Muhammad Ali was stood up by Elvis who turned up ‘high or drunk’ at 4 am to watch him spar

Controversial American martial arts instructor George Dillman recently gave an insight into a bizarre encounter between legendary boxer Muhammed Ali and the 'King of Rock and Roll', Elvis Presley, where the musician turned up 12 hours late to watch a Muhammad Ali sparring session. Dillman trained the 'People's Champion' (Muhammad Ali) and a series of renowned former martial arts students.

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Gorge Dillman on Elvis Presley drunk incident

According to Daily Mail, during his interaction with Fiaz Rafiq the author of the book, Muhammad Ali: The Life of a Legend, George Dillman revealed that Muhammad Ali came to him and said that nobody should come to know that Elvis Presley will be coming to watch him spar. He said that usually, Ali sparred at 2 pm but on that day he asked him to come at 4:00 pm.

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Revealing more details about the eventful day, Dillman said that they kept waiting for Elvis Presley but he never arrived at the given time. He further said that at about 6 pm, Muhammad Ali started the boxing session and trained with his sparring partner. He also said that somebody had called to say that Elvis Presley was coming late but after 9 pm or 10 pm he told Ali that he's heading home and doubted that Presley would come to watch him spar.

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Dillman also revealed that he came to know about the Elvis Presly drunk incident when he arrived at work the next day. He claimed Presley's representative told them that he had gotten lost. The report mentions that Presley went to do other things and showed up at 4 am at Ali's residence a little 'high or drunk'. Ali then woke the cook up and asked him to make some breakfast and coffee.

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Muhammad Ali Elvis friendship

According to the report, the Muhammad Ali Elvis friendship began when the duo first met in February 1973. During that meet, the duo was clicked together and Ali handed the musician a pair of signed boxing gloves. Later that year, Presley gifted Ali a custom-designed robe ahead of his bout against Joe Bugner, despite the embroidery mistakenly reading 'People's Choice'. Ali eventually went on to win the match.

(IMAGE: ELVIS PRESLEY INSTAGRAM)