What would happen if hockey’s “heavyweight champ” fought boxing’s heavyweight champ? Well, that’s exactly what happened on June 12, 1983. Six thousand fans attended the match, including celebrities like actor Jan Michael Vincent, who was in Ali’s corner. Some of the details about these three round exhibitions heavyweight match between Canadian Dave Semenko (26-year-old) and Muhammad Ali (41-years old) are fairly sketchy. Semenko was sold on the bout and connected with Rocky Addison, a former Manitoba middleweight champion, to begin a training regimen that included the ultimate sacrifice for an Edmonton Oilers player at that time:
- Going clean
- Staying sober for several weeks.
Semenko and Addison watched videos of Ali’s fights looking for his standard moves and held a one-week training camp at the worst possible time for Semenko.
Semenko had no idea what to expect in the ring, other than he didn’t want this to turn the bout into some type of comedic sketch. About the only information he had was when Ali sent one scout to watch Semenko work out, but he apparently, he was there more to deliver a message: “Make sure you don’t do something stupid like try to take the champ’s head off.” Ali’s people didn’t want any funny business, but maybe they were more worried about what Ali would do to Semenko once he got up. Before the match Ali met up with Semenko to greet him personally. “When I was first taken over to his house to have a meeting about the fight, Ali came walking into the room, put his hands up and said, ‘Okay, show me something.’ I threw a few combinations and Ali said, ‘Don’t worry, kid, we’ll make it look good.’ Then he left to take a nap!”
In short, Ali was doing it for charity and to show up Semenko. “He thinks, ‘Who does Dave Semenko think he is, running around the NHL beating everyone up?’” No one mentioned how much Ali was being compensated for the fight. Ali dodged the topic as well, as Ali did: “I’m not here for the money because you couldn’t afford to pay me,” he said. “I’m here because you all have followed me over the years and you can tell your grandchildren you did see him.” As the two fighters entered the ring a Rocky movie theme song “Eye of the Tiger” played over the public address sound system. Semenko appeared to be wearing a bathrobe, because he was.
Dave Semenko inside the ropes
Dave Semenko outside the ropes (on the ice)
Note:
By including just some of these videos in this post I am not condoning fighting. A fight is a dangerous act of aggression which could result in serious injuries to one or both persons. When it happens so frequently, it is a sign of an emotional instability and inability to control one’s behavior, especially when it occurs outside the guidelines and rules of a combat sport. There is a serious problem when an aggressive sport like hockey condones fighting and has no rules in place to penalize those who fail to adhere to a specific expectation of behavior on the ice. In the case of Dave Semenko, one cannot come to the conclusion that he was a “super” bully who was always looking for any opportunity to pummel an opponent. It was best that such a person did not take-up boxing and stayed “outside the ropes.”
The View from Inside and Outside the Ropes 
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