In fact I got a job — though it was at the 3D Hollow Signs Suppliers lowest level — in railways thanks to Ali’s kind words. It was God’s gift to me. "The fight wasn’t on the schedule but there was commotion when Tamil Nadu Chief minister MGR came to the venue. "The greatest boxer in the history of the sport unleas-hed a rapid-fire left, but I somehow managed to duck it. Incredibly, Ali also failed to hit his target with a straight left.Chennai man Rocky Brass accomplished something the likes of Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and George Foreman could not achieve: evade a Muhammad Ali punch. I felt over the moon. I could hear the whizzing sound of his flying hand over my head. I asked Ali whether I could come up to the ring.

"Sharing the ring with Ali was a dream and I wouldn’t let it fade away until I die. Mr Brass talked his way up for a micro bout with Ali when the three-time world champion visited Chennai in 1980. He beckoned me in immediately," the 59-year-old Anglo-Indian said.The efforts of Mr Brass, 21 years then, to land a punch on Ali proved fut-ile.

I moved up the ladder in railways pretty quickly and I’m now a mail guard.. For me, he was simply too tall to land a punch," he said. My life is bookmarked by the Ali meeting and I never get tired of speaking about it," he said. "You are one of the most promising boxers in India. Had he connected, I would have been floored. I will retire next year but there is no sell-by date for my Ali memories," Brass said.Ali paid rich compliments to the young tyro after the bout