CURRENT ‘Greatest of all time’ candidates, such as Nathan Lyon and Novak Djokovic, would only have been very small boys when sports fanatics first began to investigate GOATS.
Indeed, one of the title favourites emerged sixty years ago. The fellow himself became one of his own loudest advocates.
Cassius Clay’s constant message to fans was ‘I am the greatest’ and he took this belief with him into the Wembley boxing ring to take on cockney London greengrocer Henry Cooper.
As well as being a deft hand with lettuce and tomato, Henry was blessed with a wonderful left hook, which Cassius had to keep a watchful eye out for, if he wanted to remain the greatest.
Glimpses of the greengrocer’s deadly weapon were evident in the first three rounds but it was not until round four that it exploded….
There was more evidence of sporting greatness emerging in the early 60s including one much nearer to home.
Sub four-minute miles had caught the imagination of the public following those epic clashes between Landy and Bannister.
The epic performances of these two runners were put into perspective by a new kid on the block.
In 1958, on a grass track in Dublin, Aussie Herb Elliot absolutely smashed the previous mile record by 2.7 seconds, with a new record of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds.
He followed this with Olympic Gold for the 1960 1500 metres, 20 metres in front in a time that would have won seven out of the next nine Olympics.
In his senior running career, Elliot was unbeaten in all his 1500 metre races. This feat undoubtedly qualified him as one of the all-time sporting greats.
….well how about round four and Cassius Clay’s chin at Wembley, in 1963?
With two seconds to go, our Henry followed a left jab with his renowned left hook, which had travelled but six inches before landing on Cassius’s chin and down he went.
The end-of-round bell interrupted the count and gave Cassius Clay’s corner some breathing space to work on their future champ, who then went on a merciless attack of Cooper’s dodgy cut eye.
History shows us that Cassius became World Champ, changed his name to Mohammed Ali, had some memorable victories, such as the ‘Thriller in Manilla’, walked out of the Michael Parkinson Show, and so on.
Yes, he probably was one of the Greatest.
Flannelled Fool.
