ON May 24, 1976 at the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany, Muhammad Ali made the seventh defense of his WBA and WBC heavyweight titles with a fifth round stoppage of tough Yorkshireman Richard Dunn.

Dunn was down three times in the fourth and twice in round five before referee Herbert Tomser had seen enough at 2-05 of the session.

Muhammad Ali

Dunn takes up the story: “It was a terrific night and one of the very best of my life. I enjoyed everything about it โ€“ it was exhilarating, it was exciting. The only thing is I came second, but so what. I didnโ€™t go into the ring thinking that Iโ€™d lose, even if it was at the very back of my mind a little bit. I went with every intention of winning the fight.

It was all level after three rounds but it quickly went downhill after that! Iโ€™m a southpaw so I think it took him a round or two to find his range but once he did, he just took me apart. Despite that, I enjoyed it.

Ali said I was better than George Foreman after the fight but that was certainly just his bravado of the time. He was a good fighter was Ali, the best Iโ€™ve ever seen and certainly the best I ever fought and, looking back, there was not a cat in hellโ€™s chance of me winning โ€“ we were at different skill levels. My best chance โ€“ what I was hoping for โ€“ was to catch him unawares. But he was always in command, despite trying my hardest. He was a much better fighter than I was.

He was classy, he was brilliant and I loved the man. I still do.”

Read: The best performances of Muhammad Ali