The UFC's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Marc Ratner, just a week out from being the first pure regulator to be elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, noted the significance of that honor just hours after the death of the Hall of Fame's most famous member, Muhammad Ali, on June 3.
On June 26, 1961, a 16-year-old Ratner drove himself for the first time to a major fight, to see Cassius Clay, as Ali was known at the time, beating Duke Sabedong at the Las Vegas Convention Center. While the fight itself wasn't among one of the best-known of Ali's career, history will tell us the weekend was among his most important.