Ali Vs. Semenko

Joe Pelletier has unearthed another gem of an article over at Greatest hockey Legends.

The details of the fight between former Oilers tough guy and Ali are very sketchy at best. However,  Joe has done a fantastic job of rounding up all of the available facts; including the fact that the whole fight was organized by Mark Messier‘s uncle Larry.

I’m sure there are many hockey fans that would have loved witness this “exhibition” fight…I know that I certainly would!

Here is a humorous quote from Semenko regarding the preparation of his wardrobe for the big fight:

“I didn’t know what I was supposed to wear and didn’t have a boxing wardrobe kicking around the house. I didn’t have boots like Ali, so I got a pair of old black high-top runners. He had his zippered sweat suit to wear into the ring. I wore a crimson-and-silver terry-towel bathrobe. We hadn’t even thought about it, but I’d been wearing the robe when they laced the gloves on me. So there we were, standing in our corner with the opening bell about to ring and I couldn’t get the damned bathrobe off over those great big sixteen ounce boxing gloves. So Rocky (Addison) stood real close to me, trying to block out everybody’s view, while he hacked the sleeves off my bathrobe with a pair of scissors.”

I highly suggest that you head on over to Greatest Hockey Legends and check out the full article.