Edward Mauldin tagged me on a topic that used to be so close to my heart. He said “this is why I say maybe with the exception of Jack Johnson; Clay is the best of all, you be the judge!” Well I used to to do a bit of boxing but for years I loved going to all the fights in London. So I thought I’d respond the only way I can which inevitably led me into a story about a chance meeting with Britain’s foremost boxing expert & writer Colin Hart. Then, lo & behold, this morning I received this link from David Stevens –

http://www.renegadetribune.com/boxing-tyson-fury-jews-banks-tv-brainwashing/

 

Since most of you surely know what I feel about exposing the Zionists, all I’m going to say about this is –

1) First of all, fair play & utmost respect to Tyson Fury. 

2) Would he honestly say this if it wasn’t entirely correct?

3) The one thing all decent folk need is for more people like Tyson Fury to step up to the plate in order to expose the greatest criminals in history!

 

It’s nigh on impossible talking about Cassius Clay without mentioning Muhammad Ali. Sure it’s the same person but if I was simply to refer to his career when he was Clay, it’s a cast-iron guarantee to cause controversy because people will inevitably refer to what happened later on as Ali. There’s good reason – many say he’s the greatest yet he has a flawed record whereas someone like Marciano remained undefeated throughout his career. Do I think Marciano would have beaten Clay? NO POSSIBLE CHANCE!

There’s no getting away from it. One has to take into consideration the eras these men fought. In Marciano’s, the heavyweight division was all but void of talent whereas between 65-75 it was positively the golden era of heavyweight boxing. It’s no surprise Ali was given decisions that were nothing short of scandalous. He was the monster draw. Certainly, fighters like Ken Norton & Jimmy Young, known as ‘spoilers’ had found an effective way to neutralise Ali, though it must be said, by the mid 70’s Ali had lost what Cassius Clay had in abundance – speed & agility.

One of Ali’s ‘victories’ over Ken Norton, if not both, were highly dubious. Jimmy Young, who’d just beaten George Foreman no less, also lost a contentious points decision to Ali. And in the greatest fight of them all, the 3rd & final encounter with Smokin’ Joe in the mind-boggling ‘Thriller in Manila’, Ali was done only for Frazier’s corner to throw the towel in. I’d long since felt too that referees were so lenient with Ali, forever allowing him to hold his opponents. But what annoyed me most was Ali took the show-boating way too far, especially the manner in which he continually humiliated Joe Frazier in full public gaze. This was bad.

A little known fact – when Ali’s livelihood was outrageously taken away, Frazier offered Ali financial support. That aside, to then constantly taunt Frazier with jibes of being ugly etc. After, Ali gave the excuse he was only trying to sell fights. I’m not sure. For starters, a fight with Ali sold itself but significantly, fighters are warriors who justifiably have pride. Ali’s treatment of Frazier was nothing short of disgraceful. Idiots typically laugh this off because they’re too dumb to consider how they & their family would feel if they were on the receiving end of a barrage of cheap insults.

Having said all that, as far as I’m concerned, Cassius Clay was an artist that literally defied belief! There has never been a boxer in this division displaying so much, speed, balance & timing. Just look how as the bell is about to go for the Liston fight, Clay is bouncing up & down as if he’s bloody Fred Astaire! Liston was only 7 pounds heavier yet he looked more like an RSJ support beam! To be so fleet-footed & mobile is one thing but along with his undoubted talent, what set Clay apart was his unique boxing style, especially his uncanny ability to fight with his hands down, by his side.

 

Sonny Liston vs Cassius Clay 1964 – 

 

To be able to watch punches rain in & moreover, avoid them with unerring regularity just by swaying your head either back or sideways is not what fighters are taught. Boxers train to hit moving targets. So anyone who’s able to defend themselves without having to customarily raise their hands, effectively is opening up Pandora’s box. This is what Cassius Clay could do & as a result, there was literally no opposition, including Sonny Liston who was no slouch. What people forget is in nearly all of Clay’s fights, he remained virtually unmarked. When one considers how many times his opponents were hit & the fact he fought all contenders, this is astonishing. Clay made good fighters look very ordinary.

Invariably, opponents waste more energy punching air. It’s not so bad when you’re at least hitting your opponent’s gloves. Importantly, often when punching air, one is susceptible to momentarily lose balance. Also, by not having gloves up in front of his face, Clay could scrutinise & judge if & when his opponents were off balance & so, wide open. Thus often he knew the right moment to launch counter-attacks. Thirdly, boxing with ones hands down much of the time means one can preserve energy. The more ones hands are raised, the more lactic acid builds up. This is one of the reasons why Clay had such phenomenal hand speed & often unloaded with incredible combinations which included combination uppercuts that beggared belief!

Sure Henry Cooper put Clay on his butt in 63 in London with his famous hammer left hook but this was because Cooper worked out his best chance was to take the fight to Clay. He was far lighter (under 13 stone) & so was every bit as mobile. Moreover, with Clay predicting it would all be over in Round 5, this could have played into Cooper’s hands. Clay wanted to prove he was right. Now, whether he went easy early on deliberately? For sure Cooper would have felt ‘If I’m going to show him, I better do it quick!’ All this is open to conjecture. This is the stuff of legends. However what everyone did see emphatically for the first time was that Clay could not only take a punch but his recuperative powers were second to none.

 

Muhammad Ali vs Henry Cooper 1963 – 

 

 

For the final part of this boxing bonanza, around 12 years ago, I was running a card club in Preston Road. Fortunately, I was sent out to get some milk. As I was about to cross the road to the shops, a man I thought I recognised walked passed. I was sure it was Britain’s chief boxing correspondent, a man who’s been our leading expert on boxing for 40 years. I shouted “You’re COLIN HART aren’t you?” He stopped, turned & smiled “I take it you’re a boxing fan.”

Well……for the next hour we didn’t stop. We talked about all the great fights. He couldn’t believe it when I asked what he thought about a young Roberto Duran beating the great Ken Buchanan after Duran hit him BELOW THE BELT…. AFTER THE BELL HAD GONE FOR THE END OF THE ROUND! It was unbelievable. We had a good laugh about that. I remember vehemently disagreeing with him over the Haglar/Leonard fight. I insisted if we watched the fight again there’s no way he’d still believe Leonard won that fight. I could understand why he & many others wanted Sugar Ray to win that fight but I still believe Leonard, great boxer as he was, conned a lot of people. Haglar’s own brilliance & arrogant attitude meant he was always fighting that fight with one hand behind his back.

What interested me most about Hart is how he tackled the fact a mere member of the public was telling him he was wrong about certain fights. It seemed he actually enjoyed having a proper discussion on the sport he loved so much. Being Britain’s foremost expert usually means few people ever disagree with you. It was so clear to see he relished our little conflab, especially when we began talking about some of the amazing fights we’d both seen live at the Albert Hall. In the end, I had to drag myself away, though when we finally did say our goodbyes, he said something I’ll never forget because it’s one of my most cherished memories I have. His exact words were –

“In all my life, I’ve never met anyone that knows more about boxing than you.” 

This came from Colin Hart himself folks! Honestly, I was really, very surprised & needless to say, it remains one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received. I mean coming from him! I swear, 100% a true story. Funnily enough, I went back into my club & my partner said ‘where the bloody hell have you been……. & WHERE’S THE BLOODY MILK?