By Eric Thomas: Former heavyweight world champion Muhammad Ali has reportedly passed away on Friday night at the age of 74 at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. Ali had been hospitalized recently for breathing problems. He was said to have been initially stable but the problem worsened.
The boxing world and his many fans will miss him.
“A true great has left us. Muhammad Ali transformed this country and impacted the world with his spirit. His legacy will be part of our history for all time,” said Arum via Twitter.
Ali has such an impact in his boxing career with his accomplishments. Besides winning world titles at heavyweight, he also captured a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics before he turned pro in the same year.
However, what made Ali so different from the other fighters during his era was his personality. Ali was an entertainer with charisma and a movie star like quality to him. Ali’s ability to talk, joke and make predictions of all kinds helped make him a huge star. He didn’t just fight. He was an entertainer outside of the ring. Him and sports commentator Howard Cossell were great with one another during the many interviews they had. It was like watching comedy.
Like many fighters, Ali continued to fight long after his skills had begin to fade. Ali arguably should have retired after his grueling 15 round decision win over the big punching Earnie Shavers in 1977. That was a hard fight for Ali, and his career dropped off dramatically afterwards with him losing three out of his last four fights of his career in losses to Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. Ali’s loss to Berbick in December 1981 was the final fight of his career. Ali did avenge his loss to Spinks in 1978.
The high points of Ali’s boxing career were wins over George Foreman, Sonny Liston, Ken Norton, Joe Frazier and Floyd Patterson. Those were the big names that Ali defeated. He beat many other well known fighters during the prime of his career.
It’s unfortunate that Ali lost three of his best years of his career when he refused to be inducted into the U.S armed forces after being drafted in 1967. Ali was unable to fight from 1967 to 1970. When Ali did finally resume his career, he was slower than he’d been during the time before he stopped fighting. Ali was still very good, but he’d lost the speed and mobility that he had previously.