Kaur Singh took on boxing legend Muhammed Ali in a bout that took place some 37 years ago in 1980.
A crowd of more than 50,000 turned up to watch history’s greatest boxer.
Two years before he won the Asian Games gold in 1982, Kaur Singh had been in the ring with Muhammed Ali for four rounds in an exhibition bout at Delhi’s National Stadium on January 27, 1980.
The other two Indian boxers Ali fought with in New Delhi were Maluk Singh, a gold medallist in the Asian Boxing Championship in 1980, and Brij Mohan.
Kaur Singh does not remember much about the ‘fight’ but he’s pretty sure about one thing — he couldn’t get anywhere near Ali despite being taller than him.
“He was shorter than me but his ring craft and movement took him out of my reach,” Singh said in his hazy voice over the phone. “Us de mukke bahut hi dumdar si (His punches had great power),” Kaur Singh says.
“I think it was just before the Asian Amateur Boxing Championship in Mumbai,” recalled Kaur.
“We were attending a national camp in Patiala and were called to a stadium near Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. The bout took place during the day, and a lot of people gathered to have a look at him. It was not a bout exactly; it was just a spectacle for the crowd.”
Kaur Singh, after this heavyweight bout went on to win a gold medal in the Asian Boxing Championship held in Mumbai in 1980. He followed it up with another gold in the Asian Games in 1982.
