Tributes pour in for ‘a truly great man’
Sir Michael Parkinson among the many big names lining up to remember a legend
SIR MICHAEL PARKINSON led a flurry of tributes from around the world to the legendary fighter.
The TV chat show host was largely responsible for introducing Ali to the wider British public with a series of iconic and often explosive interviews in the 1970s and 1980s.
Sir Michael described Ali as a man of “great genius, great charm and great humour”, with equally warm tributes flowing in from across the spectrum of sport, politics and entertainment.
Sir Paul McCartney last night said the “world has lost a truly great man” while US President Barack Obama said Ali “shook up the world and the world is better for it”.
For many Brits, the majority of whom never saw Ali’s fights, it was his prime time TV interviews with Parkinson which will have left the biggest impression.
Sir Michael interviewed Ali four times over two decades, claiming every one added two million viewers because people knew they were going to be so controversial.
Speaking yesterday, he said: “He was not a man without flaws – you have to consider those. But if you wanted to concentrate on what was attractive about him I could talk forever.
“I could not believe how beautiful he was. He was an extraordinary looking man. He was graceful and all those things and, of course, he was as funny as hell.”
During one interview, the pair once squared up as Ali described the Yorkshireman as a “honky”, while during another, Ali signed off by saying: “You and this little TV show is nothing to Muhammad Ali”.
Sir Michael continued: “It’s one thing to be abused by a film star but to be abused by a man weighing 17 stone who is the heavyweight champion of the world, who would kill you with one blow, your options are a bit limited.”
The veteran broadcaster said Ali had a “real star quality which I have never seen in anyone else I have interviewed” but still doesn’t feel like he knew him.
He added: “If you believed he was serious about his views on white people then he was actually guilty of what he accused others of being – racist.
“We mustn’t deify him at all from that point of view.
“He was a man of many flaws, but he was a man of great genius, great charm, great humour and he was, in his quiet moments, fascinating.”
Sir Michael also yesterday revealed how he turned down the chance to interview the boxer in 2000, after he was named the Athlete of the Century, because of the extent to which Ali’s Parkinson’s had taken hold.
He explained: “I’d seen him on American television and he wasn’t capable of doing an interview. I didn’t want to be part of that.
“I wanted to remember him as he was and I’m glad I didn’t do it.
“The interview was done but they had to put subtitles on it. I wouldn’t have wanted to sit with this great man and go through all that, not for my sake but for his.”
Elsewhere, tributes flooded in for the boxer from stars who had met him.
Ali first met The Beatles in 1964 when the Fab Four flew to Miami to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.
While Beatlemania was well under way, Ali – then still Cassius Clay – was an underdog ahead of his world title fight against Sonny Liston. Sir Paul McCartney last night said simply: “I loved that man.”
He continued: “He was great from the first day we met him in Miami, and on the numerous occasions when I ran into him over the years. “Besides being the greatest boxer, he was a beautiful, gentle man with a great sense of humour who would often pull a pack of cards out of his pocket, no matter how posh the occasion, and do a card trick for you. The world has lost a truly great man.”
President Oba ma meanwhile revealed he keeps a pair of Ali’s gloves in his private study at the White House, and said we are fortunate that “The Greatest chose to grace our time”.
He added: “What made The Champ The Greatest – what truly separated him from everyone else – is that everyone else would tell you pretty much the same thing.
“In my private study, just off the Oval Office, I keep a pair of his gloves on display, just under that iconic photograph of him – the young champ, just 22 years old, roaring like a lion over a fallen Sonny Liston.”
Retired Irish boxer Barry McGuigan said that Ali was “a remarkable human being”, adding: “He was hugely inspirational for me and many fighters all over the world.
“Everybody wanted to box because of him. He was just so amazing in every way.”
Ali’s former promoter Don King said we should “celebrate his life”.
“This is not a time to mourn,” he added.
Former heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis described Ali as “a giant among men”, adding: “Ali displayed a greatness in talent, courage and conviction that most of us will never be able to truly comprehend.”