The night Ali hit home in a blockbuster Paisley show

Published on Saturday 23 February 2002 00:00

WITH exquisite menace, the greatest of all boxers floated round the ring like a not-so-common insect of the diurnal variety, his fists stinging the man who would one day wear his crown. A wee guy from Paisley, driven by admiration, roared: "Yessss, sand-dance ’im Caa-shus. Watch that left! You don’t wa-ant to end up lukkin’ like Willie Henderson..."

Such a consideration had not been on the agenda of Cassius Clay the year before when he defeated Sonny Liston to become world heavyweight champion.

But it wasn’t Florida ’64. It was Renfrewshire ’65, a unique, some might say surreal interlude in the career of Clay, who was on the cusp of being reborn as Muhamad Ali.

It is not an episode that will feature in this month’s new blockbuster movie Ali, starring Will Smith as the fighter.

But it’s there; in the record books, listed among the epic contests with the Foremans, Fraziers and Nortons; 20 August 1965 - venue: Paisley ice rink; opponent: Jimmy Ellis, who assumed the title in 1967 when it was stripped from Ali for refusing to join the army and fight in Vietnam.

His other opponent on a night of exhibition boxing was Cody James, a highly competent US pro, and a regular sparring partner of the champion.

Mr Willie Henderson, footballer extraordinary, took no part, however, the Rangers legend had fought his battles and Ali, upon meeting him at a dinner, observed the wee man’s "lived-in" coupon and apparently concluded: "Football! I’m glad I stuck to boxing."

Treasured memories don’t come better at Madison Square Gardens, a venue which Tommy Gilmour has graced, but not to count the rounds and be paid 2.

"I was a schoolboy and held up the board. I’ve still got the two quid. A night like that, you don’t spend the wages, you treasure them," said the fight promoter, whose dad, Tommy senior, persuaded the all-conquering Clay-Ali to add Scotland - and Paisley - to his tour.

In 1965, that was up there with the sale of refrigerators to fur-suited men with Alaskan addresses. Gilmour, who has promoted 40 world title fights and managed or promoted 12 world champions, added: "It was the old pal’s act. My dad was a friend of Angelo Dundee, Ali’s trainer. They met when they staged the Chic Calderwood-Willie Pastrano fight.

"In those days, pros, even champions, weren’t paid millions. They boosted their income by doing tours and making, say, $10,000 a time."

Ali’s tour had been organised by Mickey Duff, the London promoter.

"My father bought into it," said Gilmour. "It was a coup to bring Clay or Ali as he was becoming to Scotland. He was the best of the best and he packed Paisley ice rink, which is no longer there.

"It was a great evening. I remember his size; he was young, at the height of his powers, before the decline, before the enforced absence from the ring had robbed him of greatness and made him merely excellent.

"I don’t care what anyone says; he was never as good after the ban, but of all the big guys he was the best."

Gilmour, however, does not remember a prancing, ebullient Ali, but an introverted man.

He added: "I remember [Jimmy] Ellis, who wore the heavyweight crown, as the nicest man, but Ali, the ultimate showman was quiet, reserved.

"I don’t know if it was a mood, but I remember Chris Dundee, the brother of Angelo, took me to him and said: ‘You gotta get your picture taken with this kid. His old man’s a friend.’ Ali was reluctant, but if you knew Chris, you know he is not a man to refuse.

"Maybe Ali was tired and had enough of the limelight."

Conversely, Jack Webster remembers a caring man - and an especially touching episode that would occur two decades later.

Webster, a successful feature writer, chaperoned Ali during his time in Scotland. Webster was the star writer of the Daily Express, which paid the champion the princely sum of 100 for a series of articles ghost-written by Webster.

He said: "I’d had a great run of high-calibre interviews; I’d just returned from seeing Chaplin when I got the Ali job. What a man, hypnotic, charismatic, certainly a highlight of my career.

"We’d paid him a hundred quid, put him up at the MacDonald hotel at Eastwood Toll and provided a limo. We had him all over the shop, even Burns’s cottage.

"I was impressed. One day, at lunch, a black American nurse, who was working at the Glasgow Western infirmary, arrived at the hotel. It turned out she had grown up with Ali.

"The next thing we’re touring the children’s ward with the adults standing in stunned disbelief. He had that effect everywhere. We tried to change travellers’ cheques in a city centre bank and attracted a crowd of thousands.

"The boxing night was great, but my treasured memory of Ali came a long time after, in the mid-1990s, when he returned to Glasgow.

"He was suffering from Parkinson’s Syndrome - not the disease - but the illness caused by the blows he took.

"I had a 1965 scrapbook. I went to see him and put the book down. The poor soul was crying. He hugged me. I had brought something from the good times. You couldn’t buy the feeling. Pity it’s not in the new movie."