In 1970, a pre-fight face-off took place between Argentine Oscar “Ringo” Bonavena and Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The American was returning to boxing after three years of inactivity and, true to his style, played his mind games to throw his rival off, pretending to hit Bonavena when he was standing in front of him.
What Ali did not expect was that the Argentine would play along and would not let himself be intimidated by his fists, moving dangerously close to him and making him step back when he found himself in danger, provoking laughter from those present and from Muhammad himself.