Exclusive Interview by Anthony “Zute” George

For Bobby Hitz, his life in boxing began with the greatest rivalry the sport has ever seen, “The one fight I have a vivid memory of is the Ali-Frazier fight. I remember I was in the first or second grade, and me and my buddy got into a fight with some fourth graders because we wanted Ali and they wanted Joe Frazier. We literally had a fistfight with these guys on the playground,” Bobby explains. Why did Bobby favor Ali? “I think because he was in front of you, you got to see him. I thought the name was pretty cool, Muhammad Ali. He was such a big part of the media you couldn’t help but root for him.” As a young kid, Bobby was not in tune with the political attachments that came with “The Greatest”, he just saw an honest and pure athlete that you could not take your eyes off. Also, Bobby had no ill feelings towards Joe Frazier, he was just not Ali. Bobby has fond memories of meeting both men later in life.