Gone but not forgotten is Muhammad “The Greatest” Ali who would have celebrated his 83rd birthday today if he were still alive.
Ali was more than the greatest heavyweight champion, winning the world title three times! He was a great Humanitarian.
Ali did more for boxing than anyone could ever imagine. From being the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in Rome, Italy, to winning the title on February 25, 1964, going undefeated in his twentieth fight, stopping the most feared fighter in the world in Sonny Liston, 35 -1 with 26 knockouts later. six rounds with Liston claiming a shoulder injury that refuses to come off the stool. The fight was also at the time: 57-57, 59-56, and 56-58.
After he was knocked off the canvas in the fourth round against British and Commonwealth champion Henry Cooper, 27-8-1, it was said that Ali’s trainer Angelo Dundee cut off Ali’s glove to give it time to recover. Ali finished Cooper at 2:15 of the next round at Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom.
Before that was one of his closest fights to date, defeating Doug Jones, 21-3-1, 8-1, and 5-4 twice in rounds at Madison Square Garden, New York. When, in 1973, I met Ali at his home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, as he appeared from another room, I stupidly asked, “When are you going to give Doug Jones a rematch?” Then he invited me back to where he was.
It would be another four years when I sat next to Ali at his camp in Deer Lake, PA, and he hadn’t learned my lesson, saying, “Why are you fighting all these bums?” Even as an Army vet, I had all the respect in the world for him.
Refusing induction into the army in the 60s, he compensated, years later by bringing back 15 American hostages from Iraq.
He finished his career in December 1981 with a record of 56-5 with 37 knockouts. Only stopped by Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes in his penultimate fight. By then, his cut man, Ferdie Pacheco, had left the corner, claiming he was not medically fit to continue. Dr. Nardiello of the New York Commission stated, “Ali’s kidneys were in pieces.” This was after his fight with Earnie Shavers, 54-5-1, won in September 1977 at Madison Square Garden.
Ali lost to 1976 Olympic gold medalist Leon Spinks, 6-0-1, by split decision. “Of all the fights I’ve lost in boxing, losing to (Leon) Spinks hurt the most. I didn’t train well. He did in the rematch, taking the title back in front of over 60,000 fans at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA It would be his last victory.
A week ago, it was the birthday of the king of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, who in Las Vegas had given Ali a long white silk dress with “People’s Choice” on the back. Ali said: “I should have said People’s Champion in the back.” Two years before the death of Elvis, he contacted Ali, wanting to visit him in the camp of Deer Lake, they did not want anyone to know about his coming to have time together. At the departure, Ali said: “Elvis Presley was the most humble person I have ever known. What a good man.”
“I beat him six times; in the seventh, when I hit him in the side, he fell on my ear and said that’s all you got, George? Ali won the title for the third time round, defeated champion “Big” George Foreman, 40-0, in Zaire, Africa. Foreman added, “it was bigger than boxing!”
“Iron,” Mike Tyson once said, “Because (D’Amato, his trainer) and Ali had the same birthday.” He first met Ali when he was at a reform school with Ali visiting. After Ali’s defeat by Holmes, he said, “I’m going to get it for you!”
It was January 22, 1988 at the Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. At ringside was future President Donald J. Trump next to Ali. After being introduced into the ring, Ali touched his gloves from Holmes and went to Tyson, whispering in his ear, then told by Tyson: “Kick your ass for me!” At 2:55 of the fourth round, down for the third time, Holmes on his back was knocked out!
Ali died in June 2016 at the age of 74.
