Muhammad Ali, 1942 – 2016

The world’s greatest boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who was also the greatest sporting figure of the 20th century, will be buried today at his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky in the United States. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion died at the age of 74 on Friday last week. His death draws a curtain on a legend, […]

The world’s greatest boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who was also the greatest sporting figure of the 20th century, will be buried today at his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky in the United States. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion died at the age of 74 on Friday last week. His death draws a curtain on a legend, a phenomenon, a star that the world may never witness again in generations to come.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay (Junior), Ali dropped what he called the ‘slavish’ name on March 6, 1964 soon after he knocked out Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight boxing champion. Ali went on to become the world’s greatest boxing sensation from the 1960s with a combination of incredible speed, hard punches, flamboyant style and much bravado which earned him the nickname ‘The Louisville Lip.’
Outside the ring, Ali also established his credentials as a man of conscience. In 1966 he refused to be drafted into the US military to fight in Vietnam, saying the Viet Cong had never offended him with racial slurs as American Whites did. He said he was a conscientious objector, being a minister of the Nation of Islam. He paid dearly for this position because the New York State Athletic Commission stripped him of all his titles. In a space of ten days he was indicted by the judiciary, sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000. Ali was unable to fight for four years while he appealed the sentence, and the US Supreme Court finally quashed the sentences in 1971.
Ali returned to the ring in 1971 and although his first attempt to regain his title from Joe Frazier ended in defeat, he was well on his way to becoming the world’s greatest boxing legend. He won a string of victories over many opponents which culminated in his regaining the world heavyweight title from George Foreman in 1974. That fight, dubbed “Rumble in the Jungle” which took place in Kinshasa, Zaire is the most memorable boxing match of Ali’s career and probably of all time. 
Over the next decade Ali was to regain the heavyweight title twice, once after losing it and the second time after coming out of retirement. He was the only man ever to be a three time world heavyweight boxing champion. His attempt to regain the title for an unprecedented fourth time did not succeed and Ali went into retirement. Even in retirement however, he remained extremely visible on the world stage and was a worldwide ambassador for peace.
 Outside the ring, Muhammad Ali was a prominent member of the American civil rights movement. He totally identified with his black ancestry and totally abhorred racism, sparing no opportunity to rail against racism. Muhammad Ali also took his Muslim faith seriously. He started out as a member of The Nation of Islam led by Elijah Mohammed but later in life, having come into contact with Orthodox Muslims around the world, he converted into mainstream Sunni Islam.
Muhammad Ali was adored throughout Africa [and throughout the world as well] but on at least one occasion he was at cross purposes with Africa, when he was sent here by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 to campaign for a boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympics. Africans rejected Ali’s mission because the Western world has spurned our call for a boycott of the 1976 Montreal Olympics, due to New Zealand’s sporting links with apartheid South Africa at the time.
Mohammed Ali was a remarkable African-American who rose from a humble background to become the greatest boxer in the world, a black man whose status rises almost to the height of the late Nelson Mandela. Ali died after many years’ battle against Parkinson’s disease which was made public in 1984. Ali’s life was a great lesson to the black race and the world at large. Truly, he was the greatest. May his great soul rest in perfect peace.