"I am the greatest!"
That's what my new name means. Muhammed Ali, 'Worthy of praise' and 'Most high.'
On this day in 1964 the leader of The Nation of Islam gave me my new name. At first they wouldn't let me join the organization because of my boxing career, but when I beat Sonny Liston for the World Championship at the age of 22, the elders decided I was good publicity for The Nation.
When the press learned about my involvement with The Nation, the fight was almost cancelled out of pure racism. The authorities said The Nation of Islam was a hate group and willing to use violence. It's true our leader Elijah Muhammad said we should stay separate from whites, but The Nation was a strong supporter of African-American ambitions.
Just like Elijah had refused to be drafted in WWII, I refused to be drafted in 1966. Why would I go 10,000 miles to drop bombs on brown people while back in Louisville black people are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights. All the state boxing commissions stripped me of my boxing licenses. Elijah had gone to jail back in the 40s, but I remained free until the Supreme Court overturned my conviction. During those three years, people began to turn against the war and I became a hero to black people.
I had missed some of my prime fighting years, but in 1971 I got back in the ring against Joe Frazier for the World Championship. I was taking a beating from Frazier during the first few rounds. That's when I first tried my rope-a-dope strategy. I leaned against the ropes letting Frazier hit me, just trying to deflect his blows, trying to tire him out. But it didn't work. Frazier won by a unanimous decision by the judges. It was my first professional defeat.
I won my next six bouts until Ken Norton broke my jaw. That was my second loss. I came back later and beat Norton. Then I won a rematch with Frazier. But my greatest fight was against the then champ George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. "The Rumble in the Jungle." Foreman was two years younger than me. This was in his mean and scary days before he started selling grills. I used my rope-a-dope strategy and taunted Foreman, letting him wear himself down till I dropped him in the eighth round. I won my title back with a knockout.
I fought Joe Frazier for the third time in Manila. The "Thrilla in Manila." It was 100 degrees in the arena. I won a tecknical knock out in the 14th round then collapsed myself. It was time to retire but I went on fighting for six more years. My reason? I needed the money. Some figured out I had taken 200,000 hits in my career.
After boxing I concentrated on charity and religion. I left the Nation of Islam and converted to Sunni Islam after my pilgrimage to Mecca. I saw there that Islam included all races. I fought Parkinson's which was probably a result of boxing. On a tour of Europe for the Parkinson's Foundation I visited Ennis, Ireland to visit the home of my great grandfather. I can thank the genealogists for tracing that back.
I made some records, got nominated for a couple of Grammys. They called me a rhyming trickster. Some say I paved the way for rap music. Before the Rumble in the Jungle, I warned Foreman, "I done wrestled 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,"
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| Sting like a bee |
Let's not forget Ali's favorite foe:
ReplyDelete“Every time you open your mouth, you should be arrested for air pollution,” Ali once told Howard Cosell, who responded, “You would still be in impoverished anonymity in this country if I hadn’t made you.”
Muhammed Ali, like Soulman James Brown, was a superb showman; choreographing their stardom to generate emotion from their audiences. Ali (once upon a time Cassisus Clay) was either loved or hated by his 'fans', unlike J.B., who by being just an Afro-American in their era certainly wasn't adored by everyone, but left scores of others -- mainly women-- in my guess-timation, swooning after his performances. Ali probably had his ardent admirers too, don't misunderstand me, but I think his mindset may have been a bit different, that is toward kickin' ass, than gettin' ass. But who am I to say?
ReplyDeleteI remember when Clay changed his name to Ali. There was a lot of criticism surrounding it, mostly out of pure ignorance/hate. It seemed just another 'black' thing, during the scary time of Black Power, Black Panthers, and black brothers; Muhammad Ali was, in the ring, the epitome of the threat of Black Power who taunted the world by through his antics and speech. In a time when U.S. Presidents, U.S. Senators, and Baptist ministers were assassinated discriminately; it's a wonder that Ali wasn't as well.
But then again, Jack Johnson, the first Afro-American boxing champion, beat Jim Jeffries, a white man, in 1910 in what was dubbed "The Fight of The Century," after which any white boxer trying to reclaim the heavy weight title, was called, "The Great White Hope." Despite the hatred and open warfare discrimination against Afro-Americans of that era, Johnson too lived to old age before dying in a car accident. Athletes are golden; not so much U.S. Presidents, U.S. Senators or Baptist ministers.
I should have written, ". . . the first Afro-American heavy-weight boxing champion."
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