Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World - Hardcover

The first Ali fight I saw was the “Thrilla In Manila”, against Joe Frazier. Me and my mother watched it on TV. There was a lot of hype surrounding this fight so I was particularly excited. I just loved his showmanship, and I said to my mum that I was going to emulate him one day. And I’m trying to do that today.

It wasn’t easy growing up a black kid in the East End of London, but Ali gave us a sense of pride. He was a black man and he was heavyweight champion of the world, and his success gave young, black kids, unfortunate kids, something to look up to, something to go for. It gave them hope, faith and strength.

He was all around, in the sense that he was involved with the kids, helping people. He started by winning the Olympic gold medal, which is a great achievement, and then he lost the title three times. But he was able to come back all three times, like he said he would, so he’s a man of good ethics, a man of honour. He wants you to believe he can do whatever he says he can do, because he believes it.

I liked all of Muhammad Ali’s fights, because they were all different. I liked his last couple, because those are the fights that really showed the spirit of a true champion, to be able to come back after being beaten like that. A lot of people come to his fights to see him lose, so it was great to see him come back and actually win, because a lot of people didn’t think he could do that. The Leon Spinks fight was one of the favourite fights for me. He actually came back and beat him mentally, used his ring science to win, using the rope-a-dope in that fight and showing how effective it was. It was a different spin on the sports-science aspect of boxing. This was something new. Nothing that I would do! But it showed that Muhammad Ali had invented a new style of boxing that worked for him.

That was one of the things that really stood out for me, the sweet science of the sport. Sweet science to Muhammad Ali and me is hitting without being hit. That involves good movement; good, fast hands; and being able to not get hit. He was great for those things.

The first time I actually met Muhammad Ali, I was at the North American Games in Indianapolis and he actually came down to watch the American team - I was boxing for the Canadian team at that time - and he was watching at the ringside. I remember I just wanted to make a good fight of it. I wanted to show off the fact that my style is like his style. In the back of my mind, I was kind of emulating him. This man that I respect so much is at the ringside, so I wanted to do good. So I went out there and I won that fight. It felt great.

When I won Sports Personality Of The Year, I was standing beside Muhammad Ali, who won Sports Personality Of The Millennium. That was a great moment for me, because I’m there sitting with the man that I look up to, and we’re both in front of the world with great awards.

Ali is a great icon. Somebody that has gone through trials and tribulations and achieved things through his whole career. He remained a character and remained himself and stayed true to his beliefs through all of this. He’s a showman: he transcended his sport.