PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Muhammad Ali, left, in his later years.
By BOB KEANEY
Many years and punches ago, when Muhammad Ali was training in Boston to fight Sonny Liston, I took a trip to Boston to see “The Mouth That Roared.”
When I arrived at old Boston Arena, where workouts were held, the joint was closed. I then saw a scribbled note on the door, stating something like this: “The Muhammad Ali workouts and the bout (set for Boston Garden) are called off. Muhammad Ali has a serious hernia problem.”
When Ali healed, the fight was moved Lewiston, Maine. I did not attend. Lucky me. Ali KO’d Liston in just one round.
I now worried that I might never see “The Greatest” in person.
The years went by faster than an Ali Shuffle. Later came a big bout in New York at Yankee Stadium, with Ali slated to take on the dangerous Ken Norton, who had broken his jaw in a previous bout in a stunning upset.
The distance from Lynn to Yankee Stadium is 400 miles. I was worried. But two of my fellow newspapermen, both big fans of Ali, suggested we go as a trio. They were Rick Vitali, now an esteemed Lynn attorney, and Jim Wilson, a highly-rated Boston Globe photographer.
Ted Grant, now Publisher of The Item, and Attorney Kevin Calnan, then students at Boston College, also went to the stadium to see the fight.
Vitali, note the last three letters…Ali, offered to drive Wilson and me in his Volkswagen. Wearily, we arrived in Times Square and located the ticket headquarters. We displayed our own wrinkled press passes. But the promoter said his staff didn’t relay to him our request for tickets. Seeing our deep sadness, and knowing we came all the way from Boston, he handed us each $50 tickets to enter “The House That Ruth Built.”
At the jam-packed stadium entrance, we bumped into sports commentator Howard Cosell and saw some of the Rolling Stones roll by, headed to their ring side seats, near Frank Sinatra.
We thought about the Stones’ teargas concert at Manning Bowl in 1966, briefly, as we fought our way into line. At the stadium gate, there was no one to collect our tickets. So, we just shuffled our way in. Free. We still have the original ducats.
In the ring, Ali took many blows to the head, but won the fierce battle in a 2-1 split decision over the courageous Norton.
It was a happy ride home.
Years later, I saw Ali in person again. He was a special guest at St. Mary’s High School in Lynn. I told Ali about Lynn’s famous boxing coach, the late Tony Pavone, who also called himself “The Greatest!”
But Pavone was, by then, 83 and in serious condition at a local hospital. Ali, admiring Tony’s coaching dedication, was battling Parkinson’s Disease and could only communicate with hand and facial gestures.
Ali said, in his own kind way: “Tell Coach Pavone that he and I are both The Greatest.”
Bob Keaney is a Lynn sports historian.
