Muhammad Ali, who has passed away at 74, might not be well known to the younger generation, but at the height of his boxing career in the 1970s and many years afterwards, he was arguably not just the world’s most famous athlete but its most famous person. He had reached such cult status using a mix of supreme skills in the ring, brash and trash talk and brazen predictions about the victims he would conquer, his conversion to Islam, his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War and his subsequent banning from the sport for more than three years, and finally, for the long fight of his life against Parkinson's disease.
Ali’s life and career were a series of spectacular achievements and huge controversies. After winning the gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics, he was on his way to a professional career that had no parallel. From the time he stunned the boxing world by beating Sonny Liston in 1964 at the age of 22, to win his first world title, he would go on to become the first boxer to capture a world heavyweight title on three separate occasions. All the while he delighted crowds and fans around the world with his lightening speed of hand and foot - surprising for a heavyweight boxer - and a mouth which was just as fast.
Ali then converted to Islam, and changed his name from Cassius Clay. It was a new and huge decision at the time, scorned by many in the US.
But another momentous decision was to come. Ali had opposed the war in Vietnam and in 1967 he refused to be drafted into the US military because of his religious beliefs. He was a conscientious objector, saying Islam was a religion of peace, and that he could not in good faith kill somebody who had done no harm to him or his family. "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong," Ali famously said.
He was subsequently stripped of his world title and boxing license. He would not fight again for nearly four years. He had lost some of his best years in boxing, at 26 he was at his peak, but he never regretted it.
Despite his financial difficulties – he spent millions trying to overrule his ban in the courts - Ali never lost the courage of his convictions.
In 1971, Ali returned to the ring and fought in three of the most iconic contests in boxing history – two against his great rival Joe Frazier and an eighth-round knockout of George Foreman in Kinshasa in 1974.
Soon after retiring, Ali’s speech started to slur, he shuffled and he was often drowsy. Parkinson's Syndrome was diagnosed, a result of the thousands of punches he had taken to the head.
Still, he continued to make public appearances and with shaking hands lit the Olympic cauldron at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He became an ambassador of peace, traveling from Lebanon to Iraq to try to secure the release of American hostages.
There was nobody like Muhammad Ali. He was a showboat known for his brashness and braggadocio, especially when a microphone was put before him. He invented moves like the “Ali Shuffle” and strategies like “Rope-a-Dope”.
He came up with unforgettable lines - "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. His bouts were famously billed “The Fight of the Century” and “The Rumble in the Jungle". He called himself “The Greatest”. Fans on every continent adored him, and he received warm welcomes wherever he traveled. His controversies also went with him. But he remained steadfast, telling the world that sticking to his beliefs led him to come out on top.
