https://youtu.be/XpOLWQ8WmdU
“I’ve done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick”
by Adam Godfrey: Pele. Michael Jordan. Ayrton Senna. Three examples of men who managed, through their force of will, the magnitudes of their achievements or their overwhelming charisma to create legacies that will have history consider them beyond the standards of all others. But one sportsman stands alone, having transcended his sport to the extent that he is truly considered a God amongst mortals, and that man is Muhammad Ali.
Despite beating every top Heavyweight of his time, Ali’s considerable achievements inside the ring are arguably dwarfed by the importance of his words and actions outside of it. Martin Luther King was said to have been inspired by Ali’s willingness to speak out against the Vietnam War to find his own voice. And while many of Ali’s statements concerning race and civil rights were controversial and abrasive, he was a potent and necessary catalyst in bringing the social inequalities of his era to light, and gave others the conviction and confidence they erstwhile lacked to make their own stands.You do not have to care about boxing to hold Ali in reverence or to be aware of his impact.
Inside the ring, Ali achieved more than would have been considered possible before his 1960 professional debut, at which time he went by his birth name of Cassius Clay. The twelve-year-old Clay only began Boxing after counsel from Police Officer Joe E. Martin, who advised that he should learn to box before confronting a thief who had stolen his bicycle. Clay went on to have a decorated Amateur career, winning six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweightgold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Three years after starting his professional career, Clay became a World Heavyweight Champion for the first time, defeating a wound up, adrenaline fuelled Sonny Liston. The fight would bring to the attention of the world Clay’s most notorious trademark; his scathing, unrelenting trash-talk. Clay repeatedly referred to Liston as ‘a big smelly bear’ and promised to donate him to a local zoo after beating him. Many put Clay’s antics down to fear. Clay claimed it was all an act, designed to convince Liston that he was mentally unstable and instill fear into the champion. Regardless of the truth, the world of boxing would never be the same again after Liston quit on his stool in the seventh, perplexed as he was by Clay’s blinding speed, deceptively hard punches and vast ring IQ. Cassius Clay had arrived.
It was these fighting qualities that would lead to Clay (who changed his name to Muhammad Ali shortly after the Liston fight) on a career path that would include some of the most famous moments in boxing and sports history. The so called ‘Phantom Punch’ that did for Sonny Liston in their rematch will go down as possible the single most controversial blow in the history of combat sport. He beat Floyd Patterson in 1965, after which he was criticised for seeming to toy with the clearly injured former undisputed World Champion. This tendency to mock and cajole his opponents would further enhance his reputation as the ultimate trash talker, further adding to the Ali mystique.
Following bouts against George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Brian London,Karl Mildenberger, Cleveland Williams and Ernie Terrell, Ali would be exiled from Boxing between the ages of 25 and 29, years that would have seen Ali at the very extent of his powers. That we will never know the heights he may have reached during this time is surely one of the biggest losses in all of sports history. However, this period also highlights the unwavering commitment that Ali had for the causes that he championed. That he was willing to sacrifice the best years of his career rather than compromise his beliefs and fight in a war which he could not support is in turns tragic and admirable, and is one of the foundations upon which his legacy is built. You do not have to agree with a person’s words or actions to appreciate the influence that that they have, and you will struggle to find anyone who can deny the importance of Ali’s absence from boxing for the furthering of his cause. It was, after all, during this exile that Ali’s stances on the Vietnam War and civil Rights would gain sympathy and traction, and his advocacy arguably had a real impact on public opinion. Ali appeared at hundreds of colleges across the US encouraging support for the anti-war movement and the advancement of civil rights. Today’s athletes may make the occasional symbolic protest against whichever story has piqued their interest, but nobody takes the risk with their own career that Ali did. It is truly astonishing to consider the lengths to which Ali was willing to travel for the things he held dear, and this commitment was reflected by his refusal to ever be broken in the ring.
Following his return from exile boxing fans were treated to an enthralling first fight against Joe Frazier in 1971, which was again characterised pre-fight by Ali’s penchant for trash talking.Ultimately, however, the fight would go down as Ali’s first professional loss. Personal animosity endured between Ali and Frazier until the latter’s death, as Frazier considered Ali’s behavior rude and beyond the pale.That Ali had an unsavory arrogance that went beyond the limits of what was acceptable was a charge often laid against him, especially in his younger days. But this was a necessary part of the package, and Ali would not have been the self-promotion genius that he was without his unwavering confidence and belief in his own abilities.
Ali would avenge his loss to Frazier in their 1974 rematch in Madison Square Garden. Later that same year Ali travelled to Zaire to take on the enormously powerful George Foreman. Ali was a huge underdog, but prevailed in ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ thanks to his adoption in round 2 of what was later termed his ‘Rope-a-Dope’ tactics. Ali covered up on the ropes, ducking, weaving and slipping as he let Foreman punch himself out. An exhausted Foreman was then knocked out in the eighth. Many consider Ali’s tactics and eventual knockout of Foreman as his biggest achievement inside the ring, such was the strength of belief that Foreman would prevail before the fight and the intelligence that Ali showed in exposing Foreman’s weaknesses.
Ali fought Frazier for a third time in 1975 in a fight dubbed ‘The Thrila in Manila’. Initially more aggressive than against Foreman, Ali did eventually resort to his previous Rope-a-Dope tactics, but unlike against Foreman, this was mostly ineffective and may even have suited Frazier, who matched Ali during the middle rounds. Frazier’s corner eventually stopped the fight in the 15th round after both his eyes had virtually swollen shut. Despite the animosity that festered between the two men Ali was a gracious victor, describing Frazier as ‘the greatest fighter of all times, next to me’.
After the ‘Thrilla’ Ali would fight another ten times, but his health was visibly and rapidly declining, as were his skills. He had begun to suffer from hand tremors and vocal stutters, early signs of the Parkinson’s disease that Ali would later be diagnosed with. Rumors would abound that the years taking shots from some of the biggest punchers the world of boxing had ever seen had contributed to, or perhaps even caused the onset of the disease. As such Ali’s incredible chin could be described as both one of his greatest strengths and one of his most debilitating weaknesses. Ali withstood punishment that would have destroyed virtually any other boxer. Despite his health problems Ali remained visible after his retirement (with a professional record of 56 wins, 5 losses and 37 wins by ko); he lit the Olympic flame at the beginning of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, helped promote the 2001 biopic about his life, and even travelled to Iraq in 1991 to help negotiate the release of American hostages being held there. Ali died late on Friday 3rd June 2016 due to a respiratory condition linked to his Parkinson’s.
Ali had an indelible influence on all that has followed after him, and there will never be a more important boxer to the sport. Even those who recoil at the mere thought of boxing know of the man who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. Rest in peace Muhammad Ali.