Muhammad Ali ’s death last June was mourned worldwide – but nowhere as deeply as the small town of Abingdon in Oxfordshire.
There bare-knuckle boxing champ Paddy Monaghan grieved for the superstar to whom he was so close that they referred to each other as brothers.
Parkinson’s disease victim Ali’s passing at 74 hit Paddy so hard, he struggled to cope and died aged 73 on April 9.
“He never got over Muhammad’s death and his health went downhill very quickly,” said his son Tyrone to Sunday People .
“I like to think Muhammad and my dad are up there in heaven now having the best of banter.”
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As our previously unseen family pictures show, they were the best of buddies, with Tyrone recalling Ali visiting their modest home more than a dozen times.
“The first time the crowd was so big, the police couldn’t handle it and had to call in the Army,” said Tyrone. “There were thousands of people, the street was packed.”
Another special memory is of Ali sparring with 16-year-old Tyrone in their back garden – and The Greatest letting him win.
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“That’s my claim to fame, I was unofficial world champion at 16,” said Tyrone.
His dad and Ali became pals after Paddy campaigned for his world title to be reinstated after it was stripped from him for refusing to fight in Vietnam in 1967.
Fermanagh-born Paddy got 22,224 signatures on a petition, led protests in London’s Hyde Park and wrote to US President Richard Nixon to plead Ali’s case.
As reward for helping Ali win his licence back, Paddy was a second in his hero’s corner when he defeated Alvin Blue Lewis in Dublin in 1972.
Paddy then worked in Ali’s corner when he beat Joe Frazier in New York in 1974.
“Their friendship got to the stage where dad would say ‘Muhammad is coming over later’ and I’d just reply, ‘Oh, alright Dad’. It felt like it was no biggie,” said Tyrone.
The first time Ali visited, when the Army had to control the mob, Tyrone was seven and recalls: “The crowd went crazy.
“My mum had rose bushes in the front garden, with one right in the centre. But our picket fence got knocked down and the crowd trampled all over the garden.
“Muhammad stepped on that bush in the centre – he didn’t know it was there – but the only rose that ever came back to life after that day was the one he trod on.”
He said that after the birth of his three daughters, the best day of his life was sparring with Ali in his back garden at 16.
“He told me I was as good at fighting as he was at the same age. It’s probably not true but it made me feel great,” he said.
“I beat Muhammad and nobody knows about it, it was just in my back garden.”
Through his friendship with Ali, Paddy met many big name stars.
“He was at Jackie Gleason’s birthday party once and Mickey Rooney kept asking dad, ‘Paddy, what line are you in?’ My dad said, ‘I’m in the dole line’. Mickey Rooney just wouldn’t believe him. He said, ‘I’ll get it out of you some time’.
“Dad also met James Brown but didn’t have a clue who he was. James Brown started screaming and cursing at my dad for not having heard of him.”
Tyrone, a Kung Fu master, tearfully recalls the last time he and his father saw Parkinson’s disease-stricken Ali, during his visit to Dublin in 2009.
“It was sad,” said Tyrone. “The previous time dad had seen him, they had shadow boxed and played around with each other. But this time, Ali didn’t
recognise my dad at first.
“It was only when his wife Lonnie said, ‘Muhammad, Paddy Monaghan is here’ that he looked up. His face lit up and he said: ‘Paddy, my brother.’
“I helped him up out of his chair so he could hug dad – and it was such a loving hug. Neither of them wanted to be the first one to release that hug.”
He added: “Ali’s family all sent lovely messages when dad passed away.”
Muhammad Ali's son: I face life on the streets
Ali's son claims he is facing homelessness and accuses his family of stopping him getting an equal share of the legend’s £62million fortune.
Muhammad Ali Junior, 45, Ali’s only natural son, says he has only had three “measly” payments of £2,000 in the last two months and is sleeping on a friend’s floor in Florida, days from living on the streets because he can’t afford rent.
He says an equal slice of the inheritance was agreed at a meeting with his seven sisters and the will’s executor, Ali’s fourth wife Lonnie, 59.
Before his death last June, Ali is said to have told friends he wanted all of his children to have no money worries.
But Ali Jnr said: “It looks like I’ve just been cut off. Dad would have wanted me to have a place to stay, have my money.
“I’m going to live off water now, as that’s all I can afford. Getting food is hard and I’ve nowhere I call home.”
Ali Jnr had little contact with his dad for 20 years, living on Chicago’s gangland south side and struggling to make ends meet cleaning people’s yards. Then his marriage fell apart a month after his father died.
Ali Jnr adds his dad’s brother Rahman, 73, hasn’t had a cent from the family, despite huge bills to treat Parkinson’s disease, from which Ali also suffered.
Family attorney Jeffrey K Eisen said: “Ali’s trust details were approved by him and reflect his wishes to ensure his legacy would be honoured exactly as prescribed. Terms of the trust are a private matter.”
