Elmo Henderson isn't a name many boxing fans will be familiar with, but he has an incredible story to tell.
The deceased journeyman boxer dubiously claimed to have knocked out Muhammad Ali in an exhibition match before his life took a dramatic downward spiral.
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Back in October 1972 - one month before Ali's successful heavyweight title defence against Bob Foster - Henderson read that Ali was putting on exhibition bouts against local boxers at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio.
Keen to prove himself, the aging pro turned up to the venue to show 'The Greatest' what he was made of.
"Well, I didn’t know nothing about it, but one of the fighters for that night was a kid from Mexico who couldn’t get his visa," he told Texas Monthly in 2004.
"So when I went to where Ali was staying I ran into the promoter on the bottom floor, and he says, 'How would you like to put on an exhibition with Ali tonight?' And I okayed it.
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"Then, when I’m signing the contract, Ali comes up and taps me on the shoulder and says, 'Get up and let me see what you got.'
"I said, 'Get away from me, sucker. I’m too fast for you!' And he popped his eyes and got away.
"I cranked up and made it to the dressing room at the Coliseum. I got into my togs, and a guy came in and asked for me personally, Elmo Henderson.
"He said, 'You first.' Here I am, 37 years old, and they wanted me first for three rounds with Ali. So I put my robe on and ran out there. I didn’t walk. I ran.
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"And I got up in the ring, looking at the fans, you know, putting the game on Ali. I’m looking down, and what’s going through my mind is, 'I’m first, so I guess the old man gets the honours.'
“When they rang that bell, I came out like a speedball: Brr-rrrr-rrrr-rrrr, everything a blur, and then the first round was over. On to the second round. I didn’t run out.
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"I took my time. Moving. Ali was looking for a jab, so I evened up on him and shot him a right. It was a good one. Even I saw lightning.
"So the referee runs the count to eight, and instead of going on, he went back to one. Then he brought it up to eight again and stopped. I just pushed him away and said, 'Hey, if you want to let him up, let him up.'
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"I said, 'Get your ass up, kid! You ain’t hurt!' Then the bell rang and the referee came to my corner and said, 'Elmo, that’s all.'
"But he didn’t raise my hand or give me my rights. He just put me out the ring, and they went on with the rest of the bouts. And that’s about it, sir."
There is no mention of Henderson decking Ali in any of the local newspaper reports.
The San Antonio press gave conflicting accounts.
San Antonio Express wrote that Henderson 'danced better than Ali and made better faces'.
However, The Light painted a different picture: "The audience booed the lack of action in the first round but Ali displayed his famous left jab and footwork in the second, let his knees sag after a light blow to the jaw, then stalked a surprised referee as if he intended to work him over."
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Two years after sharing the ring with Ali, Henderson popped up as a member of George Foreman's entourage for the 'Rumble of the Jungle' in Zaire.
He sparred with Foreman throughout camp, including his final sparring session before the WBA and WBC heavyweight title clash.
American writer Norman Mailer was in attendance for the spar and falsely described Henderson as a former patient at a Nevada mental institution in a piece he wrote for Playboy.
The story landed Mailer in hot water. Henderson filed a $1million libel suit and Mailer was ultimately ordered to pay $105,000 by a federal court jury.
Foreman would go on to get knocked out by Ali in the eighth round after being drained by the Kentucky puncher's rope-a-dope tactic.
Meanwhile, Henderson's life took a turn for the worse following that famous night in Central Africa.
In 1979, he eventually called time on a career filled with long stretches of inactivity due to several stints in prison.
He wound up behind bars in 1961 for stealing a television from a truck and sensationally claimed to have been released from prison early after beating the middleweight champion of Texas while he was an inmate.
In the years that followed Henderson hanging up his gloves, the South Texas slugger became homeless.
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According to the man himself, he lived off monthly social security checks of $340 during the mid-2000s and eventually ended up in a care home in Northern California before he passed away in 2017, aged 82.
Henderson's tale acts as a sad reminder of boxing's violent consequences both in and out of the ring.
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