I remember watching Vietnam war scenes with Dan Rather reporting in the battle zone. I was young and did not understand the capacity or justification for the Vietnam conflict. Truth is, today Im 52 and still cant justify our participation in that action. I also remember that there was one figure in America, in the world, that gave everyone something to focus on and to believe in. #CassiusClay changed his name to #MuhammadAli in opposition to the war. Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces, stating publicly that, No Vietcong ever called me nigger. He was systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport. As a result, he did not fight from 1967 to late 1970 as his case worked its way through the appeal process. In 1971, the US Supreme Court overturned his conviction in a unanimous 8-0 ruling (Thurgood Marshall abstained from the case). During this time of inactivity when he was aged 25 until 29, opposition to the Vietnam War began to grow and Alis stance gained sympathy. He spent much of his time speaking at colleges across the nation, criticizing the Vietnam War and advocating African American pride and racial justice. His first fight after the appellate win was a three round win over Jerry Quarry. After victories in another fight or two, he had one heavyweight opponent left; Joe Frazier. Ali and Fraziers first fight, held at the Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971, was nicknamed the Fight of the Century, due to the tremendous excitement surrounding a bout between two undefeated fighters, each with a legitimate claim as heavyweight champions. Veteran boxing writer John Condon called it the greatest event Ive ever worked on in my life. The bout was broadcast to 35 foreign countries; promoters granted 760 press passes. This is around the time that Alis taunts and theatrics came to the surface on sports shows and fight coverage. Adding to the atmosphere were the considerable pre-fight theatrics and name calling. Ali portrayed Frazier as a dumb tool of the white establishment. Frazier is too ugly to be champ, Ali said. Frazier is too dumb to be champ. Ali also frequently called Frazier an Uncle Tom. Dave Wolf, who worked in Fraziers camp, recalled that, Ali was saying the only people rooting for Joe Frazier are white people in suits, Alabama sheriffs, and members of the Ku Klux Klan. Im fighting for the little man in the ghetto. Joe was sitting there, smashing his fist into the palm of his hand, saying, What does he know about the ghetto? The Monday night fight lived up to its billing. In a preview of their two other fights, a crouching, bobbing and weaving Frazier constantly pressured Ali, getting hit regularly by Ali jabs and combinations, but relentlessly attacking and scoring repeatedly, especially to Alis body. The fight was even in the early rounds, but Ali was taking more punishment than ever in his career. On several occasions in the early rounds he played to the crowd and shook his head no after he was hit. In the later rounds—in what was the first appearance of the rope-a-dope strategy—Ali leaned against the ropes and absorbed punishment from Frazier, hoping to tire him. In the 11th round, Frazier connected with a left hook that wobbled Ali, but because it appeared that Ali might be clowning as he staggered backwards across the ring, Frazier hesitated to press his advantage, fearing an Ali counter-attack. In the final round, Frazier knocked Ali down with a vicious left hook, which referee Arthur Mercante said was as hard as a man can be hit. Ali was back on his feet in three seconds. Nevertheless, Ali lost by unanimous decision, his first professional defeat. Alis characterizations of Frazier during the lead-up to the fight cemented a personal animosity toward Ali by Frazier that lasted until Fraziers death. Frazier and his camp always considered Alis words cruel and unfair, far beyond what was necessary to sell tickets. Shortly after the bout, in the studios of ABCs Wide World of Sports during a nationally televised interview with the two boxers, Frazier rose from his chair and wrestled Ali to the floor after Ali called him ignorant. After the loss, Ali fought Quarry, a second bout with Floyd Patterson and Bob Foster in 1972, winning a total of six fights that year. In 1973, Ali suffered the second loss of his career at the hands of Ken Norton, who broke Alis jaw during the fight. After initially seeking retirement, Ali won a controversial decision against Norton in their second bout, leading to a rematch at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 1974, with Joe Frazier—who had recently lost his title to George Foreman. Ali was strong in the early rounds of the fight, and staggered Frazier in the second round (referee Tony Perez mistakenly thought he heard the bell ending the round and stepped between the two fighters as Ali was pressing his attack, giving Frazier time to recover). However, Frazier came on in the middle rounds, snapping Alis head in round seven and driving him to the ropes at the end of round eight. The last four rounds saw round-to-round shifts in momentum between the two fighters. Throughout most of the bout, however, Ali was able to circle away from Fraziers dangerous left hook and to tie Frazier up when he was cornered—the latter a tactic that Fraziers camp complained of bitterly. Judges awarded Ali a unanimous decision. The defeat of Frazier set the stage for a title fight against heavyweight champion George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, on October 30, 1974—a bout nicknamed The Rumble in the Jungle. Foreman was considered one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history. In assessing the fight, analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Norton—who had given Ali four tough battles and won two of them—had been both devastated by Foreman in second round knockouts. Ali was 32 years old, and had clearly lost speed and reflexes since his twenties. Contrary to his later persona, Foreman was at the time a brooding and intimidating presence. Almost no one associated with the sport, not even Alis long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning. Ali was wildly popular in Zaire, with crowds chanting Ali, bomaye (Ali, kill him) wherever he went. In the eighth round, Ali dropped an exhausted Foreman with a combination at center ring; Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, and amidst pandemonium in the ring, Ali had regained the title by knockout. Alis next opponents included Chuck Wepner, Ron Lyle, and Joe Bugner. Wepner, a journeyman known as The Bayonne Bleeder, stunned Ali with a knockdown in the ninth round; Ali would later say he tripped on Wepners foot. It was a bout that would inspire Sylvester Stallone to create the acclaimed film, Rocky. Ali then agreed to a third match with Joe Frazier in Manila. The bout, known as The Thrilla in Manila, was held on October 1, 1975[20] in temperatures approaching 100 °F (38 °C). In the first rounds, Ali was aggressive, moving and exchanging blows with Frazier. However, Ali soon appeared to tire and adopted the rope-a-dope strategy, frequently resorting to clinches. During this part of the bout Ali did some effective counter-punching, but for the most part absorbed punishment from a relentlessly attacking Frazier. In the 12th round, Frazier began to tire, and Ali scored several sharp blows that closed Fraziers left eye and opened a cut over his right eye. With Fraziers vision now diminished, Ali dominated the 13th and 14th rounds, at times conducting what boxing historian Mike Silver called target practice on Fraziers head. The fight was stopped when Fraziers trainer, Eddie Futch, refused to allow Frazier to answer the bell for the 15th and final round, despite Fraziers protests. Fraziers eyes were both swollen shut. Ali, in his corner, winner by TKO, slumped on his stool, clearly spent. An ailing Ali said afterwards that the fight was the closest thing to dying that I know, and, when later asked if he had viewed the fight on videotape, reportedly said, Why would I want to go back and see Hell? After the fight he cited Frazier as the greatest fighter of all times next to me. After winning against Alfredo Evangelista in May 1977, Ali struggled in his next fight against Earnie Shavers that September, who pummeled Ali a few times with punches to the head. Ali won the fight by another unanimous decision, but the bout caused Alis longtime doctor Ferdie Pacheco to quit after he was rebuffed for telling Ali he should retire. Pacheco was quoted as saying, the New York State Athletic Commission gave me a report that showed Alis kidneys were falling apart. I wrote to Angelo Dundee, Alis trainer, his wife and Ali himself. I got nothing back in response. Thats when I decided enough is enough.[32] In February 1978, Ali faced Leon Spinks at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. At the time, Spinks had only seven professional fights to his credit, and had recently fought a draw with journeyman Scott LeDoux. Ali sparred less than two dozen rounds in preparation for the fight, and was seriously out of shape by the opening bell. He lost the title by unanimous decision. A rematch followed shortly thereafter in New Orleans, which broke attendance records. Ali won a unanimous decision in an uninspiring fight, making him the first heavyweight champion to win the belt three times. Following this win, on July 27, 1979, Ali announced his retirement from boxing. His retirement was short-lived, however; Ali announced his comeback to face Larry Holmes for the WBA belt in an attempt to win the heavyweight championship an unprecedented fourth time. The fight was largely motivated by Alis need for money. Boxing writer Richie Giachetti said, Larry didnt want to fight Ali. He knew Ali had nothing left; he knew it would be a horror. Ali was diagnosed with Parkinsons syndrome in 1984, a disease that is common to head trauma from activities such as boxing. It was through these years when I was about nine years of age until I graduated high school, Muhammad Ali was a fixture on afternoon talk shows, late night talk shows, Saturday afternoon Wide World of Sports and Howard Cosell interviews and theatrics. He was a great showman and a fantastic personality. In 1998 Muhammad Ali was scheduled to sign autographs and make a personal appearance for several hours at the Cleveland IX Center. The IX a Center was originally built as a GM factory to build bombers, B-29 and XP-75. Later it was a tank factory and some classified weaponry manufacturing and now was a modern 2.2 million square foot convention and exposition center. During one of the nations largest sports memorabilia shows I was walking with my then ten year old son when we happened to come face to face with the former heavyweight champion of the world and his entourage. The group with the champ was helping him to walk without tripping over rugs and runners as much as they were keeping over zealous fans away. Ali was a shell of his former self. He had a hard time looking straight up. When I spoke to him, his facial expression never changed and he pushed his neck to tilt his head to meet my eyes when I shook his loosely gripped hand. His handlers allowed us to exchange a few moments and phrases of pleasantries between me, my son Eric, and the former Olympic gold medalist from the games in Rome in 1960. Just graduated from high school, the 18 year old became known as “The Mayor of Olympic Village” because of his outgoing personality and larger-than-life spirit. The three time Heavyweight World Champion was a frail victim of the tremors and rigid ness of Parkinsons even fifteen years ago. It was shortly after that that he stopped speaking in public and then his speech was completely vacated. And now, after being found unresponsive and admitted to an Arizona hospital for the second time in a few days, things dont seem to be looking well for the champs future health. Our prayers are with his medical staff and his family for peace and clarity during this difficult time. And thank you, Mr. Ali, for your kindness toward my young son and your professionalism and talent during your career of highlights as well as that moment in time in a remote deserted hallway in a big building in Cleveland many years ago. I will never forget meeting you, sir.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 04:23:52 +0000
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