One of the saddest news of this year was the death of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. The loss, both sporting and social, was very great, as Ali was (and is) a great inspiration for several athletes who today are also considered legends.
In addition to his incredible fighting style in the ring, one of the most attractive things that the boxer had was his charisma both inside and outside the ring, the ability to come up with catchy phrases was as quick as it was unsettling.
But where did Ali get that ability to speak so well? The common story is always that the boxer's main influence was none other than Gorgeous George, a wrestler from the 50s who stood out for his charisma, which earned him his place as one of the most hated villains of all time.
Gorgeous George is commonly known as the influence of Muhammad Ali in the field of interviews/ Pro Wrestling Illustrated
However, in a column of the Wrestling Observer (which you can read if you are subscribed here), journalist Dave Meltzer tells how in reality it was not George but Freddie Blassie who influenced Muhammad Ali in this aspect.
“Classy” Freddie Blassie was the true influence of Ali, however, he used to be confused by the boxer with Gorgeous George/WWE
Meltzer states in his article how unfortunately Ali did not recognize Blassie and confused him with George, since at that time the latter was much more famous and the vocabulary used by both was very similar.
“On June 26, 1961, Ali had his seventh professional fight against Duke Sabedong. That same weekend, Gorgeous George and Freddie Blassie were wrestling in the same building. Ali promoted his fight on the radio and heard George and Blassie talking, which mesmerized him. Then he went to his fight, which sold out, while his fight didn't even come close to that number of people, even being a gold medalist and an emerging superstar.”
After that fight between the two legends, Ali would always make known in interviews that his main influence was George. However, in 1976 the boxer would get involved for the first time in wrestling in a match against Antonio Inoki.
This fight was co-promoted by Bob Arum in a consortium with other promoters, one of them was Vince J McMahon (father of Mr. McMahon) who decided that Blassie would be Muhammad Ali's manager because the wrestler was already quite known in the territory where the event would take place (Korakuen Hal, Japan).
Later, Meltzer would also write about the encounter between Ali and Freddie Blassie.
“When Ali met Blassie, he was scared and said 'you're that guy,' telling Freddie that he thought he was Gorgeous George. Blassie said he knew he was that guy, and told Ali that he never got credit for it. Ali then clarified that Blassie was responsible for his interviews for the following year. Once the fight was over, to Blassie's displeasure, whenever Ali was asked, he would answer with the story that it was Gorgeous George.”
Finally, Muhammad Ali would end up influencing two of the greatest talkers of all time: Dusty Rhodes and "Superstar" Billy Graham, who imitated the boxer's interview style, which undoubtedly marked a before and after in the history of professional wrestling.
All this born from a fun confusion that gave rise to one of the most well-known myths in the world of boxing, but however, as the mythbusters would say, this is a lie.