There was a time when it was said of Mohamed Ali that “it seems he’d fight anyone but the Vietcong” and when even the likes of Dr Martin Luther King were telling him who to be, what to call himself and how to be.

He was vilified and cast out but never gave up being who he was and speaking his truth to power.

“Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.”

He fought with his fists and his body but also with his mind, using his smarts and with much humour – and in claiming his right made it easier for us to do make the same choice.