He was great. Sad he is gone. Boxing takes a tremendous toll.
I have another boxing story, true story... I took my then 5 year old son to the Arizona State Fair, or the Maricopa Country Fair, whichever is in the springtime. We were ready to go, so I said, the Phoenix Suns are playing at the stadium there, lets walk over to the stage entrance - where the players go in and out - and I told him, it is late in the game, maybe we can sneak in and watch the end, never know. So we got back there and there were cars everywhere, a bunch of folks, no way that would happen. And then, all of a sudden, the crowd parted for a car that crept right past us very slowly and real close, I could reach out and touch it, and lo and behold, Muhammad Ali was looking out the window at me. I got a big stupid grin on my face, and I was pointing at him and said real loud "Look Rob, look! Its the champ!" And Muhammad Ali made a fist and shook it at me and gave me that look he had. What a "thrilla". I forgot it was Fight Week or whatever they call it - at the hospital where my wife works they have the annual Muhammad Ali charity fundraiser for the Parkinson's disease research and he appeared as the draw to get rich folks to go to the black tie event and open their wallets. Anyway, as we were walking away, I was on cloud 9, and I told my son "Now look, you are young, but you should try and remember this, that is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, heavyweight fighters that ever lived. And my son's response was "Well, I bet he couldn't beat Hulk Hogan". So I bickered with him until I realized here I am arguing with a 5 year old about who could beat up who... a heavyweight boxing icon or a professional wrestler...