Life-size Muhammad Ali statue to commemorate boxer’s visit

Last week it was confirmed that the Muhammad Ali centre in Hockley, opened by the boxer during his visit to the city in 1983, is set to be demolished and replaced with a new community centre.

But the plans caused outrage in the local community, with several residents voicing their concern that the history of Ali’s visit to the city could be forgotten completely if the centre was demolished.

In response to the concerns the group responsible for the new centre, Kajans Women’s Enterprise, has now announced that it will be commemorating the former heavyweight champion of the world with his own life-size statue.

Speaking on the announcement Delores Pinkney, a community leader whose mother helped set up the Muhammad Ali, said that it was a "brilliant" idea to commemorate the boxer in such a way.

However she also highlighted the need for Kajans to go through the proper channels to build the statue, urging them to get permission from Ali’s family before going ahead.

“The statue would be a brilliant idea, but we must be mindful – is it allowed?” she said.

“Will the family allow that? We want the site to be renovated either way, but it must reflect Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest sportsman of all time.

“I don’t know if Kajans have sought permission for that, because once the building goes, the name goes, and that is what we don’t want. So we want to make sure they are allowed to do that.

“What I would hate to see is the building is knocked down, nothing’s there, and then you can not have anything to commemorate Muhammad Ali. Confirm that they can do it, and if not, a part of the building can be incorporated so that they can continue to own the name. If not it’s gone. Once it’s demolished totally it’s gone. Because we must remember why he came.”

The statue will sit in the complex’s exhibition space, though details including who has been commissioned to design it and how much it will cost have not yet been finalised by Kajans.

However they were able to give some more details on the future community centre set for the site, which will feature a new Community Vocational College, an Enterprise Employment Hub for local entrepreneurs, Enterprise Units for Start-Up businesses and residential accommodation.

“It is important that we look holistically at the needs of the community, in particular young people who are often the most disadvantaged and disproportionately represented in indices of social deprivation,” a spokesman for the group said.

“Educationally, we will support them to gain vocational training and qualifications through the college. The enterprise units will give opportunities to young entrepreneurs to develop their business ideas very close to the Central Business District (CBD) of Birmingham providing easy access to local, national and international markets.

“The community hub will be opened locally to everyone on a pre-booked and programme basis. The need for each user to contribute to the Complex’s upkeep cannot be over-emphasised since that lies at the heart of our self-help philosophy.

“Housing is often a barrier to the economic survival of young entrepreneurs and is a significant restriction to social mobility, so there will be some residences on site. This combination of opportunities constitutes a basket of measures and services accessible to the local populous.”