Ali made a second, 10-day visit to China in 1985 when – greeted by a huge roar of approval from 500 students at Peking Sports Institute – he playfully accepted the challenge to “fight” a 20-year-old lightweight, Wang Wei, who called it the greatest day of his life.
Ali swung his right fist in exaggerated circles, which were never meant to land, then danced away from his opponent, and then pretended to suffer a devastating knockout blow from his smaller foe.
During the trip Ali also prayed alongside 1,000 of his fellow Muslims at the Great Mosque of Xian, in Shaanxi province.
Ali wrote in the China Youth News: “Now that you are open to the world, never lose your culture, because others will try to give you their culture. It will be a great fight.”
