Sat 03 June 2023:
It has been seven years since the death of Muhammad Ali, a titan of boxing and one of the most famous people to ever walk the planet.
Ali is remembered not just for his sporting feats, but also for his unwavering character, moral values, and the challenges he surmounted as a Black man during a time rife with racial tensions in an overwhelmingly white and Christian country.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942, Ali’s life would be shaped by what is now known as the “Red Bike Moment.”
That was when 12-year-old Ali’s new red bike was stolen and he found a policeman to report the crime-an event that would shape Ali’s entire life.
As fate would have it, the policeman Ali went to was Sgt. Joe Martin, a boxing trainer.
Ali spent six years training under Martin, who encouraged him to learn to fight before seeking retaliation.
In September 1960, after winning three bouts in the qualifying rounds of the Rome Olympics, Ali defeated Poland’s Zbigniew Pietrzykowski to win the light heavyweight gold medal at the young age of 18.
Four years later, he dethroned Sonny Liston in Miami to win his first world heavyweight boxing title, marking his arrival on the world stage.
In the same year, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali, asserting that his previous name was a “white man’s name, a slave name.”
He was still floating like a butterfly and stinging just as hard as a bee, but the change would spark a political and social consciousness in Ali.
His outspoken remarks about race, inequality and religion, landed him on the wrong side of the conservatives in the US. His legend, however, continued to grow and by this time Ali was a household name around the world.
But in 1966, when Ali refused to serve in the Vietnam War on religious grounds, he was stripped of his world title and barred from boxing for three years. The US Supreme Court overturned the conviction for refusing to serve in the armed forces in 1971.
The countless rounds of fighting had taken a toll on Ali and he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1984. He continued to battle on.
By this time, Ali was well and truly a world figure and he was so admired that in 1990, he helped secure the release of American hostages from Iraq before the Gulf War.
In 2002, the United Nations appointed Ali the ‘messenger of peace’ on a goodwill visit to Afghanistan and in 2005, Ali was awarded the Medal of Freedom by US President George W. Bush.
He mostly maintained a low profile, turning up for charity functions and venturing out only for therapy.
Heavyweight boxing legend Ali, a 20th Century icon whose fame transcended sport during a remarkable career that spanned three decades, died in 2016.
Ali is survived by his wife Yolanda Williams and nine children, including Laila Ali, who followed in her father’s footstep to become a boxing world champion.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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