There was a time when professional athletes would attend a press conference just to sit idly while their manager spoke for them.
Muhammad Ali wasn’t interested in that tradition. Over a 21-year career, he became known not only as The Best Boxer of All Time, but an engaging intellectual who used his position to both entertain and enlighten. He was a symbol of change both in and out of the sport; an inspiration for everyone who believed in freedom and equality.
They call him The Greatest. And it’s not difficult to see why.
It all started with a bicycle, or a lack of one. At age 12, Ali – then known as Cassius Clay – discovered that his bike had been stolen. He went to the police to report the crime, angrily telling Louisville police officer Joe E. Martin that he planned to “whup” the thief. Martin, who worked as a boxing coach while off-duty, suggested he learn how to fight first.
Six weeks later, Ali won his first bout in a split decision.
Martin would guide the first six years of Ali’s career, through which he won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Olympics. Most of these accolades were awarded while Ali was still completing high school. He had 100 victories to his name, and only eight losses during his amateur career.
In October 1960, Ali entered the ring for his first professional fight. It would mark the start of a three year, 19 bout winning streak. This rise to success resulted in more infamy than fame, due to Ali’s vocal dismissal of his opponents. He insulted their looks and their talents. He grew over-confident, telling reporters Madison Square Garden was “too small for me”. Such statements saw him treated with disdain by industry heavyweights, and disliked by a majority of the public.
Early in his professional career, Ali left his coach after refusing to assist in menial tasks around the gym, and approached his idol, Sugar Ray Robinson, for mentorship. He was rejected, and ultimately ended up under the tutelage of Angelo Dundee, who would support him through most of his major fights.
In 1963, Ali challenged heavyweight champion Sonny Liston for the title. Liston was a tough fighter, and a known criminal. That didn’t deter Ali, who composed a poem mocking his opponent:
“Clay comes out to meet Liston and Liston starts to retreat,
if Liston goes back an inch farther he’ll end up in a ringside seat.
Clay swings with his left, Clay swings with his right,
Look at young Cassius carry the fight
Liston keeps backing, but there’s not enough room,
It’s a matter of time till Clay lowers the boom.
Now Clay lands with a right, what a beautiful swing,
And the punch raises the Bear clean out of the ring.
Liston is still rising and the ref wears a frown,
For he can’t start counting till Sonny goes down.
Now Liston is disappearing from view, the crowd is going frantic,
But radar stations have picked him up, somewhere over the Atlantic.
Who would have thought when they came to the fight?
That they’d witness the launching of a human satellite.
Yes the crowd did not dream, when they put up the money,
That they would see a total eclipse of the Sonny.”
The weigh-in that followed was described as a circus, as Ali called out Liston with his famous line “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see”. Many journalists took Ali’s verbal sparring as a sign of nerves, and didn’t expect he would show up for the fight. At best, Ali was going to lose. At worst, he was going to die, as Liston promised he would. “That’s the only time I was ever scared in the ring,” Ali told The New Yorker back in 1998.
What followed was a major upset for the Liston camp. Even after what most experts presume was an intentional effort to blind Ali with an ointment that was placed on Liston’s gloves, Ali was too agile for an opponent who relied on brute force to win. When the bell for the seventh round called, Liston did not rise to meet it. Ali was declared heavyweight champion. He turned to the press gallery and shouted “eat your words!”.
The two met for a rematch just over a year later, after Liston had made copious excuses for why he did not win the earlier fight. Ali employed a ‘phantom punch’, knocking Liston out in under two minutes.
Soon after the first fight, Ali officially changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam. He was proud of his religious beliefs; beliefs that saw him stripped of one of his heavyweight titles by the World Boxing Association.
Ali found himself ostracised by many of those in positions of power, but it was not the first time. Nor would the pressure put upon him dissuade Ali from any of his ideals. When he was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War in 1966, he refused. “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor, hungry, people in the mud for big, powerful, America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. … Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail,” he told the press.
While he never was incarcerated, Ali’s stance saw his boxing license revoked. For nearly four years, he was unable to compete, with the conviction of draft evasion finally being overturned in 1971.
Ali had been sidelined in his prime, and though sympathy for his cause had seen him receive unprecedented support, his momentum in the ring was stifled.
When he versed Joe Frazier in what was called ‘The Fight of the Century’, Ali suffered his first professional loss. His insulting of Frazier was seen as especially cruel, leading to a lifelong rivalry between the pair. In one instance outside of the ring, Ali called Frazier “ignorant” during a nationally televised interview, resulting in Frazier wrestling him to the ground.
After a few wins, Ali lost again, and considered retirement until a rematch with Ken Norton resulted in a stunning victory.
And so Ali went up against George Foreman, heavyweight champion, and one of the hardest punchers in history. The fight was dubbed The Rumble in the Jungle, and Ali once again entered a championship bout as the underdog. “If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait ’til I whup Foreman’s behind!” Ali said to interviewer David Frost.
Ali opened up the fight well but then, to the surprise of everyone, backed up against the ropes in the second round and invited Foreman to attack him while levelling a barrage of taunts his way. Ringside journalists couldn’t believe it: was the match fixed? Foreman grew angrier and angrier as punches glanced left and right. Ali floored an exhausted Foreman in the centre of the ring in the eighth round, and was once again named heavyweight champion.
He followed up The Rumble in the Jungle with The Thriller in Manilla, his third bout with Joe Frazier. The fight lasted an astonishing 15 rounds in almost 40 degree celsius heat, with Ali the undisputed winner.
From there, Ali’s career began to wind down. He won seven of his next ten matches, after spending intermittent periods of semi-retirement to foster his newfound interest in Sunni Islam.
Near the end of his reign of the ring, Ali began to suffer from hand tremors and vocal stutters. In 1984, three years after ending his professional career, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Still, he remained active, lighting the flame at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and even meeting with Saddam Hussein to negotiate the release of American hostages during the Gulf War. He remained a prominent idol well into the 2000s, before becoming more private in the 2010s.
Nevertheless, Muhammad Ali’s legacy lives on as strong as ever. His quick wit, domination of the ring, and unrelenting ideals have established him as an icon for even those who have not watched a moment of boxing in their entire lives. For all the controversy, Ali is true to himself, and perhaps that’s the best lesson anyone can learn from him.