Muhammad Ali: A Tragic Hero
The heavyweight champion greatest-of-all-time Muhammad Ali died early Saturday morning at age 74 after he was reportedly hospitalized with respiratory problems earlier this week.
A spokesperson initially said Ali was expecting a “brief stay” when news broke he had been hospitalized in Phoenix Thursday, but reports began circulating late Friday night that his condition had become “grave.”
As a boxer, Ali won dozens of championships, three heavyweight titles and an Olympic gold medal. It was during his first heavyweight championship against Sonny Liston in 1964 that he declared himself “the greatest,” a nickname that outlasted his boxing career. His personality was as much a draw as his bouts and he remained a prominent voice for civil rights
causes long after his retirement in 1981.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in 1942, Ali renounced his “slave name” when he converted to Islam in the 1960s. A vocal proponent of the religion, he recently spoke out against Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from the country.
It was one last political turn to cap a lifetime of many. In the 1960's, Ali’s boxing career was involuntarily paused by the government, when he was arrested and convicted of draft dodging for refusing to serve in Vietnam over his religious beliefs. He was blunt in his reasoning: “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.”
“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, some poor, hungry people in the mud, for big powerful America, and shoot them for what?” Ali said at the time. “They never called me nigger. They never lynched me. They didn’t put no dogs on me.”
During the trial, he was banned from the sport and lost his heavyweight belt. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned his conviction in the 1971 case, Clay v United States and his title was restored. He continued boxing for another ten years.
He also continued his work outside the ring, helping negotiate the release of U.S. hostages in a sit-down meeting with the then-president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, in 1990. In 2005, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1984 and the symptoms visibly accelerated in recent years. By last September, he had stopped making public appearances entirely.
He leaves behind his wife, Yolanda, seven daughters and two sons.
A spokesperson initially said Ali was expecting a “brief stay” when news broke he had been hospitalized in Phoenix Thursday, but reports began circulating late Friday night that his condition had become “grave.”
As a boxer, Ali won dozens of championships, three heavyweight titles and an Olympic gold medal. It was during his first heavyweight championship against Sonny Liston in 1964 that he declared himself “the greatest,” a nickname that outlasted his boxing career. His personality was as much a draw as his bouts and he remained a prominent voice for civil rights
causes long after his retirement in 1981.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in 1942, Ali renounced his “slave name” when he converted to Islam in the 1960s. A vocal proponent of the religion, he recently spoke out against Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from the country.
It was one last political turn to cap a lifetime of many. In the 1960's, Ali’s boxing career was involuntarily paused by the government, when he was arrested and convicted of draft dodging for refusing to serve in Vietnam over his religious beliefs. He was blunt in his reasoning: “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.”
“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, some poor, hungry people in the mud, for big powerful America, and shoot them for what?” Ali said at the time. “They never called me nigger. They never lynched me. They didn’t put no dogs on me.”
During the trial, he was banned from the sport and lost his heavyweight belt. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned his conviction in the 1971 case, Clay v United States and his title was restored. He continued boxing for another ten years.
He also continued his work outside the ring, helping negotiate the release of U.S. hostages in a sit-down meeting with the then-president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, in 1990. In 2005, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1984 and the symptoms visibly accelerated in recent years. By last September, he had stopped making public appearances entirely.
He leaves behind his wife, Yolanda, seven daughters and two sons.