Former light-heavyweight champion Montell Griffin might have known heavyweight king Muhammad Ali better than anyone. “Ice,” as Griffin was known during a ring career of his that saw him defeat, amongst others, Roy Jones, James Toney, Thomas Reid, and Randall Yonker, got to know, up close and personal, Ali from a young age.
Ali, at the peak of his fame and celebrity, took a tender Griffin under his wing, and Montell grew as a fighter.
“Did I learn from him, from Ali?” Griffin says today. “I wanted to be him!”
Kindly replying to some questions sent his way on messenger, Montell sent me some footage of Ali belting the heavy bag, with himself seen in the background. Ali was training for his September 1977 fight/war with the murderous Earnie Shavers. Ali, at this point, was largely fighting from memory, his legendary chin doing most of the work for him.
Griffin first met Ali in 1975, prior to Ali’s unequaled battle with Joe Frazier. This week, we are all recalling and celebrating Ali’s stunning, reaffirming win over George Foreman.
Montell was kind enough to give this site a few words on his hero’s KO win over the “unbeatable” Foreman.
“I first met him in 1975,” Griffin said of Ali. “[When he stopped Foreman], he beat the most dominant heavyweight in history. Foreman destroyed two of Ali’s foes (Frazier and Ken Norton).”
“I watched him train every day. I wanted to be him! I watched him train for the [Earnie] Shavers fight. The Foreman fight means so much, and not just to me. Ali was at his best when he beat Sonny Liston in the first fight and when he beat Cleveland Williams. But Ali against Foreman…..he beat a destroyer.”
Indeed, Ali’s super-duper, smashing upset KO win over Foreman has to rank as one of the most astonishing accomplishments in the career of a man who had so many great ring victories.
It was 50 years ago when Ali chopped down Foreman to regain what was always rightfully his in the first place.
Ali KO8 Foreman: a fight, a win, an achievement that means so much to so many people.
Let the celebrating continue…….
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