The famous Muhammad Ali stare was fixed on him in a room full of onlookers.

But Mike Machado, then executive secretary of the Hawai'i State Boxing Commission, didn't wilt.

"You know what our rules are," Machado steadfastly maintained.

To which Ali eventually sighed and asked, "You sure you weren't a boxer?"

No, Machado never laced up the gloves as an amateur or a pro, but for a quarter century he called a lot of the shots on the sport in Hawai'i, earning a reputation for watching out for fighters, be they ex-world heavyweight champions or debuting prelim guys.

Machado, 69, died Sunday, leaving the good guys' corner in a rough-and-tumble sport a little emptier.

Machado retired from the state in 2002 after nearly three decades of working on the regulatory end of boxing, the final 25 years as executive secretary of the commission.

Although he oversaw a handful of other boards and commissions, boxing became his abiding passion. "He loved talking boxing, being around boxing," said Alfred Costa, a cousin.

Machado guided the political appointees, who made up the commission, through contracts and matchups. He kept promoters and mangers in line and shenanigans to a minimum.

When a deteriorating, soon-to-be 39-year-old Ali applied for a boxing license in 1981 and newly sworn commissioner Bobby Lee led the charge to deny the application by deferral, Machado oversaw the process, standing behind it, state statutes in hand.

Machado's research helped determine that Ali had been forced to give up a license in Nevada after a TKO beating three months earlier from Larry Holmes. Promoters sought to get Ali licensed here not so much to stage a fight with John L. Gardner in Hawai'i as purported, but to enable a move elsewhere.

Ultimately, Ali was licensed in the Bahamas, where he lost to Trevor Berbick later in the year. His final bout.

Later it was learned Ali was suffering from Parkinson's disease and the prospective promoter, Harold Smith, would become a federal fugitive resulting from his part in a bank swindle.

While the Ali episode made headlines, Machado was no less meticulous in research or relenting in sparing less well-known fighters from dangerous mismatches. Quietly, behind the scenes, he got help for destitute former boxers and made sure others got funerals, even if he had to round up the mourners and flowers.

Machado, a Saint Louis School and UH graduate, is survived by wife Joan, daughter Debra and son Kimo. Services are scheduled for Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. at St. John Vianney in Kailua.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.