Several years ago, I had the pleasure and priviledge of giving anesthesia to one of the world’s greatest heavyweight boxing champions of all time. (HIPAA adherence notwithstanding, I will have to leave him nameless here; I will refer to him as WGBC - World’s Greatest Boxing Champ). He came to the hospital I was working at for a minor outpatient surgical procedure.

Naturally, I was anxious to meet him, and curious to see what kind of guy he was. WGBC did not disappoint.

He arrived early, accompanied by several of his children, and armed with handfuls of autographed photos, too, which he proceeded to generously pass around to all who asked, and to a few who didn’t! What a super nice man he was, a big bear, and everyone in the same day surgery unit was highly entertained by his warmth, good will and humor.

His minor procedure proceeded uneventfully, and he napped peaceably thanks to the sedation that I administered through his IV. An easy and uneventful anesthetic. When the procedure was over, I wheeled him to the PACU (post-anesthesia care unit).

He woke up quickly, due to the short-acting nature of the drugs I gave him. As I was finishing up my report to the PACU nurse about his case, I turned to WGBC and asked how everything went.

He pointed his finger at me, and with a broad grin and a wink, nodded to me in his deep and gravelly voice, “You put me down!”

I guess you could call it my claim to fame - I knocked out WGBC! And he’s the greatest!