Muhammad Ali: 'I knew Cassius Clay would be a superstar', says Cannock fighter on undercard of Henry Cooper clash

And in among the madness on that historic Wembley night in 1963 when English hero Henry Cooper fought and floored Cassius Clay, as he was known then, was a 21-year-old fledgling fighter from Cannock who was on the undercard.

Ron Gray remembers his first encounter with the 'Greatest' at the weigh-in held at the London Palladium.

"It was completely sold out," he said. "There must have been around 3,000 people there for a weigh-in just to see this man. It was the first time I met him and shook hands with him.

"It was pandemonium but he was so relaxed you could tell he was going to be a superstar. You could just see it. Everything around him just tingled. You could just feel the buzz. It was unbelievable."

On fight night in front of a 35,000-strong crowd at Wembley littered with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra, Gray was in a heavyweight competition of his own.

He recalls 'battering' fighter Dave Auld in three rounds only to see the judges go against him in a 'terribly bad decision'.

But Ron had inflicted so much damage on his opponent he was asked to advance to the semi final instead of him.

In what seems a bizarre scheduling decision today, Clay versus Cooper actually took place in the middle of the other heavyweight contest where as now fight fans are used to waiting until the end of the night for the main event.

The Louisville fighter had predicted beforehand 'This is no jive, Cooper shall go in five' but sensationally just before the end of fourth he was caught and downed by 'Enry's 'Ammer'.

In a cunning move at the close of the round trainer Angelo Dundee pointed out a tare in Clay's glove which prompted the fifth to be delayed for replacements to be brought to the ring giving the American crucial extra seconds to compose himself. It seemed to have worked and Clay's fifth round prediction came to pass.

Ron, who was watching from the edge of the arena waiting for his semi final, believes it is one of the most significant moments in Ali's career.

He said: "The atmosphere was tremendous. It was full of celebrities.

A lot of people had sour grapes about the thing with the glove. Ten seconds is a long time in the boxing game. But when you think about what happened after it could have changed everything in Ali's life if have Henry had beat him.

"History could have been re-written."

Ron returned to the Wembley ring himself afterwards for his semi-final but was stopped by the very first punch of the bout.

It didn't matter. He had played his small part in one of the most pivotal nights in boxing history.

Ali's next fight was to defy the odds and the naysayers by beating Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship.

He declared after that he 'shook up the world' and he was right.

Ron said: "I just feel happy I was there at the right time to meet him and shake his hand. Everybody was in awe of him. I will never forget it."

But the Cannock fighter and Ali would cross paths many more times particularly as Gray carved out a more successful career promoting boxing.

As fate had it Ron found himself on the undercard again when Ali returned to England in 1966 to fight Cooper at Highbury.

This time they both fared better. Ali won in the sixth by technical knockout without the contention that surrounded their first fight. While Ron also beat his opponent Billy Winter from Antigua convincingly.

Three months later Ali fought again in England. Ron sparred with his opponent Brian London in Blackpool beforehand while his late brother Billy Gray trained with the greatest himself in London.