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JR's Blog: JR Shares his Personal Experiences with the late, Muhammad Ali in 1985 in a new blog

Posted: Jun 7th 2016 By: Jim Ross

Here's to hoping that everyone had a great weekend and thanks for stopping by our site. We were in Cancun for five days which isn't a bad thing whatsoever as Cancun is a legit paradise and a spot that I would recommend to anyone looking for a super, vacation spot. Travel accessible, beautiful weather and the bluest waters and cleanest beaches that I've seen in a long, long time. Boxing Hall of Famer Al Bernstein and I called the Cancun Boxing show Saturday night from the Oasis Grand Arena and it was a blast. The event will air on the CBS Sports Network this week so check your local listings and I will also keep you apprised of the schedule. This Friday I will call another boxing event in Las Vegas in the Knockout Night at the D series in downtown Vegas which is a growing franchise to say the least. Friday night's card will air LIVE.

The passing last week of Muhammad Ali at the age of 74 took me back to 1985 when I had a some personal and memorable experiences with "The Greatest." Bill Watts booked Ali to be in JYD replacement The Sandman's corner in a NOLA Super Dome Mid South Wrestling bout vs Jake Roberts who had John Nord in his corner. To build up this attraction, we went to Los Angeles to tape a series of vignettes with the Champ at his home there. After finishing our work Muhammad took us on a quick tour of his home specifically his 'attic' which was where much of Ali's memorabilia was randomly stored. I wandered around talking to Ali and admiring all the title belts plus gifts from an amazing array of world leaders and religious figures. Many of these priceless items were in cardboard boxes and stored, to put it mildly, very causally in these containers. I saw one box that had a piece of gold cloth hanging from it and I reached down to see what it was and I discovered that it was a gold jumpsuit.

Muhammad asked if my Mama was a fan of Elvis Presley and I told him, "Absolutely!" He said "Why don't you take that and give it to your Mama because I'm sure that she would love it." "What is it?" I asked. "That's a jumpsuit that Elvis gave me after one of his Las Vegas Hilton shows. He took it off and presented it to me. It's never even been cleaned and still has Elvis's sweat on it," I was told much to my surprise. "It''s all yours."

I said, "Champ, I can't take this. It just wouldn't be right."

Try as he might to convince me that he sincerely wanted to give this amazing piece of pop culture to my Mom, who Ali had never met by the way, I politely refused. This speaks to the unabashed, agenda less generosity that Muhammad Ali had for others.

Before leaving Ali's home, I used his home phone to call my Mom collect in Oklahoma to share my experience with her but also, being fully transparent here, so that I could obtain Ali's home phone number, that would show up on Mom's phone bill, to brag to my Okie friends about having Muhammad Ali's home phone number in the days before cell phones.

I never shared the number with another living soul nor did I ever call it.

Elvis Presley's gold jumpsuit remained in the possession of Muhammad Ali but The Champ and I would reconvene several weeks later in New Orleans at the Hyatt Regency across of the Super Dome where we would share a two bedroom suite with a common living area for three days and nights while doing media and PR for the Dome show. We even got him a one day gig back in Oklahoma at a rich, oilman's son's birthday party for a cool, $25K. Nonetheless the three days that I spend with Muhammad Ali still resonates with me 30+ years later.

We stayed up late with him telling me amazing stories of his life, his boxing career and his larger than life persona that was nothing sort of extraordinary. I watched him do his magic tricks, he even showed me a couple. He would, out of no where, start firing jabs at my jaw but never making any noticeable contact which confirmed that Ali could deliver an amazing 'working punch.'

We walked down Bourbon Street and he was like the Pied Piper as patrons and entertainers alike filed out of the colorful Nola establishments and followed us up and down the historic section of the city until we would finally get a ride back to the Hyatt in a police vehicle to once again regale in more stories and often times entertain some of the strangers that Ali had met on Bourbon Street and invited back to our hotel. Some of those 'drive by ' visits from total strangers lasted until the early morning hours at which time The Champ would get a quick nap and we'd begin again drumming up interest in the Super Dome show.

When the Big Cowboy arrived in Nola late in the week he took one look at me and said, "What in the hell have you been doing? You look like death!"

I had no issue telling my boss that I simply was trying to hang with Muhammad Ali and it was, ahem, a struggle which was a nice way of putting it as Ali had the most amazing motor of anyone I have ever met or been around in my life time.

We had hours of chats about women, lots of women, racism, our country's future, Frazier, Foremen, promoters, how he and his camp made extra money in an era when boxing stars, especially black, boxing stars, still did not make what they deserved or earned. We talked extensively about food and the wonderful meals that his mom and my mom prepared for us growing up, Ali in Louisville and me in Oklahoma. We loved going to Dookie Chase's restaurant in Nola and went there multiple times during the week.

Plus, I found out first hand how big a fan of pro wresting that Ali was especially the promo skills of Gorgeous George and Freddie Blassie that lead to the amazing verbal stylings that Muhammad developed over his unduplicated career. I was immersed in a history lesson with one of the world's most incredible people that I still find as being surreal.

There are days that I wish that I had perhaps recorded our marathon conversations or would have least have taken notes but I've always thought that would have interfered with Ali's openness with me and I would never have wanted to do anything to disrupt the incredible interactions that an Oklahoma, farm boy had with the world's most recognizable and loved public figures.

I was so lucky to have been born in an era to be able to have seen Muhammad Ali's unduplicated career and then to have been blessed with the gift of"My Three Days with the Champ."

Talking to both Eric Bischoff and Mike Tenay Monday night for future Ross Report podcasts and if you have questions hit me at Twitter @JRsBBQ and please use #AskJimRoss. Thanks.

My special gust this week on The Ross Report will be Lucha Underground co-Executive Producer Chris DeJoseph who I worked with back in the day at WWE when he was 'Big Dick Johnson.' A new The Ross Report Podcast drops every Tuesday night at 9 PM ET on podcastone.com, iTunes and right here on the homepage of our site.

Be well...

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ