Mohammad Ali

The great man has passed away and let's be clear here, he was truly a Great Man. A great professional sportsman and a great character.
I remember him from the Cassius Clay days, when he came to England and spoke in an outrageous manner, boasting about how good he was and how he was gonna beat Henry Cooper. We'd never seen/heard anything like it in sport - someone so full of himself and we all couldn't wait for him to get his come-uppance at the hands of Our'Enery. Well, Cooper all but did it, flooring the mouthy American but, wouldn't you know it, Clay's gloves were split and he had to have them changed at the break, therefore giving him enough time to recover sufficiently to go on and win as he'd predicted he would. Very professional - but you couldn't help but admire the man and he was swiftly taken to our hearts with his brashness and humour - plus the fact that he moved like nobody had ever seen anyone move in the ring and really did start to live up to his "I am the greatest" claims. "Gaseous Cassius" he may have been then but boy, could he box.
So rest in peace Mohammad - you've earned it and we'll never forget you - thank you for the show, the wit but, above all the skill.

Yep, truly The Greatest. RIP.