When the cheering stopped, he could still hear the cow-bell.
When the last of the well-wishers and back-slappers had made their way home, it still rang in Muhammad Ali's ears.
The last sound he heard as a professional boxer - as the greatest sportsman of all - was a cow-bell.
Ali's final fight was against Trevor Berbick, a journeyman, in the Bahamas, on December 11, 1981.
It was the most farcical of promotions.
To save money, gloves were unlaced rather than cut off hands, so that other fighters could use them.
The bill was nearly three hours behind schedule by the time Ali and Berbick stepped into the ring.
But, somehow, the organisers hadn’t even remembered to get a proper bell to sound the beginning and end of rounds.
A cow bell was procured from somewhere, and it signalled the end for Ali after 10 plodding rounds with victory going to Berbick.
That’s how it ended for the Greatest. That’s how it ends for so many greats.
Lately, in Irish sport, we've become used to the greats going through very public Long Goodbyes and bowing out with a flourish.
Think of Brian O'Driscoll and his last tango in Paris. Consider how Henry Shefflin managed to go out as a double All-Ireland winner.
But the reality is that most sportspeople, even the icons, depart the stage with a whimper rather than a bang.
Remember, Sonia O'Sullivan's last Olympics saw her lapped in the 5000m final at Athens 2004. Roy Keane's career fizzled out at Celtic, and he has admitted since that moving there was a mistake.
Katie Taylor has earned the right to be talked of in the same company as O'Driscoll, Shefflin, O'Sullivan and Keane.
At the end of the month, she will step into the ring at Madison Square Garden to take on Amanda Serrano.
Boxing has a long standing love affair with hype but, this time, the hype stands up. This really is the biggest women's boxing fight of all time.
Billy Walsh first watched Taylor in action over 20 years ago. It's been one of the joys of his coaching life to have seen her at close quarters for so long.
It will be 10 years this summer since Taylor became Olympic champion in London - one of the greatest Irish sporting days of all.
After that fight, her father and coach, Pete, says he wanted her to retire but, just a couple of months away from her 36th birthday, Taylor is still at the top of the fight game.
Walking away is never easy but Walsh wouldn't mind at all if the curtain comes down on Taylor's career in three weeks' time.
"This is a personal opinion...obviously, I can't speak for Katie, and I've never spoken to her about this but there is a time when everyone has to walk away,'' he said.
"Katie has done so much for boxing, she's an icon in our country. We will never have anyone like her again.
"I've watched Katie a long time. All those European and world titles she won as an amateur...she was fighting for the gold medal all the time which meant that she would have five or six fights.
"At amateur level, she had hundreds and hundreds of fights. I don't know if the Serrano fight will be Katie's last one - that is her decision.
"I'd love to see her win and, given the fact that she's had such a long career, I'd like to see her ride off into the sunset then. Enjoy the rest of her life and cherish what she's done in a fabulous career.
"But it's Katie that will decide what will happen."
Walsh's initial brief when he moved Stateside was to work with Team USA's female boxers.
It wasn't hard to find common ground - due to the impact made by an extraordinary Irishwoman.
"Yeah, they knew Katie. Anyone who was involved in boxing was well aware of Katie. I went over to the US in 2015 and was working with the women getting ready for the 2016 Olympics.
"Katie was going to be in the same weight division as one of our girls so we had to be aware,'' he said.
"She had this legendary status, she was very relevant, very accomplished and everyone knew her. Katie had been Olympic champion, she'd been world champion five, six times. She was a legend.''
Tickets for the Taylor/Serrano have flown out the door - one of the quickest sales in Madison Square Garden history.
There's talk of both fighters being on the front of The Ring magazine - that would be another great leap forward for the women's game.
Walsh isn't surprised at all that the fight has captured the imagination of so many.
"It's about time it happened for women's boxing, that's being honest. Women in the sport are being highlighted far more now, they're headlining bills that are being shown on TV,'' he said.
"A lot of that is down to Katie Taylor. I was at the World Championships in Canada in 2007 where she fought an exhibition against a local girl, Katie Dunn.
"There were representatives from the International Olympic Committee there and that fight led them to make the decision that women could box at the Olympics.
"Because of Katie's skills and performance, women's boxing became an Olympic sport.
"I was home in Wexford at Christmas and I called up to see Katie, who was at home as well. We had a cup of tea and just sat around for four hours - catching up.
"She is the same as she always was. Down to earth and very grounded.''
She did buy a speed boat recently...
"What?! She never told me that! Ah, Katie is special. She just has this determination and drive as well - some boxers have it and others don't have it.
"You're not born with it, it's a drive within you. She has always had this drive within her to be the best she can be, and that just happens to be the best in the world.
"Without Katie Taylor, women's boxing would be years behind. Katie Taylor put women's boxing on the map."
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