Muhammad Ali transcended boxing to reach out to people as a ‘role model’ and a ‘hero,’ more than any other athlete in history. He is undoubtedly the GOAT in boxing. At just 18, Ali travelled to the Rome 1960 Olympic Games, easily won all four of his boxing bouts in the light heavyweight category (81 kgs) and emerged the Olympic gold medallist.
His professional record of fifty-six wins, with thirty-seven knockouts against five losses is unprecedented. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1964-1967, 1974-1978 and 1978-1979. Ali used “Orthodox” stance and with his height 6 ft 3 in, had a reach of 78 inches.
Ali was regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century. After retirement, he travelled across the world as an ambassador of peace and championed social causes like ending poverty and discrimination.
Three-time world heavyweight champion Ali was honoured with the ‘UN Messenger of Peace’ award in 1988. He was named “Sportsman of the Century” by Sports Illustrated and “Sports Personality of the Century” by the BBC in 1999. His prowess earned him the nicknames, “The Greatest,” and “The People’s Champion.”
Early life and career
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on January 17, 1942, and named after his father, he was raised in Louisville, Kentucky. His father was a sign and billboard painter, and his mother, Odessa O’Grady, a domestic helper. Cassius Jr. attended Central High School in Louisville. He was dyslexic and he had difficulties in reading and writing.
Clay was first directed towards boxing by coach Joe E. Martin. Later, he collaborated with trainer Fred Stoner, whom he credits for giving him the “real training,” and eventually moulding his “style, stamina and system.”
Clay at 12, made his debut in 1954 against Ronnie O’Keefe, winning by a split decision. He won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two National Golden Gloves titles, and an Amateur Athletic Union National title. In the Rome 1960 Olympic final, he defeated three-time European champion Zbigniew Pietrzykowski to win the gold.
Clay’s amateur record was one hundred wins with five losses. He made his professional debut in 1960, winning a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker. From then until 1963, Clay amassed a record of 19–0 with fifteen wins by knockout. The fight with Doug Jones in 1963 was Clay’s toughest and was later named “Fight of the Year” by The Ring magazine.
World heavyweight champion
Clay won the heavyweight world championship on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, beating Sonny Liston in a legendary fight. Clay was a 7–1 underdog but Clay taunted Liston during the pre-fight build up, dubbing him “the big ugly bear.” Clay turned the pre-fight weigh-in into a circus, shouting at Liston that “someone is going to die at ringside tonight.”
At the bell, Liston rushed at Clay, angry and looking for a quick knockout. However, Clay’s superior speed and mobility enabled him to elude Liston. At the end of the first round, Clay opened his attack and hit Liston repeatedly with jabs. Liston fought better in round two, but at the beginning of the third round Clay hit Liston with a combination that buckled his knees and opened a cut under his left eye.
Clay was able to survive the fifth round until sweat and tears rinsed the irritation from his eyes. In the sixth, Clay dominated, hitting Liston repeatedly. Liston did not answer the bell for the seventh round, and Clay was declared the winner by a technical knockout (TKO). A triumphant Clay shouted: “I am the greatest! I shook up the world. I am the prettiest thing that ever lived.”
In winning this fight at the age of twenty-two, Clay became the youngest boxer to take the title from a reigning heavyweight champion. He took the name Muhammad Ali on March 6, 1964. He faced a rematch with Liston on May 25, 1965, in Lewiston, Maine and midway through the first round, Liston was knocked down by a difficult-to-see blow. The entire fight lasted less than two minutes.
Over the next four years, he defended his title nine times. His fight against former champion Floyd Patterson on November 22, 1965, lasted twelve rounds before being called on a TKO. In 1966, Ali successfully defeated George Chuvalo (March 29), Henry Cooper (May 21), Brian London (August 6) and Karl Mildenberger (September 10).
Ali fought Cleveland Williams in Houston on November 14, 1966 and won a third-round TKO. The fight was considered the finest performance of Ali’s career. Ali fought Ernie Terrell in Houston on February 6, 1967 and won a unanimous 15-round decision. Then, he defeated Zora Folley on March 22,1967.
In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the US Army, citing religious and personal beliefs, and was stripped of his titles as world champion by the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC), on April 29, 1967. He appealed to the Supreme Court, where his conviction was reversed in 1971. This deprived him of three and a half years of peak performance.
The Fight of the Century
The first fight of Ali and Joe Frazier took place at the Garden on March 8, 1971. It was dubbed “The Fight of the Century,” due to the tremendous excitement surrounding a bout between two undefeated fighters, each with a legitimate claim to be heavyweight champion. Adding to the atmosphere were the considerable pre-fight theatrics and name calling.
The fight lived up to its billing and in the early rounds, Ali was taking more punishment than ever in his career. In the later rounds, in what was the first appearance of the “rope-a-dope strategy,” Ali leaned against the ropes and absorbed punishment from Frazier, hoping to tire him.
In the 11th round, Frazier connected a left hook that wobbled Ali. In the final round, Frazier knocked Ali down with a vicious left hook. Ali was back on his feet in three seconds. Nevertheless, Ali lost by unanimous decision, his first professional defeat.
Ali fought Jerry Quarry, had a second bout with Floyd Patterson and faced Bob Foster in 1972, winning a total of six fights that year. In 1973, Ken Norton broke Ali’s jaw while giving him the second loss of his career. Ali won a controversial decision against Norton in their second bout.
Ali fought his second with Frazier at Madison Square Garden in January 1974. Ali was strong in the early rounds; Frazier came on in the middle rounds and the last four rounds saw round-to-round shifts in momentum between the two fighters. Judges awarded Ali a unanimous decision.
The Rumble in the Jungle
Ali versus George Foreman, billed as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” was staged on October 30, 1974, in Zaire (now Congo).Foreman was undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion and the event recorded an attendance of 60,000.
Foreman was considered one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history. Ali was thirty-two and had clearly lost speed and reflexes. Foreman was at the time a brooding and intimidating presence. As usual, Ali was confident and colourful before the fight and opened the fight moving and scoring with right crosses to Foreman’s head.
Then, beginning in the second round, and to the consternation of his corner, Ali retreated to the ropes and invited Foreman to hit him while covering up, clinching and counterpunching, all while verbally taunting Foreman. Midway through, as Foreman began tiring, Ali countered more often and effectively with punches and flurries.
In the eighth round, Ali dropped an exhausted Foreman with a combination at centre ring. Against the odds, and amidst pandemonium in the ring, Ali won by knockout in the eighth round. It was the world’s most-watched live television broadcast with an audience of one billion. Ali’s ensuing opponents included Chuck Wepner, Ron Lyle, and Joe Bugner.
“Thrilla in Manila”
The third and final boxing match between Ali and Frazier, billed the “Thrilla in Manila” was held on October 1, 1975. The contest’s name was derived from Ali’s rhyming boast that the fight would be, “a killa and a thrilla and a chilla, when I get that gorilla in Manila.”
In the first rounds, Ali was aggressive, moving and exchanging blows with Frazier. However, Ali soon appeared to tire and adopted the “rope-a-dope” strategy, absorbing punishment from a relentlessly attacking Frazier.
In the 12th round, Frazier began to tire, and Ali landed sharp blows that closed Frazier’s left eye and opened a cut over his right eye. With Frazier’s vision now diminished, Ali dominated the 13th and 14th rounds. The fight was stopped when Frazier’s eyes were both swollen shuts. Ali, in his corner, winner by a TKO, said that the fight “was the closest thing to dying that I know,” and cited Frazier as “the greatest fighter of all times next to me.”
During 1976, Ali defeated Jean-Pierre Coopman (February 20), Jimmy Young (April 30) and Richard Dunn (May 24). Ali fought Ken Norton for the third time on September 28,1976 and the bout, which was held at Yankee Stadium, resulted in Ali winning a controversial decision.
After returning to beat Alfredo Evangelista on May 16, 1977, Ali struggled in his next fight against Earnie Shavers on September 29,1977getting pummelled a few times, yet Ali won the fight by a unanimous decision.
On February 15, 1978, Ali faced Leon Spinks in Las Vegas and lost the title by a split decision. A rematch occurred on September 15, 1978,at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana with 70,000spectators who paid a total of $6 million admission, making it the largest live gate in boxing history. Ali won a unanimous decision in an uninspiring fight. This made Ali the first heavyweight champion to win the belt three times.
Ali fought with Larry Holmes on October 2, 1980, in Las Vegas to win the heavyweight championship an unprecedented fourth time. After the tenth round, Angelo Dundee, his trainer requested the referee to stop the fight. Ali fought one last time on December 11, 1981, in Nassau, Bahamas, against Trevor Berbick, losing a ten-round decision.
Personal Life
Ali had seven daughters and two sons from his four marriages. Ali had a cameo role in the 1962 film, “Requiem for a Heavyweight.”In 1963, Ali released an album titled, “I Am the Greatest,” and in 1964, he recorded a cover version of the rhythm and blues song “Stand by Me.” Ali had been identified as an early example of rap music and a precursor to hip hop. He earned two Grammy nominations.
Ali began visiting Africa in 1964 and founded his own promotion company, “Main Bout” in 1965. In 1966, he pledged to donate a total of $100,000 to the United Negro College Fund. He starred in the short-lived 1969 Broadway musical, “Buck White.”In 1970, Ali was honoured with the Martin Luther King Award. In 1974, he visited a Palestinian refugee camp.
His autobiography, “The Greatest: My Own Story,” written with Richard Durham, was published in 1975. In his autobiography, Ali said that shortly after his return from the Rome Olympics, he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after he and a friend were refused service at a “whites-only” restaurant and fought with a white gang.
His book was adapted into a film called, “The Greatest.” The film “Freedom Road,” made in 1978, features Ali. He visited Bangladesh in 1978. Ali was involved with professional wrestling. Bruce Lee was influenced by Ali, whose footwork he incorporated into his own style. Ali’s fights drew an estimated one to two billion viewers worldwide.
Ali was known for being a humanitarian and philanthropist and helped to feed more than twenty-two million afflicted by hunger across the world. One of his main focuses was youth education and Ali spoke at several colleges and universities on the importance of education.
In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Syndrome. In 1985, he visited Israel and in 1990, travelled to Iraq. Ali cooperated with Thomas Hauser on a biography, “Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times,” released in 1991.
In 2002, Ali visited Afghanistan as the “UN Messenger of Peace.”In 2002, Ali was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ali’s total fight purse earnings were estimated to be $60 million in 1978, $70 million in 1980 and $55 million in 2006.
He passed away on June 3, 2016 at the age of seventy-four. His funeral procession passed through the streets of Louisville and he was interred at Cave Hill Cemetery. A memorial service took place on June 10, 2016. Ali’s headstone, features his quote: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room in Heaven.”
Legacy
Ali is still the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion. He was the only boxer to be named “Fighter of the Year” six times by The Ring magazine. He was one of only three boxers to be named “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in its first year.
Ali was the subject of numerous creative works including books, films, music, video games and TV shows. Ali appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on thirty-eight occasions and Time Magazine on five times.
He was awarded the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award, named one of the “100 Most Influential Americans of the 20th Century” by Life magazine and was listed amongst the three most recognizable athletes in the United States.
Despite being plagued by Parkinson and the fact that he threw his Olympic gold into a river to protest racism, Ali emerged as the cauldron lighter at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. An estimated 3.5 billion viewers watched him. Later the IOC President Antonio Samaranch presented Ali with a replacement medal.
He was USA Today’s “Athlete of the Century.” In 1999, Time magazine named Ali one of the “100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.”In 2001, Ali was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton. In 2005, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.
On November 19, 2005, Ali and his wife Lonnie opened the $60 million non-profit Muhammad Ali Centre in downtown Louisville. On June 5, 2007, he received an honorary doctorate of humanities at Princeton University’s 260th Graduation. Ali was a titular bearer of the Olympic Flag at London 2012.
Ali was awarded the Philadelphia Liberty Medal in 2012. “The Trials of Muhammad Ali,” a documentary that focuses on Ali’s refusal of the draft, was released in 2013. The documentary “What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali” followed in 2019. Ken Burn’s 2021 documentary, “Muhammad Ali,” traverses his entire life in eight hours.
(The author is an Associate Professor, International Scholar, winner of Presidential Awards and multiple National Accolades for Academic pursuits. He has a PhD, MPhil, and double MSc. His email is [email protected])