali came here in 1966 ahead of the then heavyweight world champion's second world title defence against Cooper, the British and Empire champion, at Arsenal's Highbury stadium. Now the two men, Ali and Sir Henry, will come face to face again when they meet in the private grounds of Windsor Castle on Friday evening.
Yet according to Bob Arum, Ali's promoter at the time, his arrival here in May 1966, and the gushing reception he received despite his open objection to the Vietnam War draft in the United States, cemented a long-standing love affair between Ali, the British media, and the British public. In 1999, he was voted the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century, and three times Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.
Arum, speaking exclusively to The Daily Telegraph, said Ali's visit this week would be part of the gratitude he felt at that time for his treatment from the British public.
Ali had left the United States under a cloud when he came here in 1966. The outspoken fighter had fallen foul of the American authorities over his conscientious objection, through his Islamic beliefs, to the Vietnam War draft. That year saw the beginning of Ali's five-year legal battle with the authorities, after which he was exonerated.
Arum said yesterday: "You have to look at the backdrop at the time. You have to understand what was happening in the US. They virtually threw us out. We were chastised, clothed in notoriety. Ali refused to fight in Vietnam – and soon afterwards he was banned for three years, stripped of the world title, they took away his passport. Understand this – when he took up his position, I was even horrified because it was so contrary to what you were taught as an American.
"You did not go and question your country being in a war. But the fact was that this guy, who barely had an education, was eventually proved right and all these 'geniuses' were proved wrong. To me it showed him to be a great figure."
In the spring of 1966, Arum was contacted by Jarvis Astaire and Harry Levine, the British promoters who said they would host a world title fight in London, at Arsenal Stadium. Levine and Astaire flew to meet Arum in Boston, and the deal was completed with alacrity.
Arum said: "We flew early in the morning to London – we took a taxi into central London, and when Ali emerged into Piccadilly, and walked out of his hotel, people went nuts. There were thousands of people cheering and screaming for him. It was like that everywhere we went.
"Here was Ali, a pariah in his own country, denounced, with everyone considering him a traitor because he had spoken out against the Vietnam draft. Yet he comes over to England and he is seen as larger than life. People want to touch him, follow him everywhere, they almost treated him like a deity.
"We did so many media calls. It was incredible. Reggie [Gutteridge], Harry [Carpenter], David Frost, the media guys did so much with him, they played off each other. They enjoyed Ali's cheekiness, his banter."
The Cooper-Ali contest was also the first fight seen live and free on terrestrial television in the United States, on ABC. "They thought it would have legs. That was great for us. The ratings were phenomenal," Arum explained.
"We stayed in the Piccadilly Hotel for three weeks. Ali went running in Hyde Park in the morning, the paparazzi were everywhere trying to get his picture, an American film crew were there filming The Dirty Dozen, we had a riot. Angelo [Dundee, Ali's trainer] and I hung out in a casino rumoured to be mob-connected – we had a helluva time."
Arum, who admits the visit to Britain "had a tremendous impact" on his life, added: "We were stunned. Even in Canada three months earlier they had to have a vote in the Ontario parliament whether or not they would allow Ali to fight George Chuvalo – like it was their business – and we won by one vote and by using political pressure to get it.
"Coming to London was like fresh air, and Ali never ever forgot it. It felt like we'd escaped from prison in the US. Ali's impish charm could suddenly come out again, he could say outrageous things, and the UK media loved it.
"That's why Ali has come back. He has never forgotten the following he had in the UK."
Muhammad Ali schedule this week:
- Wed Aug 26 :Morning: Visit to Ricky Hatton’s gym in Hyde, Manchester
- Evening: Black tie fundraising dinner at Manchester United FC, at Old Trafford.
- Thursday: Black tie fundraising dinner at Britannia Stadium, Stoke on Trent.
- Friday: VIP reception at the Alltech FEI European Jumping and Dressage Championships, private grounds at Windsor Castle.
- Sunday, Aug 30: Black tie dinner at Wembley Stadium, London.
- Monday, Aug 31: Charity fund-raiser in Dublin.
- Tuesday, Sept 1: Visit to see the birthplace of his great-grandfather Aby Grady in Ennis, Co Clare, where he will be made the first Honorary Freeman on Ennis Town.
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