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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.”