It was the day when Muhammad Ali finally condeded he wasn't The Greatest.

Poet, that is.

The world heavyweight champion boxer - famed for his wordplay as well as his ability in the ring - was on a visit to Burns Cottage in Alloway.

It was August 1965 and the champ was in Scotland for an ­exhibition bout at Paisley Ice Rink, where he fought his sparring partner and long-time friend Jimmy Ellis. 

But he couldn't resist a trip to Ayrshire to visit the former home of Scotland's bard.

When Ali arrived, he asked: "Is this the place? I heard he could write poetry as well as me."

But after planting a rather playful punch on a bust of Burns, he conceded: "I am not the greatest. I believe that man Burns is better than me at poetry.

"But I am the second greatest..."

During his  visit to Ayrshire, the man formerly known as Cassius Clay sat on the famous Press Chair.

That chair had been made from the wooden press on which John Wilson produced the Kilmarnock Edition of Burns' Poems Chiefly In The Scottish Dialect in 1786.

The same press was also used to print the very first edition of the Ayr Advertiser back in August 1803.

As he sat in the chair, Ali recited some of his own poetry which he had composed on his way to the cottage. 

In 1965 the Advertiser reported that Ali’s first impression of the cottage was one of surprise about the animals kept in the next room to the living quarters. 

On leaving he said: “I hope to come back again another day to take a few movies of everything.”

Speaking about his visit, he continued: “Nice, Everything’s nice. Weather, people, everything. I like it all.”

As far as we know the champ, who died in 2016, never returned to Alloway. But his visit lived long in the memory of those who saw the world's greatest boxer walk the streets of Ayrshire.