Goodbye Ali

“I must be the greatest… Float like a butterfly sting like a bee… Rumble young man rumble...” The quotas are endless. The talent at times seemed unmatched. The shadow he cast over the world not just of boxing but the world as whole is so large that is seems shocking he wouldn’t be a heavyweight in the modern world of boxing. He was only 6'3 and weighed about two hundred and ten pounds. In today's modern era of boxing filled giants such as the Klticshko Brothers and Tyson Furry he would most and like fight as either a light heavyweight or crusierweight. And in many way Ali would not fit in with the modern world boxing all that well.

Muhammad Ali was all about risk. Both in the ring and out of the ring he risked it all. In 1984 he said “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” But modern boxing so much of the risk has been removed. The records are often padded out. The best rarely fight the best. Just look at Mayweather and Pacqiuo who spent years playing a game of “No you go.” When negotiating a fight and than finally stepped in the ring and board the crowd to tears. If GGG the most feared and avoided man in boxing today were a heavyweight in the 60's I feel Ali would not only fight him he would boldly declared he would turn him into lower case g because the beating would be that bad. After all Ali had already risked it all when he destroyed Sonny Liston.

Liston was Mike Tyson before Tyson was Tyson. He was a viscous knockout machine. He was truly dangerous in and outside of the ring. He had annihilated Floyd Patterson to win the title and than again in the rematch. Few gave the than Cassius Clay a chance. As the famous tale goes only two sports writers picked him to win. He was already viewed as two small and his habit of going backwards was viewed a huge flaw that would cost him. But Ali showed no fear taunting Liston and breaking him mentally before the first bell even rang. Sonny Liston never mounted much offense. But in the fourth Ali was suddenly blinded in his eyes. Some type of substance many believe placed on Liston by his corner got in his eyes and blinded him.

Trainer Angelo Dundee worked to flush the young challengers eyes. Still though Ali would have to fight the fifth round against a destroyer and dangerous fighter unable to see correctly. By the sixth Ali was fine and mounted another blistering attacking. Liston knew it was over he had no chance to win and would quit on the stool in the seventh. In the rematch he knocked Liston out with a single punch the image of Ali standing over the fall Liston is iconic.

In all Ali would defend his world championship eight times until he was drafted. Ali by this time have already rejected his slave name and a member of the Nation of Islam refused to serve In the army sighting his religious beliefs. He was stripped of his title banned from boxing and faced going to jail. Think for a moment of any athlete today that would willing to lose it all for something they believed in. Most avoid given any type of stance at all. Eventually the conviction was over turned and he granted a licensee to fight again. Ali fight outside the ring cost him three and a half years of his prime.

In the interim Joe Frazier had won the championship. The two had actually be friends with Frazier even helping out Ali while he was banned. But with a chance to regain his title Ali turned on him. The first fight was an epic event the kind of which boxing would kill to have again. Ali was lose but the fight was so close a rematch seemed to be a sure thing. Than things changed. Frazier would be annihilated by a than unknown George Foreman and lost the title. Ali would win the rematch with Frazier and than target Foreman.

Much like in his fit with Liston few if any gave him a chance. He was no thirty two years old. Since his return he appeared to have lost a step. Foreman was younger and had so easily blown through Fraser it seemed Ali was doomed. The fight would become the Rumble in the Jungle. With the back off the massive crowd in Zaire Africa Ali would reclaim his title. Using what would be known as the Rope a Dope Ali let Foreman punch himself out. Throughout the fight he be taunting Foreman. “Come on George… Is that all you got George.” Munch like Liston, Ali showed no fear and was once again the champion of the world.

The time had come to settle the score with Frazier once and for all. It would be known as the Thrilla in Manellia. It was a brutal final war between the top two fighters of there time. Both men came close to death in that ring. Going into the fifteenth and final round Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch refused to let his fighter answer the bell. Ali had won the feud and further cemented his legacy as The Greatest.

Ali would lose and regain his title one more time. He retired for a time and than announced his return in 1981 to challenge than Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes. The combination of father time and Holmes own amazing skills were to much for Ali. He would lose when his own trainer Angelo Dundee stopped the fight unwilling to see him take more of a beating. While Ali would fight again for all intensive purposes this was the end. Muhammad Ali would never again challenge for a heavyweight championship.

There is so much more the amazing contributions Ali made to the civil rights movement, his battle with Parkinson, his work for the UN including the time he helped to negotiate the release of fifteen hostages in Iraq. But when I think of Ali. I will think and admire the risk taker. It would have been easy for him to stay Cassius Clay smiled and just fought. Instead he was willing to be unpopular to be hated. He could have taken easy fight or just lived off his reputation. Instead he took the uneasy path. Ali could have been a great champion but by taking risks he became an Icon, a Hero, A Legend. “I Must Be the Greatest!” Yes he was.