'They look pretty rough these football and hurling players' - when Ali visited Ireland

MUHAMMAD ALI WAS pretty impressed by what he saw in Ireland if the 1972 footage above is anything to go by.

The boxing legend, who has passed away at the age of 74, marvelled at a country that was greener than “even Kentucky,” whiskey which “takes a long time to make” but doesn’t “take long to drink” and the “pretty rough” Gaelic footballers and hurlers.

Before starting his final workout for the 12-round bout against Al Blue Lewis, former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali has a lighthearted sparring match with American film director John Huston, in Dublin, Ireland, on 18 July, 1972. Huston, who once was a boxer himself, came to the Irish capital to see the fight and invited Ali to a screening of his latest motion picture, the boxing drama Fat City. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

The Kentucky-born boxer was in the country for his fight with Al ‘Blue’ Lewis in Croke Park, which he subsequently won by TKO in the 11th round.

Muhammad Ali slams a left hook into Al Blue Lewis during a scheduled 12-round heavyweight fight at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, July 19, 1972. Ali won in the 11th round when the referee stopped the fight. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

It was not the only time the sporting icon came to Ireland. In 2009, he visited Ennis, Co Clare, his ancestral home — Ali’s great-grandfather, Abe Grady, had emigrated to the US from Ireland in the 1860s.

A crowd of 10,000 turned out for a civic reception to mark Ali’s visit, with the boxing legend subsequently being made the first Honorary Freeman of Ennis.

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