Veteran actor, David Dontoh has revealed he fought as boxer for four years in his youthful days due to love for the late Mohammed Ali.

Speaking Friday, June 10, 2016, to Kwame Adinkra on Atinka FM’s AM Drive, David Dontoh said his father’s love for the renowned boxing legend, influenced his love for the sports.

David Dontoh in 2001, directed a scene of Ali’s biographical sports drama film staged at the Rawlings Park, Accra.

The film was written, produced and directed by Michael Mann. Mr. David Dontoh mentioned that he also did the casting for the movie although it was “a minor shoot” which he also described as “interesting”.

The movie focuses on ten years in the life of the late boxer Muhammad Ali, played by Will Smith, from 1964–74, featuring his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, his conversion to Islam, criticism of the Vietnam War, and banishment from boxing, his return to fight Joe Frazier in 1971, and, finally, his reclaiming the title from George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle fight of 1974. It also touches on the great social and political upheaval in the United States following the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ali, a three-time heavyweight champion known for his showmanship, political activism and devotion to humanitarian causes, died of septic shock in an Arizona hospital. He was 74.

David Dontoh said he was excited to be a part of the ‘Ali’ movie because to him “Muhammad Ali was not just a sportsman but a great boxer who used his career as a platform to champion the pan Africanist course.”