The Greatest: Muhammad Ali

As a young fighter, Ali’s quick feet and peerless athleticism kept him from getting hurt. As he aged and could not move quite as fast, he started to absorb more punishment, and Ali made up for his diminishing physical skills with extraordinary courage, matching the courage he had shown in standing up for his beliefs when it would have been far easier, and more profitable, to avoid any controversial stances. Ali never dodged a fighter, even the most feared among the heavyweight ranks, but this also contributed to his eventual decline. In 1978, he lost to the relatively inexperienced and vastly less skilled Leon Spinks, but he won a rematch with Spinks to regain the title a third time (setting a record). This would prove to be his last victory. He retired and then came back to fight Larry Holmes, a former sparring partner who had won the title in his absence. Holmes dealt a horrific beating to Ali, leading to the only stoppage loss of his career, and then Ali lost again to the middling Trevor Berbick. After 21 years in the professional ring, Ali would retire for good.

For the 1996 Summer Olympics, Muhammad Ali emerged to light the torch, his hands trembling and his legendary mouth silent. Having electrified the entire world with his athleticism and personality, Ali was now severely diminished due to his having developed Parkinson’s disease. The illness is characterized by near-constant tremors, especially in the hands, slow movements, and stiffness in other parts of the body (actor Michael J. Fox is another famous person with the disease, as well as former Pope John Paul II). It is possible that boxing contributed to Ali’s symptoms, but this is uncertain. Regardless of the cause, Ali joined a long list of legendary fighters whose later years were marked by severe pain, but he used his still-enormous fame to raise awareness for the disease and direct more federal research toward finding a cure.

The legacy of Muhammad Ali, named “Greatest Athlete of the Century” by Sports Illustrated, is a combination of his life, the times he inhabited, and the subsequent evaluations of history. Cassius Clay grew up in a world in which “the struggle with self-hatred was often marked by hair straighteners and skin-bleachers-tools used to erase racial heritage rather than fight inequality” (153). Ali not only owned his Blackness but also made a public issue out of it, calling himself “pretty” and “beautiful” and encouraging young people to think similarly of themselves. Many doubted that this boastful man could be nearly as good as he said he was, but his actions matched his words, first stunning the world with his win over Sonny Liston and then sticking to his convictions, even at great cost. His refusal to join the army could easily have put him in jail or ended his career permanently, and his refusal helped to inspire resistance to an unjust war.

Ali was a flawed man. He was divorced three times (his fourth wife would remain with him until his death), and he was not an especially attentive father to his seven daughters. He publicly humiliated his opponents, especially Frazier. Yet in both life and the ring, he showed an extraordinary mix of intelligence and courage, encouraging Black pride and showing a particular kindness toward children. While boxing is a major part of his legend, he showed that fighting is not the “only way to secure human dignity” (159). Perhaps the most important example he showed over the course of his extraordinary life was his consistent willingness to do the right thing.