Jim Brown decided he wanted to fight then-heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali.
He also had a legendary reputation for his toughness. Given that Brown
had introduced Arum to Ali, it was hard for Arum to say no without at
least checking. Brown figured it was a slam dunk massive payday.
"So I went to talk to Ali," Arum recalls. "He says, 'Jim wants to do
what? Bring him here.' So I took him to Hyde Park in London, where Ali
used to run. Ali said, 'Jimmy, here's what we're going to do: You hit me
as hard as you can.' So Brown starts swinging and swinging, and he
can't hit him. He's swinging wildly and not even coming close. This goes
on for, like, 30 seconds. Then Ali hits him with this quick one-two to
his face. Jimmy just stops and says, 'OK, I get the point.'"
***
So he went up against Franco Harris instead.
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