Muhammad Ali's former bodyguard Mike Cooley is in Durango and ready for the title fight

Cooley is vice president of the sanctioning body LBF, which has a title shot

Like many people who end up in Durango, Mike Cooley, vice president of the Legends Boxing Foundation, had a connection here. His cousins' aunts and uncles used to live here. They used to own a GM dealer here. Cooley visited Durango and fell in love with her.

When Cooley was asked to stage a title fight in Durango, they wanted to bring professional boxing to Durango for the first time in nearly 100 years. It was an easy decision.

He recalled visiting El Rancho Tavern in 1990 and receiving so much love for his association with legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. Recently, Cooley traveled through Durango, met with current owners Chris and Chip Lile and developed a relationship.

When Good Fight Boxing Gym founder Katy Kopec then spoke to Chris Lile about a professional fight in Durango, Lile knew Cooley was the man for the job.

Fast forward to today and Kopec, Cooley and Lile have set up Legends on the Animas: The LBF Middleweight Championship between Andrew “Hurricane” Hernandez and Jeremy “The Boxer Barber” Ramos on October 12th at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.

“It’s a fantastic fit,” Cooley said. “The unity of Durango guests and all people is simply fabulous. I see the support she gave her (Kopec) and the future support. There are people who called on Friday wanting support that hadn't been offered before. It's amazing because I've been to a lot of places. I am now 66 years old and have already experienced a lot. I was Muhammad Ali's bodyguard, fought in the ring and was in a lot of professional fights, the biggest fights of all time. It amazes me how people come together in this community. I wanted to be a part of it.”

Cooley became part of the LBF in Las Vegas in 2019 after being nominated for the position of vice president by President Eva Rolle. The LBF liked Cooley's experience in training and managing champions. He has connections to some of the best fighters in the sport.

Since Cooley became involved with the LBF, the sanctioning body has continued to grow. Cooley knows his connections are a big part of his role in the LBF. He also knows that the four major boxing sanctioning bodies (WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF) are heavily involved in politics because they have been around for so long.

“They all fight with each other,” Cooley said. “Why should you as a fighter come into contact with this? We can have a lot of money too.”

Cooley had his first interaction with legendary boxer Muhammad Ali long before he became his bodyguard. Cooley was 17 years old and Ali was giving a talk at a college in 1977. He wore his gold glove jacket to attract Ali's attention and got Ali to sign it. Cooley told him that one day they would spend time together.

It took eleven more years, but Cooley kept his word.

In 1988, Cooley opened an amateur gym in St. Louis, Michigan, funding it by selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door. Cooley invited Ali to come to the grand opening, and to Cooley's surprise, he did, along with thousands of spectators and many media outlets.

After that, about a month later, Cooley got the call at 6 a.m. to come to Las Vegas to be Ali's bodyguard at the Sugar Ray Leonard Donny Lalonde Light Heavyweight Championship in November 1988.

“I lived in a room next door to him at the Golden Nugget for four days,” Cooley said. “We just got along well. We really were kindred spirits and very close.”

Cooley remembers having dinner at Caesars Palace with Ali when former NFL MVP quarterback Joe Theismann of Washington nervously approached Cooley to ask if he could introduce Theismann to Ali. Cooley did so and Ali immediately asked Theismann to have dinner with them and he did.

After Ali died in 2016, Cooley was surprised at how many young fighters who came after him didn't know about Ali. He said all they had to do was watch some of the footage of his struggles and life and they would develop a bond with him like they had never seen before.

Ali is always in Cooley's heart and remembers the great moments the two had together.

With decades of experience boxing at the highest level, Cooley used his connection with Hector Camacho Jr. and Aaron Pryor Jr. to get them to come to Durango and help Kopec fight at the Legends on the Animas event.

Camacho Jr. was scheduled to fight Hernandez, but suffered an injury while training in Durango in September that forced him to withdraw. Ramos was quickly brought in as a replacement.

Cooley called Durango “the perfect city” for this and hopes to continue working with Kopec and The Good Fight Boxing Gym, where the LBF can host fights in Durango every five or six months. This will help the fights here continue to grow and turn Durango into a little boxing mecca.

Other famous boxing names like Butterbean and BoneCrusher Smith are coming to Durango as special guests after just a phone call from Cooley. He sold them on the historical aspect of the fight with the story of Jack Dempsey and world-class professional boxing from Durango for the first time in 100 years.

Cooley has been a part of many special boxing events. Cooley, Kopec, Lile and many others hope the legends on the Animas card will spark more historic boxing events in Durango.

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