Muhammad Ali, Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr, 1942-2016.A unique piece of autographed memorabilia for one of the world’s most renowned heavyweight boxing legends.Customers testimony, It was July, 1986, at Basildon's then Festival Hall, now The Mc Donalds site, Pipps Hill. The soon to happen, World Heavy weight Boxing Title fight, between, The Then Champion Tim Witherspoon, USA, and our very own Frank Bruno, at Wembley.The training camp was set up at the Festival Hall, and was open to the general public, to watch the training of Tim Witherspoon. More importantly at the time, certainly for me, was that the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali was present.I went there on 3 consecutive days, and saw the "Champ" on each occasion. Taking photographs of him, I even got to shake his hand. Remember, at this time Muhammad's health was poor, and he didn't speak much. He was surrounded by both young and old, some even offering silly bits of paperup to him for an autograph. I couldn't insult the guy, I waited my time then asked him if he would give me his autograph. His eyes lit up and he beckoned me over, I gave him the indelible pen, offered my back to him, and away he went. I was totally taken aback when he agreed.I had previously, tested the pen on the cuff, and did a dry/safe test on the cloth. I knew how long I had to hold myself still, before it was safe to moveTim Witherspoon s' trainer, was present, and as I felt Muhammad write on my back, I heard the crowd first gasp, then the trainer said, Hey Buddy, he must really like you he doesn't normally do this for anyone.It seemed to take ages. When he had finished he gently patted me on the back, offered back the pen, I said thanks again, and every one was looking at the back of my shirt.It was at this point a bloke near me said, You want to get that off as soon as possible, before someone tears it off your back. I immediately took the shirt off, and couldn't stop shaking when I saw what he had written.Incidentally, I had the indelible ink on my back for the next 2 days.People used to say to me, why didn't I get Tim Witherspoon's autograph. I said, There was only one champion in my eyes.A few years later my wife bought me a history of Muhammad Ali, photograph book, and I saw the photographs of him at Basildon, wearing the same clothes that I had photographed him in.The Shirt is Folded with autograph showing. Accompanied by 2 photos taken by the vendor at the time.
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