Muhammad Ali was as sharp as a tack in his later years despite a debilitating disease that had taken hold of his faculties.
Ali, who lost the ability to speak fully due to Parkinson’s, never shied away from public life until his ailment made it impossible for him to do so. The three-time heavyweight champion, who died in 2016, will forever be remembered as boxing’s number one figurehead, a placement that can never be toppled.
Even during his sixties, as the condition worsened, Ali never lost his sense of humor, as Kevin McBride explained after he defeated Mike Tyson.
McBride had pulled off one of the heavyweight division’s most substantial shocks in 2005, and with Ali as a special guest, had two of his idols in the same room. But after he put Tyson on his backside and won a knockout victory, Ali still managed to put the Irishman in his place.
“He got close to me, he started throwing punches at me, like six at a time,” McBride told ESPN. “I could feel the wind, and he said, ‘You’re the latest; I’m still the greatest.’ Money can’t buy that.
“Regardless, win or lose, it was like magic. It’s hard to believe it’s [been] 15 years [at that time]. Time goes real quick.”
On his win over Tyson, McBride could never capitalize either financially or with a world title shot. Instead, McBride had to savor his triumph [earning $150,000] after becoming the sixth man to stop the formidable Mike Tyson.
“It didn’t change [my life],” McBride stated. “I just wanted to maybe fight for a world title. It never materialized.
“I was never in the shape that I should’ve been in. For the Tyson fight I trained, I was sober for eight to nine weeks. [Knockout out Mike Tyson] was like a dream come true. It’s a feeling nobody can ever take away from me.”
McBride continued to work while taking fights here and there.
“It’s easier to knock [trees] down than to knock guys out. I would’ve loved to have the dream money as far as having a nice house; my kids would be set for life. But I’m sober, I love life, one day at a time,” he concluded.
