Troy Clarke has described the day that Muhammad Ali crowned him “the new champion of the world” as the greatest experience of his life.

During Ali’s visit to Bermuda in 1974, he visited The Central School and told the children who were in attendance in the assembly hall that he wanted to stage a boxing exhibition right there and then. He scoured the crowd, looking for an opponent to fight, until his eyes stopped at the ten-year-old Troy Clarke.

Mr Clarke recalls the day: “It was an experience like no other. I am looking around to see who it is and there was a teacher that stood up beside me and said, ‘Who? You mean me?’

“He said, ‘No, him’. Then I pointed at myself and I said, ‘Do you mean me?’ and he said yes.

“So I came forward. With my father being a boxer, I knew how to pull up my hands; I knew what I had to do.”

Asked if Ali had said anything to him, Mr Clarke said: “He wouldn’t face anyone without trying to spook them, so he rattled me up. I was bit ‘flinchy’; you never know when this incredibly fast hand is going to come at you, so I was readying myself. I can’t say that I was terrified by that moment. Then he let me knock him out; he said I was the new champion of the world.

“It was the greatest experience of my life and I have a lot of great moments — that was the golden moment right there. I have never met anyone in the sports world with that type of respect, that throne. It was beautiful.

“I still have friends who I went to Central School with who will say ‘Troy Clarke knocked out Muhammad Ali!’ I’m a reggae artist today and they will say Rizla Matic [stage name] knocked out Muhammad Ali — still to this day. It always gives me a flashback.”

Meanwhile, it has been discovered that the other youngster to share the ring with Ali during his 1974 visit was Toronto “Mackie” Darrell. Aged 9 at the time, the nephew of Troy Darrell, the former world-ranked middleweight, Toronto was a student at Devon Lane when Ali dropped by. Local trainer Allan “Forty” Rego, who played a critical role in Troy Darrell’s successful professional career, met Ali twice and described him as an inspiration both in and out of the ring.

Mr Rego first met Ali in Bermuda in the 1960s and then again in Miami in the 1970s. “Whenever he came around, people just had to take notice of him because of the way he carried himself,” he said.

“He wasn’t rowdy or anything like that and he let you know that you didn’t have to be a rough and tough guy to get attention. He made people believe. A lot of people wanted to do what he did [his stance against accepting enlistment for the Vietnam War], but just didn’t have the guts to do it. He definitely made the world a better place; not only for blacks, but for all colours because he stood up for what he believed in.

“He not only inspired me but a lot of up-and-coming fighters and he was always very interesting to be around.

“When I first heard of his death, I felt really bad because it’s a great loss. I wouldn’t be surprised if they give him a state funeral for what he has done for the world.”

•Additional reporting by Colin Thompson