To this day, if there's a boxing match on, he'll watch it, it doesn't matter who's fighting.
When Muhammad Ali fought Smoking Joe Frasier, I remember my father going by himself to see the film of the fight at the North Loop Drive-In. This was months after the fight was fought, and it was on a double-feature with The Godfather. A classic boxing match AND The Godfather? My father must have been in Heaven.
The first time Cassius Clay--pre-Muhammad Ali--fought Sonny Liston in 1964, my father and I sat in the kitchen and listened to the fight on the radio, television not being the affordable addiction it is now.
My Dad bet me 50 cents on the fight. Now 50 cents was like a thousand dollars in those days. I'm exaggerating, of course, but, for a kid, that's what it seemed like to me. It was probably closer to $3.50 in today's dollars.
I didn't really understand the concept of gambling or paying off your gambling debts at that age, but I was caught up in the moment. It was something my father and I were sharing and I didn't want to spoil the moment.
Now, if I lost, how would I have paid him?
I didn't even have two wooden nickel to rub together back then, much less half a buck to pay him with if I had lost. It wasn't about the money to my father, he just wanted to make the fight more interesting, but it was about the money to me.
As it turned out, I won and my Dad paid me. My Dad was not one to back down from a fight or welsh on a bet. I have no idea what happened after that or what I bought with the money. I bet it was something good.
Thank you, Muhammad Ali.
...at the age of 74...
Muhammad Ali
6-3-2016
My father?
Still alive and doing the Ali Shuffle at 97.
Raising My Father
RaisingMy Father.blogspot.com
mrjimduchene.blogspot.com American Chimpanzee
@JimDuchene
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