Get up and fight, sucka!
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
"When you are as great as I am, it is hard to be humble."
Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a retired heavyweight boxer famous for combining strength, skill, brilliant tactics, and elegant but incredible braggadocio. He was named "Sportsman of the Century" by
Sports Illustrated in 1999. He took up boxing as a teenager after a police officer and boxing coach advised the 12-year-old Clay to learn how to box before he tried to "whup" the guy who stole his bike. Fighting for several years as an amateur, he won gold at the 1960 Summer
Olympic Games in Rome at the age of 18; he decided to leverage that medal into a professional career. He fought professionally for 18 years (with a three-year sabbatical when his license was suspended due to draft resistance. The U.S. Supreme Court would overturn his conviction) in 61 bouts, retiring with 56 wins, 37 by way of knockout. 3 of his 5 losses came in the last three years of his career, when he was well past his prime and starting to show early symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
Along the way, Ali won three heavyweight titles, defeated every top heavyweight contender from 1964 to 1975, and earned the distinction of being called one of the greatest boxers (if not
the greatest) of all time. Ali fought with an unorthodox style, relying on his agility to dodge punches, rather than blocking them outright, and possessed incredible hand speed and stamina. Ali was also a hard puncher, as his 37 knockouts can attest. He was also a master of the psychological elements of boxing, frequently taunting his opponents and 'calling' his knockouts (by stating the round he believed the KO would happen before the fight). In the latter half of his career, Ali slowed and began to demonstrate his ability to hang in with tougher punches. Along with an ill-advised fight with a martial artist, misdiagnosis of a thyroid condition, and misguided attempts to fight top heavyweights while far removed from his prime, this contributed to Ali's decline and later Parkinson's disease.
Aside from his achievements in the ring, Ali is a noted philanthropist and social activist. His name change came from his conversion to the Nation of Islam, and he was good friends with Malcolm X (he would convert to orthodox
Sunni Islam in 1975, just over ten years after Malcolm X, and would later become a Sufi). Ali was arrested in 1967 due to his refusal to fight in Vietnam, and referred to himself as a 'conscientious objector'. Less known are his contributions to his hometown of Louisville, which has come to embrace him wholeheartedly.
Meaningless aside The other really famous person of the era from Louisville, Hunter S. Thompson, was a very big fan, and got unusually full access to him before one of his early 1970s fights.Ali still makes periodic appearances in public, but Parkinson's disease has ravaged his body and repeated head trauma has ravaged his mind. He is no longer the eloquent, witty speaker he once was (in fact, he can't speak at all anymore), and is largely restricted to a wheelchair. His most famous relatively recent appearances were the
1996 Olympic Torch lighting and holding the Olympic Flag for the 2012 games.
There have been numerous books, movies, magazine articles, advertisements and video games that have featured Muhammad Ali or depicted him. He was even the star of a
Saturday Morning Cartoon in the 1970s. In one of his most famous pop culture appearances, he literally gave
Boxing Lessons to
Superman! The most prominent work to feature Ali in recent months was an
ESPN documentary about the buildup for his fight with Larry Holmes in the twilight of his career.
Above anything else, Muhammad Ali was a fierce competitor, to
Determinator levels. In the most iconic photograph of Ali (seen above) he really is shouting at Liston, "Get up and fight, sucker!"
0 reviews