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<\/p>\nIt was nearing lunchtime in Dublin on July 19, 1972. The boxers had all weighed in, and the ring \u2014 acquired from an amateur boxing club in the town of Edenderry \u2013 had been erected.<\/p>\n
Muhammad Ali was going to take on Al \u2018Blue\u2019 Lewis at Croke Park, a venue more famous as the home of Gaelic games but now hosting a major boxing match for the first time in its storied history.<\/p>\n
Both men were shortly due to be ferried to the stadium from their hotels when a pertinent question was raised: Where were the gloves?<\/p>\n
A rather essential part of a fight night was nowhere to be seen. Nobody had sorted them. And, to make matters worse, there were no gloves of sufficient quality anywhere to be found in the Irish capital.<\/p>\n
A call had to be made to London, to the headquarters of the British Boxing Board of Control, to see if they had any lying around. They were in luck. The gloves were sent immediately to the airport to be flown to Dublin.<\/p>\n
The fight started late, but Croke Park did ultimately get its big night with Muhammad Ali.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Muhammad Ali in action against Al \u2018Blue\u2019 Lewis in July 1972 (Don Morley\/Allsport\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The 82,000-capacity stadium has not hosted a bout since, but today Katie Taylor brings down the curtain on her remarkable career by following in the footsteps of Ali when she takes on Flora Pili of France.<\/p>\n
It will be an emotional night, and a fitting send-off for a woman who has changed the face of her sport, but it will need to be very special to eclipse Croke Park\u2019s previous dalliance with boxing in the week Ireland and Muhammad Ali enjoyed a whirlwind romance.<\/p>\n
It was at an Irish pub in Shepherd\u2019s Bush, west London, where the first discussions took place about bringing the most famous sportsmen on the planet to Ireland for a fight.<\/p>\n
In his book, The Big Fight: When Ali Conquered Ireland, Dave Hannigan writes about how Kerry-born Michael \u2018Butty\u2019 Sugrue, a circus strongman and London publican, met with Ali\u2019s promoter, Harold Conrad.<\/p>\n
Conrad had dealt with many people who thought they could bring Ali to their country or city. Initially, he felt Sugrue was another man making promises he couldn\u2019t deliver.<\/p>\n
However, Ali was not averse to boxing abroad. He was in the middle of rebuilding his career after his defeat by Joe Frazier and chasing a rematch with his great foe. At 30, he had lost just once but this was before \u2018The Rumble in the Jungle\u2019 and \u2018The Thrilla in Manilla\u2019, and his reputation in the U.S. was bruised by his refusal to be drafted into the military for the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n
In the end, the deal got done: Sugrue put up $300,000 to secure Ali, and on July 11, the US fighter arrived on Irish soil. He was handed a shillelagh \u2013 a traditional walking stick also used for fighting \u2013 and his Eire love affair began.<\/p>\n
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\n Michael \u2018Butty\u2019 Sugrue paid Ali $300,000 to come to Ireland (Evening Standard\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cMuhammad couldn\u2019t wait to get to Ireland,\u201d Gene Kilroy, Ali\u2019s former business manager, nicknamed \u2018The Facilitator\u2019, tells The Athletic from his home in Las Vegas. \u201cHis great-grandfather was a man called Abe Grady (who hailed from Ennis in County Clare before emigrating to the U.S.), so he thought it was special.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got some of the team to wear green jackets when we stepped off the plane. That was my idea and the people loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali stayed and trained at a hotel in a remote rural spot near the Wicklow Mountains, outside Dublin. \u201cHe didn\u2019t really like it up there,\u201d says Kilroy. \u201cHe wanted to be in the centre of the action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali was much happier at the Gresham Hotel in the city centre. Crowds would gather in the lobby, hoping to catch a glimpse of \u2018The Greatest\u2019, while journalists camped out every day in the hope of securing stories.<\/p>\n
The week was full of trademark Ali PR stunts: a training session in a Gaelic handball alley \u2013 similar to a squash court \u2013 and a meeting at Leinster House, the home of the Irish parliament, with Jack Lynch, the then Taoiseach (Irish prime minister).<\/p>\n
Ali made a point of visiting Dublin\u2019s General Post Office, the hub of the 1916 Easter Uprising against British rule, and asked for a meeting with Bernadette Devlin, an Irish civil rights leader and politician. \u201cHe insisted on it,\u201d recalls Kilroy. \u201cHe was so interested in Irish politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali also did an extraordinary interview with Irish broadcaster RTE during the week before the fight, sitting down for 45 minutes with presenter Cathal O\u2019Shannon to discuss race, politics, civil rights and boxing. The notion of a fighter doing something similar nowadays is unthinkable.<\/p>\n
As the years have passed, the number of (possibly apocryphal) tales about Ali\u2019s time in Dublin has flourished \u2014 from how he dropped in to people\u2019s homes to enjoy tea with the ladies of the house to him having drinks in pubs around the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ate in a restaurant called Quinns a few times,\u201d says Kilroy. \u201cThe people were so kind in there and generous. When he walked around, the people loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Crowds descend to catch a glimpse of Ali in Dublin (Independent News and Media\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
One event which cannot be disputed was the day Ali tried his hand at hurling. Eddie Keher, a six-time All-Ireland winner with Kilkenny, was at work in Dublin when he got a call asking him to meet with Ali.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was looking at him star-struck,\u201d said Keher, in 2012 documentary When Ali Came to Ireland. \u201cHe said, \u2018You play hurling, that\u2019s a very dangerous game\u2019. I saw he was an ordinary guy. We went out to the press and I showed him the various skills attached to hurling; we had good fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came up close to me then and said, \u2018We will put a show on for these guys\u2019. He raised the hurl and I thought he was going to poleaxe me. That was when I saw the showman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even other boxers were in awe. Paddy Doherty was on the undercard that night. He was supposed to be out before Ali\u2019s fight with Lewis, but the glove delay caused a reshuffle, something which worked to his advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole week was crazy,\u201d Doherty tells The Athletic. \u201cThere was security around Ali at all times. But I got to meet him in the dressing room at Croke Park. It was a special moment. Then, when I was heading out to the ring, Ali was coming back and gave me a tap on the head as good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only disappointment that week was the attendance at Croke Park for the fight. Just 18,000 tickets were sold. Some felt prices were too expensive, while Hannigan wondered if the availability of Ali to people during the build-up meant many punters felt they had already got their piece of the star.<\/p>\n
Yet there were many more people inside the stadium than the official attendance figure suggested. Thousands climbed the walls at the Hill 16 terrace at one end of the ground just before Ali was due to emerge.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople had told me all week they were coming but when I asked them how much they paid for tickets, they just said \u2018We won\u2019t be paying but we will be there\u2019,\u201d says Kilroy. \u201cI liked that!\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who did make it inside were not treated to a thriller. Ali was some way short of his best, but knocked Lewis down in the fifth and stopped him in the 11th. Fans still invaded the ring at the end to get close to \u2018The Greatest\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuhammad had a cold in the build-up,\u201d says Kilroy. \u201cHe thought about pulling out and delaying it, but then he knew how much it had all cost the promoters so he didn\u2019t want to. There were so many people in the ring at the end, I thought it was going to collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali eventually fought his way through the crowd and back to the dressing room to meet the press. He gave an honest assessment of his performance and then headed for the hotel. He left the next day for home.<\/p>\n
Ali never fought again in Ireland \u2014 although he did return to the country twice: in 2003, to attend the Special Olympics, and again in 2009 to trace his family roots in Co. Clare. But the impact of his first visit still resonates with many.<\/p>\n
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\n Ali attends the Special Olympics opening ceremony after-party in 2003, with singer Sinead O\u2019Connor in the background (ShowBizIreland.com\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
One such person is Brian Peters, Katie Taylor\u2019s manager and one of the biggest figures in Irish boxing, who played a crucial role in making this weekend\u2019s fight at Croke Park happen.<\/p>\n
In April 1992 Peters was in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to watch Irish middleweight Steve Collins fight Reggie Johnson. He found out Ali was in town and went to the hotel where the boxing icon was staying.<\/p>\n
By chance, one of Ali\u2019s entourage was at the reception desk when Peters was loitering. After finding out where Ali was located, Peters snuck into the hotel kitchen, got a cheesecake and some milk, and made his way to Room 770.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I knock on the door, and say \u2018Room service\u2019,\u201d Peters tells The Athletic. \u201cThis big f***ing man, never seen a man as big as him, blocked out the sky, opens the door, and he says, \u2018I didn\u2019t order no room service.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I kind of edge in with my shoulder, push the door open, your man is standing there looking at me, giving me evils, and there\u2019s Ali lying on the couch \u2014 hands behind the head, kind of one foot in the ground, looking at me a bit perplexed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Look, Mr. Muhammad, Mr. Ali, sorry, not sure what to call you, Mr. Muhammad Ali\u2026 I just wanted to meet yourself, and sorry for the way I had to do it. So I went in, told him the story, and he thought it was hilarious, brilliant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had some craic. We started talking about that week in Dublin and he says, \u2018I think I was the only black man in Ireland. People are coming up, they\u2019re looking at me and they\u2019re touching me.\u2019 And he might have been right in 1972.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I always remember him saying, \u2018That show lost a lot of money. I don\u2019t know if I got fully paid. I don\u2019t think I did.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was nearing lunchtime in Dublin on July 19, 1972. The boxers had all weighed in, and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,569,9045,82,575],"class_list":["post-886724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-culture","tag-global-sports","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}