CityPages Kuwait June 2016 Issue June 2016 | Page 52

Muhammad Ali Once again the world is mourning the
loss of a legend; this time, the greatest
sportsman to ever step inside a boxing
ring. The loss of Muhammad Ali has
been felt particularly keenly in Louisville,
Kentucky, the city where he was born and
raised and where he first began training at
the tender age of 12.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in 1942, he converted
to Islam shortly after winning his first World Heavyweight
Championship and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
His professional boxing career spanned over two decades,
starting in 1960 aged 18 and ending with his ‘Drama in the
Bahamas’ swan song at the age of 39. During this period he
clocked up 61 fights, winning 56 of them.
Arguably, his greatest ever fight was against George
Foreman in 1974. Better known as the ‘Rumble in the
Jungle’, the fight took place in Kinshasa, Zaire. Such was
Foreman’s reputation, even Ali’s most staunch supporters
held little hope of their hero coming out on top. But against
the odds, Ali emerged victorious after just 8 rounds, and
with a prone Foreman unable to make the count, Ali retained
his Heavyweight title. Magnanimous in defeat, Foreman
admitted ‘Muhammad outthought me and outfought me’.
The following year saw him up against Joe Frazier in the
‘Thrilla in Manilla’. The blows were relentless from both
contestants but again Ali was victorious after Frazier’s team
threw in the towel, refusing to allow him back in the ring
for the fifteenth and final round. After the fight, Ali cited
his opponent as ‘the greatest fighter of all times next to me’.
His career was never short of controversy. His arrogant
attitude and verbal taunts riled many, earning him enemies
both in the ring and out. But with quotes like ‘float like a
butterfly, sting like a bee’ and ‘I am the greatest’ he also
earned himself and string of loyal followers. Predictably, he
was never short of female admirers and his personal life was
equally polemic. Ali was married four times and fathered
seven daughters and two sons, two of which were the result
of extramarital affairs.
His outspoken and contentious opinions, including much
public criticism of the Vietnam War, also earned him a prison
sentence for draft evasion when he refused to be inducted
into the armed forces. After a lengthy appeal process, the
conviction was eventually overturned by the U.S. Supreme
Court. However, by this time Ali had been denied what
could well have been the best years of his boxing career, the
result of a ban from March 1967 to October 1970.
The hauteur and swagger associated with Ali went on

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JUNE, 2016

to become a regular occurrence in boxing with fighters
openly provoking their opponents and adopting an air of
arrogance often bordering on the ridiculous. As farcical as
it was, it heightened the sport’s popularity securing a global
following and astronomical ticket prices.
In 1979, after winning the Heavyweight title for a record
third time, Ali announced his retirement. However, he
returned to the ring a year later to face Larry Holmes, a
decision necessitated entirely by money. By this time, his
physical fitness was deteriorating and although only 38,
he was suffering with trembling hands and conversational
stutters. Inevitably, he lost the fight. It was the only fight he
ever lost by knockout and is thought to have significantly
contributed to his physical decline.
Despite his humiliation at the hands of Holmes, Ali
climbed back into the ring the following year; this time
to face Canadian Trevor Berbick in what would be his last
competitive fight. He lost again and retired definitively
from the sport.
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Syndrome in 1984,
a disease he struggled with for many years. It’s widely
believed that boxing was the proximate cause of his
condition, a belief supported by the numerous other cases
of Parkinson’s patients with a history of head trauma.
Despite his failing health, Ali was still very much in the
public eye. He supported Ronald Regan’s re-election
campaign in 1984; he lit the Olympic flame in Georgia,
Atlanta in 1986; he met with Saddam Hussein in 1991 in
an attempt to negotiate the release of American hostages
during the Gulf War; he went to Afghanistan and Kabul
with the UN in 2002; and he was a formal bearer of the
Olympic flag in London in 2012. This latter honour was
particularly challenging and an emotional sight to witness
as his wife came to his aid.
Throughout his life, Ali was the subject of many books, TV
documentaries and movies. He wrote several biographies
and was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame. He was also crowned Sportsman of the Century by
Sports Illustrated and Sports Personality of the Century by
the BBC.
As his health deter iorated, he endured two spells in hospital
in 2014 and 2015 before again being admitted in June 2016
with respiratory problems. He died the following day as a
result of septic shock.
There’s no doubt his battle against Parkinson’s was the
biggest fight of his life; but it was his time in the ring for
which he’ll be best remembered and where he truly was
‘The Greatest’.