Roseville Man With Deep Ties To Muhammad Ali Invited To Memorial Service
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — A Roseville man has been invited by Muhammad Ali's family to attend the legend's memorial service in Louisville on Thursday.
Jeff Ellis says he has nothing but fond memories of Ali and his dad sparring in the ring, and he says the great is more than just a boxer to him; he's family.
"They were like brothers. They did everything together, traveled together, sparred together," he said.
Ellis says his dad, Jimmy Ellis, was close friends with Ali.
With a record of 40-12-1, the 1968 heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis spent countless hours in the ring training with Ali.
"My father was like his No. 1 sparring partner and he would always use Ali as his sparring partner because he was heavyweight champion of the world too," Jeff Ellis said.
Jeff says as a young boy, it was always fun when Ali came by the house.
"They just always joked laughed and played around a lot. Shadow boxed each other and poked around with each other and just have fun. I mean they were that close," he said.
Jeff shared his fondest memory of Ali.
"Something I can really remember is he picked me up and he looked me in my face and he said, 'Boy your are ugly and I am pretty.' and I said you're ugly and I'm pretty and everybody just laughed. That was my fondest memory as a kid," he said.
Long after retirement, the fighters stayed connected.
"Whenever they could get together they would get together," he said.
That was until Jeff's dad lost his battle with dementia in 2014, two years before Ali's death.
"My heroes. My greatest heroes are gone now," Jeff said.
They may be gone, but he's passing their life lessons onto his children and grandkids.
"To be like Mohammad Ali. To believe in yourself to have the courage to never give up."
