King of the world was revered across South Africa’s racial divide when we heard the words ‘Foreman is down!’
, Muhammad Ali already seemed a miracle-maker. Deep in our strictly regimented and divided country, Ali danced rings around apartheid. I had first heard about the inspirational boxer from a black man, Cassius, who sold bottles of beer from the illegal shebeen he and his friends ran across the road from our house.
Years later, in 1974, when I had just turned 13, I learned that Ali had been stripped of his world title in 1967 when he refused to fight in the Vietnam war. But he had become even more of a mythical figure to me because Ali entranced our frightening Afrikaans teacher with the same spell he cast over Cassius.
“Foreman by knockout,” I predicted mournfully. Maybe I made that pessimistic forecast because I feared so much for Ali. A quick knockout would save him from permanent damage. But Bennie da Silva, my friend’s dad and the only real boxing expert we knew, backed Ali. He was a stocky Portuguese man who made us laugh while flooring us with his ring knowledge.
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