Muhammad Ali vs Tunney Hunsaker

Venue: Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky. 29th October, 1960.

Muhammad Ali AKA Cassius Clay had conquered Rome, but his professional debut was not designed to provide the Olympic champion with an easy knock-over first time out. Tunney Hunsaker was police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia and a seasoned pro boxer on the side, “I heard he won the Olympics, so I knew I was fighting a tough bird,” Hunsaker said, “but I don’t think there was ever a fighter, not a good one anyway, who went in the ring thinking he was gonna get beat. I know I never did.”

Muhammad Ali vs Tunny Hunsaker, 29th October, 1960

Clay had begun his pro training with Fred Stoner, who had coached him and his brother Rudolph on and off since they had cycled to the Grace Community Centre Gym in Louisville as boys. The main aim for Clay was to ensure he was fit enough to box six rounds, as opposed to the three of amateur competition, and that he should begin to appreciate the demands of the pro game.

His fitness was no problem, of course, Clay was already an almost perfect specimen. He had been training like a pro since his early teens. His boxing technique had never been an orthodox one. It was based around his natural gifts; his speed and intuition, his hand/eye co-ordination and his sublime footwork. While this style had worked brilliantly in amateur bouts where the emphasis was on scoring punches, the pro game would be very different. Veteran fighters like Hunsaker would not be discouraged at the first setback. They would not wilt and would probably mess with young Cassius when they could, introducing him to a world of clinching, crafty elbows, boot-on-toe and the other dubious tricks of the hardest game.

On the afternoon of the fight Cassius Clay and Tunney Hunsaker met in downtown Louisville in a sports store to promote the bout. Hunsaker remembered that Clay had bounced a basketball around nervously, his demeanour betraying his growing apprehension. But come fight-time, Clay shed his skittishness and showed far too much for Hunsaker. He hammered out a six-round decision, sticking and moving but without the verve he had shown in his ascent to the summit of the amateur ranks. Hunsaker however, wearying as the rounds rolled on, was unable to disturb Clay’s equilibrium and left the ring in no doubt of the young man’s promise.
“he was fast as lightning… I tried just about every trick I knew to throw him off balance but he was just too good,” Hunsaker said. Afterwards, Hunsaker told a friend that he was sure that Cassius Clay would become the heavyweight champion of the world.

Hunsaker returned to his day job, in which he served another three decades. Cassius Clay’s next three decades would prove slightly more eventful.

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