It was a day that was always going to happen, a day that comes to us all. Muhammad Ali, the greatest, is no more. For two decades he dominated the sporting and general news landscape. Ali was truly a walking world headline. His deeds and artistry in the ring, his outspokenness outside and his courage and showmanship in both elevated him to a stratospheric status that was usually reserved to great statesmen of the likes of Nelson Mandela that surely no sports person will ever achieve again. His fights were compulsory viewing which meant a day off school when the times clashed with education. The brutality of his later fights undoubtedly contributed to his declining health that reduced his mobility to a shadow of the lightning speed that carried him undefeated through 31 bouts. If you want to mount a case to ban boxing just watch rounds 11 through to 14 of the Manila fight v Joe Frazier. Frazier’s head changes shape. Brutal, sick and perversely compelling. He was a force of nature that stamped himself in the annals of our time and will be long remembered. Vale Champ.