Boxing fan recalls ‘The Greatest’ day of his life ALI WAS A REAL
EMILY HALL A BOXING fan has told of his joy when Muhammad Ali gave him his robe at one of his last UK appearances.
John Howard was just nine years old when he met the ring legend during a goodbye tour.
His dad David took him to the Farewell to London: The Magic of Ali event, sponsored by the Daily Star – who’s logo was emblazoned across the gown – at the Royal Albert Hall on May 29, 1979.
The schoolboy left his seat rows away from the action and slipped to the ringside. He then grabbed Ali’s arm while he took a break between sparring with fighters including Joe Awome.
John, 46, said: “I used to go to all the shows with dad. Boxing was my whole world. I was obsessed.
“The event was billed as Ali’s goodbye to the boxing fraternity, I think it was the year he officially retired.
“I managed to get ringside. I then grabbed his arm and asked for his gloves. “I was about 3ft tall but so cheeky. “Ali kept saying, ‘Come and see me after, kid, come and see me after’. So I did.”
After the match, chauffeur John, who lives in Bromley, Kent, begged his dad to take him behind the scenes to Ali’s dressing room so he could catch a glimpse of the sportsman, who passed away earlier this month aged 74.
John recalled: “There were what seemed like hundreds and hundreds of people, 20 deep by 40 wide waiting around for him.
“I was standing there clutching my programme and just hoping I’d get an autograph.
“But I ducked and dived through the crowd and he spotted me.”
Police then lifted John over the barriers before “The Greatest” scooped him up in his arms and lifted him on to his knee where they chatted.
He added: “I spent a bit of time with him. He gave me his address in California in case I wanted to write. It was amazing. “Then he gave me his robe.” The dad-of-two remembers running back to his dad with the prized possession tucked safely in a BHS carrier bag.
John went on to be an amateur boxer as has his son Johnny, 11, to whom he has proudly passed on the robe.
He said: “It just shows that Muhammad Ali was the sort of bloke everyone said he was. I’d never get rid of that robe. He was an inspiration.”