Muhamad Ali has bid the world farewell. The sporting world, like millions of others, couldn’t believe the awful headlines, or, more accurately, didn’t want to believe the news. Unfortunately, they were not random rumors, but rather the harsh reality. Following this “end of an era,” the entire planet has been engulfed in a sea of complaints and doom.
The 4th of June, 2016, will go down in history as the darkest day in boxing history. Muhammad Ali, the boxing legend who refused to lose any fights, succumbed to Parkinson’s disease at the age of 74 after battling it for 30 years.
Muhammad Ali was regarded as a synonym for “Boxing,” having won 56 of 61 fights, including 37 knockouts. In 1999, the BBC named him “Sports Personality of the Century,” in 2002, he received the BET Humanitarian Award, and in 1974, he was named “Sports Illustrated Sports Person of the Year” (much more). He won Olympic gold, three World Heavyweight Championships, and fought in some of boxing’s greatest fights. However, it is a travesty to believe that his contribution to boxing is the only thing to which we owe gratitude.
Aside from being known as “The Greatest” in boxing, he was also a social crusader, philanthropist, peace promoter, and, of course, an inspirational figure.
Although it is impossible to capture life as wonderful as his in my limited words, I have sought to highlight the most noteworthy ones in a timeline.
Let’s get started:
1942-1960
Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., a billboard painter, and Odessa O’Grady Clay, a home domestic. His ancestors were African-born slaves, and he was subjected to a barrage of insults as a result of his skin tone.
In 1954, he was only 12 years old when he was introduced to boxing for the first time. Cassius encountered a police officer and boxing teacher Joe E. Martin while attempting to “Whup” the criminal who stole his cycle. Martin was moved and advised to start boxing first. He would go on to train Ali over the following six years, guiding him from his amateur days to his courageous professional debut in 1960.
He had a record of 100 wins and five losses in his amateur career, during which he won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, and light heavyweight gold in the 1960 Olympics.
1960-1970
Clay debuted as a professional boxer on October 29, 1960, and went on to amass a stunning 19-0 record with 15 knockouts by the end of 1963. Aside from his quick hands, he developed a razor-sharp tongue as he “trash spoke” about his opponents, calling Doug Jones “an ugly little man” and Henry Cooper a “bum.”
On February 25, 1964, his fight with Sonny Liston revealed his actual significance to the boxing world. Despite being purportedly blinded by ointment administered to Liston’s cuts midway through the fight, he fought until the seventh round before technically knocking him out to earn his first heavyweight title. The next thing he knew, he was yelling, “I am the greatest! I shocked the world to its core. “I’m the most beautiful thing that ever lived.” And such a boy! He certainly was.
He kept the momentum going by winning every fight for the next three years with his signature style, which he defined as “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”
He married Sonji Roy, a cocktail waiter, in 1964. They split after two years due to a disagreement over Roy’s refusal to wear Muslim clothing. In 1967, he married Belinda Boyd, with whom he had four children.
After joining The Nation of Islam in 1964, he also changed his name from Clay, which he considered being a “slave name,” to Muhammad Ali.
Ali was drafted to fight for the United States in the Vietnam War in 1967, but he declined because his religious convictions were anti-war and anti-killing. As a result, he was barred from boxing for three and a half years and stripped of the heavyweight title.
1970-1980
Ali couldn’t stay away from boxing for long, and he returned in 1970. He appeared “rusty” at first, but he quickly recovered to box in “The Fight of the Century” against then-heavyweight champion Joe Frazier. This tournament was also notable for the pre-match buildup.
Ali lost the bout, which resulted in his first professional defeat and loss of the heavyweight title. He came back stronger, however, to win the other two rematches, including the 1975 “Thrilla in Manila.”
His battle against George Foreman in “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974 was also a career milestone for him.
“I’ve done something new for the 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.”, He said in an interview with David frost as he vocally intimidated Foreman.
Veronica Porsche, a well-known actress, and model became his third wife after a two-year affair dating back to 1975. At the time of their marriage, they already had a daughter. Porsche gave birth to Laila Ali, a boxing sensation, as her second child before divorcing in 1986.
1980-2016
Following his final bout against Trevor Berbick in 1981, he announced his retirement after his bid to clinch the fourth title ended bitterly with his career’s first knockout against Larry Holmes. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s condition, which appears to have been caused by the head damage he sustained during the bout with Holmes.
From negotiating the release of captives with Saddam Hussein to serving as the United Nations Messenger of Peace in Afghanistan, the man preached peace all over the world. He also lighted the Olympic torch in 1996. In addition, he was honored as a titular carrier of the Olympic flag during the London Olympics in 2012.
In 1981, he was again in the spotlight for taking a man out of jumping from a ninth-floor ledge.
“35 years ago Muhammad Ali talked a man out of jumping from a building #legend #rip https://t.co/rqmMExlnI8 — Football Fights (@footbalIfights) June 5, 2016”
His personal life, like his boxing career, was not without adversity, as he went through three failed marriages before dying on the death bed with his soul mate Yolanda Lonnie Williams, whom he married in 1986. He is the father of nine children, two of them are from extramarital affairs, and one who was adopted.
They lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, till the hero died on June 3rd. The final photographs of Ali depict the negative symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. But his fists still indicate how important boxing was to him.
His bodily form has vanished, but his preaching, inspirations, and boxing contributions will live on till the end of time.
The world says goodbye to their hero.
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