A man in Ireland claims that the late Muhammad Ali was his father and has traveled to Dublin to prove his case.
Ibn Muhammad Ali insists that he was “kidnapped” as a child after spending around a decade with the legendary boxer raising him during the 1980s. Afterward, he claims to have grown up in Africa and the United Kingdom while living with a new name.
Forty years on, Ibn says he remains estranged from his mother. The former boxer he claims was his father died on June 3, 2016, aged 74, from septic shock after being hospitalized with a respiratory illness the previous day.
He also claims to bear a striking resemblance to his father. Attempts to contact who he says are his family members have been made before but to no avail.
“I’m living in pain. I haven’t seen my mother for 40 years. I’m a survivor of child kidnapping,” he told IrishStar.com. “I’ve seen things; I’ve been through things.
Addressing the “kidnapping” he recalls: “They gave me an adoption name that had 32 letters. I can’t even pronounce it. But I grew up with my dad. I have memories. I was taken away in the early 80s. I spent about nine or ten years with my dad before I was taken.”
His story goes that it was out of caution that his father did not publicly speak on the subject. “My father didn’t want to use me as a tool of possible warfare,” Ibn added.
“He didn’t want to start a war and maybe to save my life just in case because if people knew they had the son of Muhammad Ali, they might kill me. So I kept my mouth shut and waited until I grew up to escape.”
Arriving in Ireland all these years later is in an attempt to retrace his family tree and prove a link to Ali. He is now living on the streets whilst trying to prove his story.
“My nan is Irish,” he insists. “My dad’s mum. Her name is Odessa O’Grady. She was married to Cassius Clay Sr, so my bloodline is Irish.
“So without my nan giving birth to my dad, my dad wouldn’t exist, and I wouldn’t exist. So I’m having complications with certain people when I say I’m actually the son of Muhammad Ali.
Ibn continues: “I told the woman I love online that this is what I’m going to do. Watch me research and prove to you that I am who I say I am while the world thinks I don’t exist. I came to Ireland to dig through my history because I have my DNA; I have the names of all my Irish ancestors.
“So I’m trying to show the ignorance of society based on my history, my father’s history, because people don’t believe I am who I say I am. Rather than argue, I’m going to use my intelligence to solve my case so that if I die, the world will be like, oh s**t, we missed him.”