As the series continues into it’s 7th month we are discussing the life and sporting achievements of none other than ‘The Greatest’ Muhammad Ali.
Nicknamed GOAT"- Greatest Of All Time - Muhammad Ali is widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxing champion who has ever lived. One of the biggest compliments you can pay Ali, is that he was every bit as good as he said he was. Ali regained the world heavyweight title on three separate occasions. He won his three titles by defeating Sonny Liston (1964), George Foreman (1974) and Leon Spinks (1978).
with daughter Leila Ali
with Bill Clinton
with Sonny Liston
with George Foreman
with Joe Frazier
Muhammad Ali may not have been a big puncher like Joe Louis (His punches were so compact that journalists claimed his punch needed only to travel six inches to render opponents unconscious) or as muscle-bound as some of his contemporaries but he did down two awesome giants in his lifetime, the intimidating Sonny Liston in 1964 and the brutal George Foreman in 1974.
Muhammad Ali v Sonny Liston (1964)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzWynvBLJ4I
Fighting Style:
Ali was a fighter of exceptional speed, cunning and flair. He had the foot and hand speed of a lightweight, but after his three-year lay-off he proved he also had astonishing mental powers. He also had a great chin, and displayed great courage and an ability to take a punch through out his illustrious career. Ali also exclusively attacked the head of an opponent, usually ignoring a body attack
Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville Kentucky on January 17 1942, and under that name he won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. After claiming his first title by defeating Sonny Liston in 1964, Clay joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Then in 1967, Ali, citing his religous beliefs, refused induction into the U.S. Army. He was arrested, had his boxing license suspended and stripped of the heavyweight title. He was inactive from March 22, 1967 to October 26, 1970, which many feel were his peak years
With Ali gone, Joe Frazier tore through the division and earned the title of heavyweight champion. Ali returned in 1970 with wins over Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena, setting up a showdown between Ali and Frazier. Both men were unbeaten and while Frazier earned his heavyweight title in the ring, Ali proclaimed himself the peoples’ champion and that Frazier must beat him to become undisptuted king of the division. In what is still called “The Fight of the Century,” Frazier did just that by dropping Ali in the 15th round and won a unanimous decision.
Ali regained the heavyweight crown in 1974 much the way he initially captured the title, by slaying a giant. George Foreman was considered invincible and the 32-year-old Ali was given little chance to beat him. The fight was held in Kinshasa, Zaire and Ali employed the now famous Rope-A-Dope to tire Foreman out before stopping him in the eighth round.
“Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee, his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”
Ali before the fight
“That all you got George?”
Ali to Foreman late in the Rumble in the Jungle
The Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire (30 October 1974): Muhammad Ali v George Foreman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf64ZCYVcEI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc1rs3f_RXA
Long-running rivalry with Joe Frazier:
Ali fought Frazier three times; Ali lost the first match in 1971, but won rematches in 1974 and 1975 dubbed “The thriller in Manilla.” This was not a fight but a ‘war’. It is still regarded by many as the most brutal and greatest heavyweight title in the history of boxing
Ali BEFORE the fight:
“It will be a killer and a Chiller and a Thrilla when I get that Gorilla in Manilla” 
“Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wildlife.”
Ali AFTER the fight: The victory humbled Ali enough to say this about his opponent
“I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God bless him.”
Highlights of Ali-Frazier Fights 1971, 74 & 75 (The Thriller in Manilla)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgpDvOUzubc
Ali successfully defended the title against a host of contenders, including the final fights of his trilogies with Frazier and Ken Norton. Finally, in 1978, Olympic gold medalist Leon Spinks, participating in just his eighth pro fight, upset Ali to win the title. However, Ali made history six months later when he defeated Spinks in a rematch to capture the crown a third time.
Ali retired from boxing in 1981, but in the decades since has remained one of the world’s best-known athletes.
Ali’s career spanned 20-years during which he won 56 fights and scored 37 knock-outs. But the bare facts mask the man’s achievements. He was touched with brilliance in the ring and entertained like a showman. He fought for his race and stood up to the draft.
Since he retired, he has travelled the world as an ambassador, despite suffering from Parkinson’s disease - a motor-skills illness which has slowed his movement and left him mostly unable to speak in public. In 1996 he exposed his ailments to the world, lighting the torch at the opening ceremony for the Atlanta Olympic Games.
And he was named Sportsman of the Century by BBC television viewers in 1999. He also received a similar award from US magazine Sports Illustrated. Ali was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
Ranking in Heavyweight History:
Opinion is somewhat divided amongst boxing experts and historians as to who is the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. Many boxing experts also think very highly of Joe Louis and some even place him above Ali.
http://coxscorner.tripod.com/heavylists.htm
Ring magazine a prominent boxing magazine, named Muhammad Ali as number 1 in a 1998 ranking of greatest heavyweights from all eras. But in a 1971 article Nat Fleischer the founder of the Ring who saw every heavyweight champion from Jim Jeffries to Joe Frazier, refused to include Ali in his all-time top ten, saying: “he does not qualify for rating with the greatest heavyweights of all time”. Fleischer was writing after Ali’s loss to Frazier in 1971, several years before his performance against Foreman (1974) and rematches with Frazier (1974 and 1975) both won by Ali
Recently Ali was named the second greatest fighter in boxing history by ESPN.com behind only welterweight and middleweight great Sugar Ray Robinson. In December of 2007, ESPN listed its choice of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Ali was second on this list also behind Joe Louis, despite the fact that the earlier poll placed Ali ahead of Louis.
“He was the greatest - without question,” is the verdict of one of Ali’s victims, Earnie Shavers.
“He was a heavyweight who moved like a lightweight. Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson were great fighters but Ali was extra-special. Just to go 15 rounds with him was an honour.”
Some of his other famous quotes:
Ali has made a name for himself over the years with his legendary one-liners and witty remarks.
“I’d like to be remembered as a blackman who won the heavyweight title and who was humorous and who treated everyone right, as a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him, a man who stood for freedom, justice and equality”
" Money and riches don’t mean anything to me. I don’t care about being a rich individual. I am not living for glory or for fame. You have it today tomorrow it’s gone. I have a bigger plan than that"
“Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will but the will must be stronger than the skill”
“I’m not the greatest; I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock 'em out, I pick the round.”
“I am the Greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.”
“Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name - it means beloved of God - and I insist people use it when people speak to me and of me.”
(Announcing his conversion to the Muslim faith after first Sonny Liston fight)
“When I beat Sonny Liston, I shocked the world. When I joined the muslims I shocked the world. When I beat George Foreman, I shocked the world. I am from the House of Shock” :biggthumb
“I can’t let him win. He represents pork chops”
“A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
“I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.”
“I never thought of losing, but now that it’s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That’s my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.”
(After losing to Ken Norton, 31 March 1973)
“My toughest fight was with my first wife.” :biggthumb
“Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.”
“I conquered the world and it did not give me true happiness. The only true satisfaction comes from honouring and worshipping God.”
What other people have said about Ali:
“If we were twins in the belly of our mama, I would reach over and strangle him”
Joe Frazier** :)**
**“**Muhammad Ali is still the greatest show on earth”
George Foreman
“2000 years from now people will still know your name and tell of what you did”
Elijah Muhammad
“If God sat down to create the perfect body for a fighter, anatomically and physically, he would have created Ali”
Ferdie Pacheco
“If everyone had even 10% of his love and affection for people, the world would be a completely different place”
Howard Bingham
“He has something I have never been able to attain and something I know very few people possess. He has an absolute and sincere faith”
Bill Russell
“Muhammad Ali was a great natural talent who would have been a great champion even without me. I will be the first one to say that it wasn’t me. It was him. And outside of the ring it was he who taught me”
Angelo Dundee (Ali’s trainer)
“Muhammad Ali is colour blind. He is a guy who loves people; black, white, rich or poor”
Angelo Dundee
“He’s like a guy going to the Academy Award dinner, only he is receiving the Academy Award every day”
Angelo Dundee
“None of us who had followed this demanding sport had ever seen a man that big move that fast. He was like Nureyev in boxing trunks”
Budd Schulberg
“I am telling you if someone cut Ali open, they w’d find his heart was made of pure gold”
Lloyd wells
“Our shining black prince; to black people he was like God”
Spike Lee
“He was a totally remarkable human-being. Sport was his context but his real stage was humanity”
Hugh McIlvanney
“Muhammad Ali was a photographer’s dream. He was so good-looking. He was what you wanted a fighter or anybody-else to look like”
Neil Leifer
