This is a very sad time with the death of Natalie Cole, Prince, and
now the Greatest himself Muhammed Ali. He was indeed the greatest of my
time and one of my personal heroes. He was a man who was afraid to be
afraid and did what he wanted and what he thought to be right! You don't
find heroes like that these days, for I notice as all of black
hollywood tremble in fear at the mention of Bill Cosby hoping they are
not called upon to stand up for their bruther man! Had Ali been well, he
probably would have stood up for brutha Cosby coz' Ali was the one
thing the most of the bruthas' in hollywood ain't; and that's a REAL
man! So far the only ones to stand up for Cosby has been women; whoopi
goldberg (she recanted when her money got threatened workin for those
whites on the View) Jill Scott, Phyllicia Rashad, and one other whom I
can't remember! Oh and one brave strong MAN of a brutha; Faison Love!
Muhammad Ali wasn't just a MAN for his time; he's a MAN we need today!
His loss in incalculable. I'm not surpised he's gone (he'd been sick for
so long) but I am saddened though! We will miss him!
vyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali stands over fallen challenger Sonny Liston. Photo: AP
Muhammad Ali, the colorful but polarizing three-time world
heavyweight champion who risked his career and his freedom by his
refusal to be inducted into the Army during the Vietnam War, died Friday
night in a Phoenix hospital after a long, debilitating battle with Parkinson’s disease believed to be brought on by repeated blows to the head. He was 74.
An Olympic champion and veteran of 61 heavyweight fights spanning
three decades, in the ring Ali may be best known for his three epic
bouts with longtime foil Joe Frazier, a brutal trilogy that left both
fighters greatly diminished.
Ali who devoted much of his post-boxing career to humanitarian causes
around the world and who for decades was widely recognized as the most
famous person on the planet, had battled Parkinson’s since 1984 and in
recent years had lost the ability to speak. It was a cruelly ironic
twist for the outspoken boxer who made almost as many headlines with his
loquaciousness and poetry — “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see” — as he did with his
dancing feet and iron fists. Muhammad AliPhoto: Getty Images
“It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am,” said Ali, who
often referred to himself as “The Greatest.” “I figured that if I said
it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.”
An Olympic gold medalist in Rome in 1960 at the age of 18, Ali was
already the world heavyweight champion when he received his draft notice
in April 1967. He arrived as instructed for his physical exam, and
cooperated until it was time to take the Army oath. He also refused to
answer when authorities referred to him by his given name of Cassius
Clay and added, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. … No Viet
Cong ever called me n—-r.”
The public furor over that comment and Ali’s refusal to be inducted
for religious reasons — he had joined the Nation of Islam in 1964 —
caused virtually every state to cancel his boxing license. It would be 3
¹/₂ years before he fought again after an all-white jury found him
guilty of draft evasion that June. He was stripped of his world
championship, had his license revoked, and his passport taken. He was
also fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison.
Ali appealed the decision and remained free on bail. As a way to make
money while barred from the ring, Ali toured the country, mostly
visiting college campuses, speaking out against the Vietnam War. He was
among the first prominent figures to do so.
While he preached peace and nonviolence out of the ring, he was not shy about pummeling opponents in it.
“It’s just a job,” he said. “Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.”
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Ky., on Jan. 17, 1942, he
had his bike stolen at the age of 12. Wanting justice, he found
policeman Joe Martin in a nearby gym and told him he was going to “whup”
whoever stole his bike.
Martin, who taught kids how to box in his spare time, told him he’d
better learn to box first and offered to teach him. Within weeks Clay,
then weighing all of 89 pounds, had his first bout and his first win.
Four years after his gold-medal performance in Rome, after winning
all of his professional bouts, most by knockouts, Clay announced he had
converted to the Nation of Islam and would drop his “slave name.” He
officially changed his name in February 1964 the day after winning the
world heavyweight title from reigning champ Sonny Liston.
“You … you … you … I fooled you all,” he had yelled to the reporters
at ringside that night in Miami Beach. “ … I shocked the world.”
It wouldn’t be the last time. And it was that victory that set the stage for everything that would follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.