In the wake of the passing of legendary, three-time World Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, Richmond great Matthew Richardson recounted his meeting with the man universally known as ‘The Greatest’ on this week’s edition of the Club’s official podcast ‘Talking Tigers’ . . .
“We were in America in 1996 on a footy trip. We’d been to New York, New Orleans, San Francisco and (Las) Vegas, and our last stop was Los Angeles.
“We’d been over there for about 15 or 16 days and we’d had enough . . . we’d had a good time.
“We thought, while we were in LA, we’ll go to some tourist attractions.
“So, in LA, you go to Universal Studios, in Hollywood . . . and have a look around.
“We’re walking around – probably 15-20 Richmond players – and there was a hell of a commotion. We thought, what’s going on here . . .
“We look over, and it was Muhammad Ali and his wife, who’d walked into Universal Studios.
“You could hear his wife going, “I told you we couldn’t do this”.
“He wanted to be there and get around some people.
“So, the security had to rush in, and they roped off a section. They got a trestle table out and some chairs . . .
“We all lined up, all us Richmond boys, and I got a photo with Muhammad and (Tiger teammate) Nick Daffy – the three of us – and an autograph.
“It was just incredible.
“He sat there for hours signing autographs, posing with his fist.
“I’ll never forget that . . . a personal experience with the great man.”
