Jimmy Tibbs has detailed how his infamous sparring knockdown of Muhammad Ali may not have been much more than a publicity stunt.
In May of 1966 with England’s famous World Cup win around the corner, boxing’s greatest ever icon made his way to the United Kingdom. A bout with Henry Cooper at Arsenal’s Highbury Football Stadium was booked, with over 45,000 tickets being sold.
On the undercard, a 19-year-old Jimmy Tibbs was competing for the fifth time since turning over to the professional ranks. And days before the big show, he was brought into Ali’s camp for an ill-fated sparring session.
Muhammad Ali was dropped by a young, super-middleweight Jimmy Tibbs in training camp
Tibbs had just begun his professional career, and was 19-years-old when he was signed up to fight on Muhammad Ali’s London undercard. He took on Tom Calderwood and landed a second round stoppage, but it was what happened before the fight that grabbed headlines.
Despite being just 168lb and competing at super-middleweight, he was invited to train with the heavyweight world champion. Speaking with IFL TV this week he explained: “I was asked to spar with Muhammad Ali.
“But I couldn’t make out ‘what does he want to spar with me for?’ I’m only a 12-stone fighter! Anyway, I was on the same bill as him so Micky Duff and Terry Lawless at the time sent someone round to ask will I come up.
“They did say ‘you’re working out with Ali’ and I thought ‘he must have bigger sparring partners than me, he won’t want to spar me’. But I went up there because I was fighting on the same bill and I go up there and see Jimmy Ellis and a couple of other sparring partners.”
Jimmy Tibbs tells the truth about Muhammad Ali knockdown
Tibbs notes that he had forgot to bring his protector, so the famous photo showing him standing over Ali has him wearing the initials ‘JE’ for Jimmy Ellis. But he claims that it wasn’t an actual knockdown, and that it was likely to drum up interest for the fight.
“I spoke to Ali and he didn’t look too happy,” Tibbs noted after initially insisting that the photo did not show the results of a legitimate knockdown. “I thought ‘oh this could be for real’ so I got ready, had a loosen up and did my hands and got in the ring.
“Out we go, look at one another and I’ve chucked the jab, touched the top of his headguard and he hit the floor. I thought, ‘did I hit him? I don’t think I hit him,’ I couldn’t make it out. Anyway, then I heard ‘click click’ from all the cameras.
“So I sussed it was for publicity one way or the other because then them photos went all around the world. So all I can say is I never sparred with Muhammad Ali but I shared the ring with one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.”
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