FROM the introduction to a BBC Radio 4 news programme following the death of Muhammad Ali. “And we look back to the days when the world stopped to watch Muhammad Ali fight.”

Well, not quite all the world stopped. In 1963 I happened to be in a Middlesbrough workingmen’s club, where I had been sent to interview someone, on the night Ali, then still Cassius Clay, famously fought Henry Cooper. All eyes in the packed bar were fixed on what was considered a large TV screen – probably about 18 inches.

Surprised today to find myself still in a tiny minority on this, I even then felt that two men fighting in a ring, albeit under the Queensbury Rules, was as nauseous a spectacle as two men fighting in the street. So I left as soon as possible, doubtless earning the gratitude of my interviewee, who had been itching to join the rest of the TV viewers.

With no discernible dissent, tributes to Ali have lauded him far beyond his abilities as a boxer. Has the praise not been overdone? Yes, Ali fought nobly against racism, but so have many others, black and white. His long struggle against Parkinson’s disease was tragic. His death, like that of anyone, was sad. Sincerely from this column goes to Ali’s family and friends, who have lost a loved one, the respect and sympathy due to all who mourn.

What I’m considering is Ali’s international standing, less as a boxer than a generally admirable figure, an ideal role model.

His taunting of opponents was hideous. We’re told it was put on. It never seemed so. Fake or not, it was hardly a good example of how to treat people, including adversaries in sport, who – the fact needs emphasising – are merely that, adversaries in sport.

There’s little doubt Ali was greatest boxer of all time. But, as I look at a picture of him virtually snarling over the prostrate form of Sonny Liston I confess I am at a loss to understand how someone who can take such ugly pleasure in the brutal defeat of another can be regarded, seemingly, as one of the finest human beings who has ever lived.

MORE sport. Hard luck to Andy Murray in not clinching the French Open tennis title. Credit to him for handsomely saluting victor Novak Djokovic’s “amazing achievement” in holding all four grand slam titles simultaneously, only the third player to do so.

Meanwhile, anticipating Wimbledon, a Sunday newspaper has given a run down on Britain’s current leading women players. Its author, Martina Navratilova, was introduced as “a tennis expert and Sky TV commentator.”

So – not the winner of 18 singles grand slam titles, nine at Wimbledon.

THE EU referendum: Here’s how the Prime Minister saw matter as he set out to renegotiate Britain’s position within the EU. “Britain is an amazing country. We’ve got the fifth biggest economy in the world. We’re a top ten manufacturer. We’ve got incredibly strong financial services. Look at the leaders beating a path to our door to see this country’s great economy. The argument isn’t whether Britain could survive outside the EU. Of course it could.” But not now, apparently.