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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2016)
Page 4 June 8, 2016 Muhammad Ali C ontinued from f ront twice, toppled the mighty George Foreman with the rope-a-dope in Zaire, and nearly fought to the death with Joe Frazier in the Philippines. Through it all, he was trailed by a colorful entourage who merely added to his growing legend. “Rumble, young man, rumble,” corner- man Bundini Brown would yell to him. And rumble Ali did. He fought anyone who meant anything and made millions of dollars with his lightning-quick jab. His ights were so memorable that they had names — “Rumble in the Jungle” and “Thrilla in Manila.” But it was as much his antics — and his mouth — outside the ring that transformed the man born Cassius Clay into a house- hold name as Muhammad Ali. “I am the greatest,” Ali thundered again and again. Few would disagree. Ali spurned white America when he joined the Black Muslims and changed his name. He deied the draft at the height of the Vietnam war — “I ain’t got no quar- rel with them Viet Cong” — and lost 3 1/2 years from the prime of his career. He en- tertained world leaders, once telling Phil- ippines President Ferdinand Marcos: “I saw your wife. You’re not as dumb as you look.” He later embarked on a second career as a missionary for Islam. The quiet of Ali’s later life was in con- trast to the roar of a career that had breath- taking highs along with terrible lows. He exploded on the public scene with a series of nationally televised ights that gave the public an exciting new champion, and he entertained millions as he sparred verbal- ly with the likes of bombastic sportscaster Howard Cosell. Ali once calculated he had taken 29,000 punches to the head and made $57 mil- lion in his pro career, but the effect of the punches lingered long after most of the money was gone. That didn’t stop him from traveling tirelessly to promote Islam, meet with world leaders and champion leg- islation dubbed the Muhammad Ali Box- ing Reform Act. While slowed in recent years, he still managed to make numerous appearances, including a trip to the 2012 London Olympics. With his hands trembling so uncon- trollably that the world held its breath, he lit the Olympic torch for the 1996 Atlan- ta Games in a performance as riveting as some of his ights. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky, Ali be- gan boxing at age 12 after his new bicycle was stolen and he vowed to policeman Joe Martin that he would “whup” the person who took it. He was only 89 pounds at the time, but Martin began training him at his boxing gym, the beginning of a six-year amateur career that ended with the light heavy- Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali stands over fallen challenger Sonny Liston, shouting and gesturing shortly after dropping Liston with a short hard right to the jaw in the irst round of their 1965 title ight in Lewiston, Maine, one of sports’ most iconic moments. Heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali with his daughters Laila and Hanna at their home on Dec. 19, 1978. weight Olympic gold medal in 1960. Ali had already encountered racism. On boxing trips, he and his amateur team- mates would have to stay in the car while Martin bought them hamburgers. When he returned to Louisville with his gold medal, the Chamber of Commerce presented him a citation but said it didn’t have time to co-sponsor a dinner. In his autobiography, “The Greatest,” Ali wrote that he tossed the medal into the Ohio River after a ight with a white mo- torcycle gang, which started when he and a friend were refused service at a Louisville restaurant. After he beat Liston to win the heavy- weight title in 1964, Ali shocked the box- ing world by announcing he was a member of the Black Muslims — the Nation of Is- lam — and was rejecting his “slave name.” As a Baptist youth he spent much of his time outside the ring reading the Bible. From now on, he would be known as Mu- hammad Ali and his book of choice would be the Quran. Ali’s afiliation with the Nation of Islam outraged and disturbed many white Amer- icans, but it was his refusal to be inducted into the Army that angered them most. That happened on April 28, 1967, a month after he knocked out Zora Folley in the seventh round at Madison Square Garden in New York for his eighth title de- fense. He was convicted of draft evasion, stripped of his title and banned from box- ing. A few months later the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction on an 8-0 vote. Many in boxing believe Ali was nev- er the same ighter after his lengthy lay- off, even though he won the heavyweight championship two more times and fought for another decade. With his fourth wife, Lonnie, at his side, Ali traveled the world for Islam and other causes. In 1990, he went to Iraq on his own initiative to meet with Saddam Hussein and returned to the United States with 15 Americans who had been held hostage. For his part, Ali didn’t complain about the price he had paid in the ring. “What I suffered physically was worth what I’ve accomplished in life,” he said in 1984. “A man who is not courageous enough to take risks will never accomplish anything in life.”