Mamba won the only other fight on the bill the night that Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman at dawn in Kinshasa and the local middleweight, who eventually moved to Luxembourg, had been used by the government for months to publicise the fight.
On the night, in front of more than 60,000 patient fans, Mamba took six rounds to knock out Benin’s Antonio Oke; once that was done the wait for Ali started. Mamba’s next fight was 29 days later in Munich, where he lost on points to Alan Minter.
The wait for Ali and Foreman to get in the ring, and the general chaos surrounding any movement, meant Williams, who had been Ali’s sparring partner for 55 days in Zaire and for years back in the US, did not fight world-ranked Henry Clark. The pair met a month or so later and Williams suffered one of only six defeats in 36 fights as a professional during his 14-year career.
Williams was considered the greatest of the heavyweight contenders from that glorious era never to get a shot at the world championship. He was 17st, 6ft 5in and, according to Ali, had “sledge-hammer fists”. He also helped Ali work on what became known as “rope-a-dope”, the tactic that ruined a confused and bewildered Foreman in the fight. Williams toughened Ali’s body up during the gruelling months of preparation, having shown him how to survive on the ropes.
There are several juicy stories attached to Williams when he was told that he was not fighting on the bill and that he would not get paid for the fight. He was, however, paid for his time in Africa and that sum varies between $20,000 and $50,000. Williams, understandably, demanded more money when future heavyweight champion of the world Larry Holmes got homesick and was sent home.
Holmes remembers Williams as being “nasty and bitter” about not getting any breaks and being overlooked for title fights and the money. There is one story that Holmes tells about going to watch Williams fight, on a rare occasion when somebody agreed to fight him. Holmes was at ringside, cheering on the man he had spent a couple of years with in training camp, and during a clinch Williams turned to Holmes and said from the ring: “Shut the fuck up.”
Williams was not in the business to make friends and there is no doubt what he told Ali when he confronted him about his lost earnings from the scrapped fight in Zaire. The venue for the inevitable confrontation was Deer Lake, that tranquil retreat Ali created, where boulders bore the names of the great fighters and where for a long, long time Ali’s word was final. Williams is said to have rolled in and demanded his money.
It is thought that Ali suggested that they fight behind closed doors over 10 rounds for the money, which was either five or 10 thousand dollars, depending on the man telling the story. Williams agreed and they went for it. After 10 rounds it was declared a draw and they went for it again the next day. Again, both men were standing at the end of 10 rounds and Williams continued to curse Ali and demand his money. Williams wanted to go again and told Ali that.
There are some lurid examples of the verbal exchanges between the pair, including one inspired by a stern lecture Williams was given by his wife when she found out that her man was not getting paid. Williams was not afraid of his paymaster and it seems that there were a lot of people in the Ali business that were wary of the towering, glowering fighter.
Nobody has ever told me that this story was pure fiction and equally nobody has ever fully convinced me that it happened. The survivors from the time, and there are so few of them now, often become vague when talking about the Williams and Ali problem. However, Holmes, usually such a reliable source, insists that it happened this way and that it ended with Ali giving Williams the money and sacking him from sparring partner duties.
A few years later Williams was hired by a man called Butch Lewis to spar with Leon Spinks before the novice heavyweight, in only his eighth fight, beat Ali to win the title.
It was just business to Williams, the only man in the Ali entourage not celebrating the victory 40 years ago in Zaire.
