My History Fight: Daniel Dubois and Nathan Gorman would have loved to face Muhammad Ali

If Daniel Dubois or Nathan Gorman could step into the ring with one past fighter from any era, it’d be Muhammad Ali.

Ahead of their upcoming clash for the vacant British title, the two top prospects gave an identical answer when asked by talkSPORT.com for their ‘History Fight.’

Gorman – 16-0, 23 years old – had no hesitation in declaring: “It would be Muhammad Ali because in my personal opinion he’s the greatest of all time.

“Obviously a lot of people know him as the greatest of all time, don’t they?

“I’m a massive, massive fan of his and to share a ring with your hero would be something exceptional.”

Ali is thought of by many as the greatest fighter to have ever lived, not just in the ring, but outside of it too.

The American achieved legendary victories over Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sonny Liston, among many others, during his career, which spanned 21 years between 1960 and 1981.

However, even impressive triumphs such as these were topped by his historic civil rights triumphs away from the sport.

Ali’s unmatched talent saw his claim to being the ‘Greatest Of All Time’ accepted, with very few others having ever been classed as even remotely close to his level of ability.

This is even more remarkable, given that he spent three and a half of his prime years out of the ring – between the ages of 25 and almost 29 – as he was exiled for refusing to join armed forces for the Vietnam War.

Dubois – 11-0, 21 years old – echoed his rival’s answer: “Ali, Muhammad Ali.”

However, he preferred to focus more on the present than the past and continued: “But they’ve done their thing and it’s time for me to just get on with doing what I have to do.

“I’ve got a lot of hard challenges ahead and I’m just bracing ready for it.”

Ali won Olympic Gold in 1960 and then turned professional, becoming the first man ever to win the heavyweight championship three times – an unprecedented feat given the lack of proliferated world titles we see today.

Of course there is an enormous disparity between the level of Ali at his peak and that of developing youngsters Dubois and Gorman today, and this is something Nathan recognises.

When asked how a fight between them would’ve played out, Gorman concluded: “He’d probably beat me up! No-one beats Ali, do they?

“In my personal opinion, no-one at all beats Ali, so he’d win hands down.

“He was too good, he was the best ever.”