Muhammad Ali: Farewell to the Greatest

And those from the West Midlands who had the privilege to meet Muhammad Ali throughout his remarkable life have endorsed the great man's claims.

Boxing promoter Ron Gray, from Cannock, got closer than most. In his own fighting days he featured on the undercard on both occasions Ali fought Henry Cooper - at Wembley in 1963 and in 1966 at Highbury.

He also met him numerous times afterwards throughout his promoting career.

Mr Gray said: "When you ask people who the two most popular names are in the whole world they say Muhammad Ali and Nelson Mandela. They are both mentioned in the same breath.

Fan Leslie Ward, who passed away in 1993, built up a close relationship with the boxing icon after first meeting him in the early 1970s.

His daughter Pat Smith said: "My dad had this oil painting done and wanted it signed by Ali so he went to London where Ali was appearing at Tottenham Sports Club.

"When he got there he asked two security guards on the door if he could get this painting signed by Ali but they laughed at him. My dad spoke to a few people there and they said it's never going to happen so 'on your way', that kind of thing.

"But somebody was walking by and got word to Ali that my dad was there and wanted the painting signed.

"My dad booked a taxi to leave but as he was just about to get in, somebody tapped him on the shoulder and said come inside. The occasion was a dinner and when my dad stepped inside you could hear a pin drop. He walked over to Ali, who was sitting at the top table, and got it signed. Ali took a liking to my dad. He recognised dad as his number one fan in the world. He really took a shine to him. From then on my dad went over to all the fights." Pat met Ali on numerous occasions and even saw the boxer pay a visit to their auntie's home on Stafford Road.

Pat, now aged 60, from Wolverhampton, said: "I'm sad that Ali has passed but in a mixed sort of way, it is also a happy relief due to the state of his health with his battle against Parkinson's disease.

"He was a firm believer in peace. I'm very happy that he is now at peace. I hope he meets up with my dad up there in heaven, I'm sure they will."

Mrs Smith's father was well known for being a huge fan of Ali, meeting the champ at training camps and after fights, often bagging himself memorabilia, including fight-worn gloves and boots. But when The Greatest came to the city, Mr Ward was in Australia visiting his daughter.

Mrs Smith said: "I have never been to America with my dad to meet Ali, but I met him a few times in London and a few times in Birmingham. When he came to my house my dad was in Australia visiting my sister at the time.

"He said to me if Ali comes to the country you must look out for him. Ali used to look for my dad.

"I heard on the news at the time that Ali was coming to Birmingham so me and my husband went out to meet him. It was August 1983. "I took a photo of me and my dad to get in to the Albany Hotel in Birmingham. They invited us to a suite. Ali said he was busy that day but to come back tomorrow.

"We did, and were expecting to meet him downstairs with everyone else, but somebody invited us up to his room and there he was lying in his bed.

"So we sat down on the side of his bed and were chatting to him and Ali was saying 'where is your dad?' My dad was on holiday in Australia with my mom at the time. He went to Wolverhampton that day to do a speech at the former Sheraton Hotel off the ring road in Wolverhampton, and mentioned my dad and said 'this town is the home town of my number one fan, you should be very proud'."

She added: "Ali came to my house on the Sunday, it was my sister's house, along the Stafford Road. It was very surreal. There was a police escort that had came along and one officer asked if he could bring his boys along and they did, and there is a big photo in our house of Ali and the police.

"Ali was on the phone to my dad speaking to him in Australia saying 'I am with your family'.

"That's the only time he came to our house. Afterwards it took a while to come back down to earth. He was such a great, great, great man. We were on cloud nine and felt like we had the weekend with him."

"I met him on several occasions. He was just a lovely, lovely man. Absolutely different to the way he was when he came out with his outbursts. He was a quiet person actually but so loveable with the press. You would ask him a question and get a half-an-hour answer. He was absolutely brilliant."

And yet Ron's late brother Billy got to share a ring with the man who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. In 1966 he was drafted in to spar with Ali as he prepared to fight Brian London.

Paying tribute to his sibling after he lost his battle to cancer last year, Ron said at the time: "There seemed to be a link between our family and Ali. He's competed over here three times and I boxed on two of those bills, while Billy sparred with him for his fight on the other.

"He got the call to go down to the Thomas A Becket gym in London and spend two days with Ali, before he fought Brian London.

"The strange thing was I spent a month up in Blackpool sparring with Brian at the time. I joked with Billy that I was softening him up for Ali."

In 1979 Ali made his first visit to the Midlands. During the visit he was presented a commemorative belt in Birmingham, which was later bought by advertising guru Trevor Beattie, once of Wolverhampton.

But photobombing the handover was none other than Sir Lenny Henry who paid tribute to Ali calling him a 'titan' of boxing.

Tony Wilson, 55 and from Wolverhampton, was another to meet the man formerly known as Cassius Clay when he came to England.

Ali returned in 1983 stopping by at Wolverhampton's The Sheraton on Raglan Street among other fan-packed destinations in Birmingham, Dudley and Coventry.

Mr Wilson, who was an amateur boxing champion at the time and now teaches at Arena Gym in Willenhall, said: "I was very sad to hear he passed away. I met him in Handsworth. He stopped and asked who we were and started shadow boxing with us in the street. It was one of the highlights of my life.

"I went to bed that night and couldn't stop dreaming about it. He was very humble for what he achieved.

"If I can get a fighter with just a quarter of his skill I would consider myself blessed. It's a very sad day. He was an ambassador for boxing."

Businessman Terry Carvin was able to get Ali to open his new firm Buyrite Autoparts in Dudley during the 1983 visit.

Having met the boxer in America he agreed to pay him £3,000 to cut the ribbon at the unveiling while more than 2,000 screaming fans packed Hall Street outside.

The 69-year-old from Kingswinford, said: "You could see the early signs of his problems were there. I could see that. But he was still all there and messing around sparring with people doing that sort of thing. He was doing a lot of talking to the fans. He must have been there a good four hours."

"I kept in contact with him for quite a while after that, although not recently. He was particularly interested in the Beatles. It is a sad thing that he has passed. He was a brilliant sportsman and athlete."

Scott Murray, owner of Bar Sport in Cannock, has hosted some of boxing's biggest ever names for after-dinner speeches at the venue's Premier Suite lounge including the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard and Evander Holyfield.

While Ali has never been there himself four of his opponents Henry Cooper, Earnie Shavers, George Chuvalo and Ken Norton are among a stellar list to have entertained audiences in Cannock.

Mr Murray said: "They were all in awe of him. He was just an inspiring character.

"All the guys we have hosted who met him have said the same. A lot of them said he's the reason they took up boxing. He was Sugar Ray Leonard's hero. It's tremendous the amount of influence he has.

"I never met him. I do have a load of his memorabilia though.

"It is very sad. He was the greatest boxer that ever lived. "

Ali, who was world heavyweight champion a record three times, was equally if not more famous for his charm, wit, charisma, outrageous rhymes and outspoken views in projecting the Nation of Islam's ideology.

But his speed and flare in the ring defying the traditional attributes of a typical heavyweight inspired generations of boxers, including those born well after he had hung up his gloves only to commence one of his biggest and most enduring battles - with Parkinson's disease.

For more than 30 years Muhammad Ali suffered from Parkinson's disease, an illness he developed at the young age of 42.

Fellow Parkinson's sufferer, the actor Michael J Fox, paid tribute on Twitter, saying: "Ali, the G-O-A-T (greatest of all time). A giant, an inspiration, a man of peace, a warrior for the cure. Thank you."

Tributes have flooded in from around the world, with friends and fellow fighters paying Ali, who was voted Sports Personality of the Century, the highest accolades.

US president Barack Obama said: "He shook up the world and the world is better for it." In a heartfelt tribute the president revealed that he keeps a pair of Ali's gloves in his private study at the White House.

George Foreman, Ali's friend and rival from the Rumble in the Jungle, said: "We were like one guy – part of me is gone."

Ali's death leaves Foreman as the sole significant survivor of the golden age of the heavyweights in which Joe Frazier, Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle, Ken Norton and Jimmy Ellis were also prominent.

The extent of Ali's illness was brought to the world stage when he was seen trembling badly while lighting the Olympic torch in 1996 to open the Atlanta Games.

The world will have the chance to say goodbye to Muhammad Ali at his funeral procession in Louisville on Friday.

A private family service for the three-time world heavyweight champion,will be held on Thursday, the day before a procession through Louisville, the city of Ali's birth in 1942, where he will be buried.

Former US president Bill Clinton and comedian Billy Crystal will deliver eulogies at a service which will be open to the public.

Family spokesman Bob Gunnell told reporters: "A rather large funeral procession will take Muhammad Ali through the streets of Louisville to allow anyone that is there from the world to say goodbye."

Mourners will also be able to pay their respects at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, which will be open to the public all week.

Reading a statement from Ali's family, Mr Gunnell said: "Muhammad Ali was truly the people's champion and the celebration will reflect his devotion to all races, religions, and backgrounds.

"Muhammad's extraordinary boxing career only encompassed half of his life."