When he first set foot there with no airs or trappings of his global fame, and no publicity, locals in a somnolent corner of Kozhikode initially wondered who this beefy man who stayed in their midst and looked so much like Muhammad Ali, was. The realisation came later, so did the crowd.
It was 1989. Ali, who famously had a philanthropic streak, and his wife quietly dropped down to Kozhikode at the invitation of the late K.P. Hassan Haji, former secretary of the JDT Islam and its associated orphanage and school. MES president P.A. Fazal Gafoor told The Hindu that Ali’s primary engagement was to address the silver jubilee celebrations of the Muslim Education Society (MES), of which Hassan Haji was also the organisation's treasurer.
‘‘We met Ali during our Haj pilgrimage, at Mecca. He and his wife were there as guests of the Saudi royalty. So were we. Our families soon got close,” recalls Hisham Hassan, Hassan Haji’s son. ‘‘My father invited him to Kozhikode and Ali happily accepted it. He and his wife flew down here from America on December 31, 1989,’’ says Hassan.
The couple stayed for a week at a home in Kozhikode’s Malaparamba. Ali spent time with the children in the JDT orphanage. ‘‘The children were mesmerised, having the legendary boxer in their midst. Most of them had either read about him or seen his pictures,’’ Hassan said.
The Alis took no time to be big fans of the typical Kozhikode cuisine, much of which Hassan’s mother, Zubaida, cooked for them. “Ali was particularly keen about fish and mutton biriyani, and local sweet delicacies such as Unnakayi, Chattipathiri, and Muttamala,” Mr. Hassan said.
Before the couple left for the U.S., Ali asked Hassan’s parents to be his guests in the U.S., which they did. Once word got around, among those who went to meet the legend was a superstar of Malayalam cinema — Mamootty, who was shooting in the town at that time. A huge crowd gathered to see him when he addressed the MES function at the Manarchira Square, Dr. Ghafoor recalled.
“I was the joint secretary of MES at the time and I remember Ali being received so warmly in Kozhikode. I was a big fan of Ali the boxer.”
Dr. Gafoor also remembers noticing the initial symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease that Ali had. “Since I am a neurologist, I could easily distinguish his disease when I shook hands with him,” he recalls.
“But he still came across a strikingly handsome man. Ali was invited for the function of MES not because he was a Muslim, because of his fight against racism.”
Ali did not meet the press during his visit to Kozhikode, but sports journalist Ravi Menon had a chance encounter with him. “I sported him at Hotel Sea Queen, where he was staying, when I went there for lunch,” he said. “I introduced myself as a sports journalist and asked him a few questions.”
One of those was about Mike Tyson, the undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion at the time. “I asked Ali about Tyson’s claim that he was the world’s greatest,” Ravi said.
“Ali said, ‘Tyson is great, but I am still the greatest.”
Perhaps that was a typical Ali response. Not because he was arrogant, but more because he was sure of who he was. It was not for nothing that they called him The Greatest.
