Muhammad Ali showed that age is just a number as he used his famous 'rope-a-dope' tactic to avoid taking any damage during an exhibition match against Michael Dokes in 1977.

The boxing legend participated in the special event a few months before he fought Earnie Shavers in September of that same year.

More than a thousand were in attendance at the Miami Beach Convention Center and the former three-time undisputed heavyweight champion of the world did not disappoint.

Ali, then 35, made it look like something out of a perfectly executed scene from a movie as he dodged 21 punches in just 10 seconds.

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Now, granted, his opponent at the time was vastly more inexperienced, but it was still pretty impressive nonetheless.

What makes it even more amusing is that Dokes had actually sent Ali a message two years prior to them sharing the ring together.

"My hands are so fast they can't catch them on film," he told Sports Illustrated per Huffington Post. "I told Muhammad Ali, 'I'm gonna get you, old man, so you better get out while you can.'"

VIDEO: Muhammad Ali dodges 21 punches in 10 seconds

Check out the video below...

That probably wasn't the best thing to say really, was it?

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Evidently rather out of shape and quite clearly overweight, Ali retreated into a corner and put his arms on the ropes at one point during the fight.

But Dokes managed to hit nothing but air for the best part of 10 seconds despite his best efforts as Ali proved too elusive before hilariously mocking him with a little wiggle of the hips.

Twitter user 'Fight Videos That Go Hard' shared the video on social media with the accompanying caption: "Muhammad Ali dodges 21 punches in 10 seconds."

The incredible archive footage - which has clocked 9.7 million views, 350 thousand likes and over 45,000 retweets - has understandably gone viral after being shared on social media earlier this month.

Nicknamed 'The Greatest', Ali is widely regarded as the best boxer of all time, and the only man to have won Ring Magazine’s ‘Fighter of the Year’ award six times.

He was the main superstar of the USA boxing team which won three gold medals at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960, beating Zbigniew Pietrzykowski in the final.

And, in the winter of 1964, he became the heavyweight champion for the first time when he beat Sonny Liston in one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history.

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