People still talk
THIS was supposed to be the biggest day of the Irish sporting calendar.
In a series of meetings with GAA chiefs, Brian Peters — the manager of Katie Taylor — hammered out the deal.
The negotiations were tough, but there was a willingness on both sides to make it happen.
A date was settled on. Saturday, September 9, 2022, would be the day when Taylor fought as a professional for the first time in Ireland.
And the meetings with GAA chiefs were because the Taylor camp wanted Croke Park, wanted it badly.
One of the main reasons was the fact that 2022 marks 50 years since Muhammad Ali beat Al ‘Blue’ Lewis in Croker.
That was going to be the hook for Taylor’s homecoming — The Greatest paying homage to The Greatest, and in the same hallowed ground. Unfortunately, Amanda Serrano wouldn’t play ball. She was the opponent the Taylor camp felt they needed to fill the stadium.
Serrano is fighting tonight, taking on Sarah Mahfoud at the Manchester Arena.
But that’s part of the undercard for Joe Joyce v Joseph Parker. She could be doing a ring-walk in front of 80,000 people in Croke Park, instead. What a shame.
Dave Hannigan is someone who, more than most, would love to see big-time boxing back in Croker.
That’s because of his lifelong obsession with Ali — an obsession that has now produced three books.
Students
His first ‘The Big Fight’ centred on Ali v Lewis, his second ‘Drama in the Bahamas’ was on the chaotic end to his boxing career, and his latest — ‘Muhammad Ali: Fifteen Rounds in the Wilderness’ — focuses on his life after he left the ring.
Hannigan made his name as a sportswriter here before moving to the US, where his day job is as a history professor.
“I teach college students and they wouldn’t really be aware of Ali. I brought him up in a class and a fella got excited — ‘that’s the guy who bit another guy’s ear’. He was very proud of himself that he knew this,’’ he said.
“If they know Ali at all now, it’s as an image on a t-shirt. A t-shirt in Target, which is like Penney’s, I guess. The same way now that I see a lot of them wearing Nirvana t-shirts and they mightn’t know any of their songs.”
Hannigan has lost count of the number of Ali books he’s read, the articles, the video and audio interviews, the people he’s spoken to about him.
“I think it’s impossible to get tired of Ali because there’s always new stuff and the trajectory of his career and life is so ridiculous and all over the place,’’ said Hannigan.
“His life went off on tangents that no other sportsperson ever embarked on. The longer you study Ali, the more you come across things you didn’t know.
Organic
“This book isn’t about sport, it’s about this incredible postboxing life, where he was in Vietnam, North Korea, South Africa, Sudan, London — he goes everywhere, basically.
“There was no-one pushing him. He just went to these places because he wanted to. He gets invited and it’s a very organic thing, there’s no Svengali behind him.
“I swore that this was the last book I’d do on Ali and then I had a conversation with somebody last week and ended up going ‘oh, that’s actually a good idea’. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, maybe I’m the addict.’’
It’s often said that sportspeople die twice — the ‘normal’ death and their death as athletes.
Nobody loved being famous as much as Ali and, after hanging the gloves, he always gravitated towards crowds.
“He was happiest then when he was out in public meeting people. Not necessarily famous people on grand occasions. There’s one story where he lands in Ohio to sign at a memorabilia show — they’re very big in America,’’ said Hannigan.
“He’d sit there signing stuff, it sounds sad to us but the guy picking Ali up was a school teacher and they got talking. Ali asked to go to the school. He went there and just lit the place up, and the kids lit him up.
“That became a recurring theme. As the light declined, once he was out engaging with people, that was oxygen.
Energised
“That energised him and that made him happy. I think he ran on adulation and fame and engaging with people.’’
When he was in Dublin 50 years ago, Ali rubbed shoulders with everyone from Luke Kelly of The Dubliners to Kilkenny hurler Eddie Keher.