Boxing has had its fair share of folklore since the introduction of the Queensberry Rules, the generally accepted laws that govern the sport, in 1865. From drunkenly knocking out farm animals to legends of boxing past apparently defying all logic, it’s hard to filter through the fact, the fiction and the preposterous.
Here are five famous boxing myths that probably never happened…
Did Muhammad Ali Really Throw His Olympic Gold Medal In A River?
When Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, returned home to Louisville in 1960 after triumphantly securing an Olympic gold medal in Rome, he probably expected a hero’s welcome. Sadly, segregation and racism still had roots deep within Kentucky and when Ali entered a local restaurant, he was promptly turned away because of the colour of his skin.
Legend has it that the future heavyweight great headed to the Second Street Bridge, tore the medal from his neck and threw it into the Ohio River. Like the story of how a stolen bicycle led Ali into the world of pugilism, the story of Ali and the gold medal in the river is stitched into the very fabric of boxing folklore. Unfortunately, it probably never happened.
People around him said that Ali loved the medal far too much to have thrown it in a river and it was actually lost in a house move – the story was merely fabricated for his autobiography. Ali himself would later state, “I never knew what I done with that medal.”
Whatever happened to that original gold remains a mystery but Ali was presented with a replacement at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Did Muhammad Ali Really Get A Whole Minute To Recover Against Henry Cooper?
The worst boxing myth of them all. There’s zero doubt that Ali, then Clay, was a tad fortunate when he came to England in 1963 to square off with Henry Cooper. He was bludgeoned down to the canvas by the infamous Enry’s ‘Ammer and some quick thinking by his trainer Angelo Dundee, who tore open his glove, gave the American some much needed time to recuperate from the knockdown.
However any belief this lasted nearly a minute is preposterous. It was six seconds. Boxing pundit Steve Bunce elaborated on this to the BBC in 2012 stating, “It’s staggering how many people made mistakes writing about this. It’s just rubbish.
“Sir Henry Cooper insisted it was minutes, most people say it was, but the gloves, they were never taken off. Dundee worked the tear, but by modern standards it was not a delay.”
