
“ATTENTION! Stop talkin’ now!”
These were the opening words of Muhammad Ali’s impromptu post-fight press conference, soon after producing the second “I shook up the world” moment of his long career.
His first such moment had come a decade previously with his victory over Sonny Liston in Miami to become the youngest heavyweight world champion at that time. This second one had come after his stunning victory over an in-prime, fearsomely fearsome George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) on October 30 1974.

Mary Kom’s fists made history in the boxing world. Malak Mesleh’s never got the chance. One story ends in glory, the other in grief — but both highlight the defiance of women who dare to fight, writes JOHN WIGHT

The Khelif gender row shows no sign of being resolved to the satisfaction of anyone involved anytime soon, says boxing writer JOHN WIGHT

When Patterson and Liston met in the ring in 1962, it was more than a title bout — it was a collision of two black archetypes shaped by white America’s fears and fantasies, writes JOHN WIGHT

In the land of white supremacy, colonialism and the foul legacy of the KKK, JOHN WIGHT knows that to resist the fascism unleashed by Trump is to do God’s work