It’s 60 years since Muhammad Ali stepped into the ring at Paisley Ice Rink for an exhibition bout against his friend and sparring partner, Jimmy Ellis.
The visit came just months after Ali – then only 23 years old – stunned the world by knocking out Sonny Liston to become the global heavyweight champion.
Fresh from that seismic victory, the man who styled himself “The Greatest” embarked on an ambitious exhibition tour, which brought him, briefly, to Renfrewshire.
For one local teenager, the memory has never faded. Retired boxing promoter Tommy Gilmour was only 13 when Ali came to Scotland.
His father, also Tommy, was the champion’s Scottish agent, giving the young boy rare access to Ali’s dressing room.
Getty Images‘There was nobody I’d rather meet than Ali’
He told STV News: “He was quite introverted. He had to be pushed into taking a picture with me – he just wanted to sit on his own.
“But because of our friendship with Angelo Dundee and Chris Dundee, they told him, ‘This is Tommy’s son, you need to get your picture taken with him.’ It was nice to have a famous father.”
The photograph, showing a boy dwarfed by Ali in a white robe, has remained Tommy’s most treasured possession.
STV NewsEven more precious is a signed card – a memento from the days when Ali was still in the middle of his transformation from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali.
“He had these cards with him when he was changing his name,” Gilmour said. “That’s why at the bottom it’s printed Cassius Clay. But he kindly wrote, ‘To Tommy, from Muhammad Ali.’
“There is nobody I would rather meet than Muhammad Ali.”
‘It was special to see him in the flesh’
Retired coach Robert Armstrong remembers it clearly.
As a 17-year-old boxer in the crowd, watching Ali in his prime was “special”.
“It was phenomenal. He was a one-off – brilliant to watch.
“The whole town was buzzing and wanted to see him.”
But for many in Paisley that night in 1965, the event didn’t live up to expectations. Local newspapers reported that Ali looked tired after weeks of touring and put on a disappointing performance. Some fans, expecting fireworks, booed the champion.
Ali reportedly snapped back at the hecklers: “All booing must stop when the king’s in the ring.”
Later that evening, he cancelled his hotel booking and caught the next flight out of Scotland.
Robert couldn’t recall any heckling himself, but added: “If people booed, they don’t know anything about boxing.
“People thought they’d see Ali at his best, but an exhibition isn’t a real fight – it’s more of a spar.
“He danced around, he showed some moves, but he wasn’t there to knock his opponent out.
“Still, it was special to see him in the flesh.”
STV NewsToday, 60 years on, the echoes of that visit live on in gyms across Renfrewshire.
At the Colosseum Gym in Renfrew, Robert Armstrong’s son Neil now trains the next generation of Scottish fighters.
“We get boys from all kinds of backgrounds,” says Neil. “Some stick with it, some don’t. But we’ve got a couple who will be in the Commonwealth Games Scotland team, and we’re hoping for medals.”
The real inspiration, however, may lie with the youngest faces in the gym – boys barely into their teens, already lacing up gloves with determination.
“I really enjoy it. It’s a great sport, a great community. I want to keep doing it and become an amateur,” says one, pausing between rounds.
Another adds: “I used to be bullied at school and now I just want to protect myself.”
Decades after that fateful night at Paisley Ice Rink, the crowd may have booed, but Ali’s presence planted seeds that still grow strong.
And perhaps, somewhere in a small Scottish gym today, another young fighter is learning to float like a butterfly, sting like a bee – and dreaming of becoming The Greatest.
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