New Delhi: When Vijender Singh was born in Kaluwas village in Haryana in 1985, Muhammad Ali had already called it a day as a professional boxer. Yet, to Vijender, India's first Olympic medal-winning boxer, Ali was the greatest.

Even today, Vijender said, he watches videos of Ali's famous bouts again and again. "These videos give me huge inspiration, I learn new things every time I watch them," he said.

In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Vijender created history by winning a bronze medal in the 75kg category.

"Before I went to Beijing, I watched videos of his bouts. I always felt greatly inspired by him. In the 2007 world championships in Chicago, I saw him from close, but never got the opportunity to speak to him.

"After turning professional and moving to England, I still watch videos of Ali's important fights," said the middleweight star. Vijender said he was always awestruck by Ali's skills.

"What I most like about him is his tremendous footwork in the ring. He took the game to a different level because of his footwork," he said.

MC Mary Kom, the bronze-medal winner at the 2012 London Olympics, was in Imphal when she received the news of Ali's death.

"There was a time when to a common man, boxing meant Muhammad Ali only. All of us learnt to love the sport because of his huge influence," she said.

"I have watched his videos and films on him and learnt a lot. His struggle and hard work always inspired me," she added.

Mohammed Ali Qamar was another Indian boxer who had been greatly influenced by Ali and even tried to imitate his style. The Calcutta pugilist was a big success in the 2002 Commonwealth Games when he became the first Indian to win a boxing gold.

"I tried to imitate Ali's style and realised how difficult it was," said Qamar.

So much was Ali's influence on Indian boxers, that there was a time when coaches in national camps would play videos of his fights for inspiration and technical knowledge.

"We used to show videos of Ali's fights only to boxers in national camps," said India's national coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu.