Thanks to the petty thief who gave us all, the greatest champion in the history, the invincible, the unvanquishable and the double greatest, Sir Muhammad Ali. This is a story of an African American boy who grew up in racism and hate; but showed the world how to laugh, the guy who flew like butterfly and stung like a bee; the one who wrestled with alligators,tussled with whale, handcuffed lightning, threw thunder in jail, the one who murdered a rock and hospitalized the brick, he was so mean that he made the medicine sick.
The story of the greatest champions's double greatest life started when he was twelve years old. A thief had taken away his bicycle and Ali was fuming over the incident. He told the Louisville police officer and boxing coach that he would "whup" the thief, Mr. Martin suggested the boy that he learn to box first and what follows ahead was just a nightmare for all the other boxers in the world. Ali commenced his amateur campaign in the year 1954, winning six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union national title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. His amateur record lucidly elaborates his greatness as he had 100 wins with only 5 losses. Ali made his professional debut in the year 1960, and started his campaign with a win over Tunney Hunsaker. He went ahead beating the famous boxers of that time, including Henry Cooper, Jim Robinson and Doug Jones thus clinching up a total of 19 fights with zero losses. Then came a huge fight in the life of Ali, the one with the world champion Sonny Liston. This fight is truly a fight of century for me. In the third round, Ali even opened a cut in the eye of Liston, but as the fourth round came up, Ali's eyes swelled and he almost became blinded. It is speculated that the corners deliberately put the ointment on Liston's glove with made Ali blinded for fight (the same problems were reported by some other fighters who fought with Liston), but still the great Ali dodged almost every punch by Liston and at last Liston refused to come up for seventh round, and Muhammad Ali was declared triumphant. This is not the only fight to raise goosebumps, many other fights especially with Joe Frazier, kept the world amazed at how so much greatness can reside in just one man. Joe hit Ali with around 448 punches in the Thrilla in Manilla which according to Frazier would take a whole city down, but you know the greatest couldn't fit in just one city and hence Ali, as usual won the fight. Various other fights like Rumble In The Jungle etc. continue to exaggerate Ali's glory and what we got to see what the god of greatness, landing knockouts in the ring. His 37 knockout wins are still mesmerizing and this guy was truly the double greatest.
Despite of being such a great sports person Ali was a great guy by heart too. In March 1966, Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces, stating that he had "no quarrel with them Vietcong". "My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn't put no dogs on me, they didn't rob me of my nationality, rape or kill my mother and father.... How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail."He was systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport. As a result, he did not fight from March 1967 to October 1970—from ages 25 to almost 29—as his case worked its way through the appeals process. In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction in a unanimous 8–0 ruling (Thurgood Marshall avoided himself, as he had been the U.S. Solicitor General at the time of Ali's conviction).
On August 12, 1970, with his case still in appeal, Ali was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission, thanks to State Senator Leroy R. Johnson
The story of the greatest champions's double greatest life started when he was twelve years old. A thief had taken away his bicycle and Ali was fuming over the incident. He told the Louisville police officer and boxing coach that he would "whup" the thief, Mr. Martin suggested the boy that he learn to box first and what follows ahead was just a nightmare for all the other boxers in the world. Ali commenced his amateur campaign in the year 1954, winning six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union national title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. His amateur record lucidly elaborates his greatness as he had 100 wins with only 5 losses. Ali made his professional debut in the year 1960, and started his campaign with a win over Tunney Hunsaker. He went ahead beating the famous boxers of that time, including Henry Cooper, Jim Robinson and Doug Jones thus clinching up a total of 19 fights with zero losses. Then came a huge fight in the life of Ali, the one with the world champion Sonny Liston. This fight is truly a fight of century for me. In the third round, Ali even opened a cut in the eye of Liston, but as the fourth round came up, Ali's eyes swelled and he almost became blinded. It is speculated that the corners deliberately put the ointment on Liston's glove with made Ali blinded for fight (the same problems were reported by some other fighters who fought with Liston), but still the great Ali dodged almost every punch by Liston and at last Liston refused to come up for seventh round, and Muhammad Ali was declared triumphant. This is not the only fight to raise goosebumps, many other fights especially with Joe Frazier, kept the world amazed at how so much greatness can reside in just one man. Joe hit Ali with around 448 punches in the Thrilla in Manilla which according to Frazier would take a whole city down, but you know the greatest couldn't fit in just one city and hence Ali, as usual won the fight. Various other fights like Rumble In The Jungle etc. continue to exaggerate Ali's glory and what we got to see what the god of greatness, landing knockouts in the ring. His 37 knockout wins are still mesmerizing and this guy was truly the double greatest.
Despite of being such a great sports person Ali was a great guy by heart too. In March 1966, Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces, stating that he had "no quarrel with them Vietcong". "My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn't put no dogs on me, they didn't rob me of my nationality, rape or kill my mother and father.... How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail."He was systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport. As a result, he did not fight from March 1967 to October 1970—from ages 25 to almost 29—as his case worked its way through the appeals process. In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction in a unanimous 8–0 ruling (Thurgood Marshall avoided himself, as he had been the U.S. Solicitor General at the time of Ali's conviction).
On August 12, 1970, with his case still in appeal, Ali was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission, thanks to State Senator Leroy R. Johnson
During this time of inactivity, as opposition to the Vietnam War began to grow and Ali's stance gained sympathy, he spoke at colleges across the nation, criticizing the Vietnam War and advocating African American pride and racial justice.
Even coming after three years of no profession boxing, Ali boxing powers and his hand's strength were never allayed or enervated. He again became the great heavyweight champion but this time somewhat more elegantly and with some extra added beauty.
The champion always lived like the champion; his voice against racism and his great passion for boxing and sports gained him so much respect which he indeed deserved. His candid attitude towards political issues, gave so many African Americans a confidence that, the color of their skin didn't matter at all and even they could come up beating all odds.
Ali's greatness is far above his death and though the great soul is not among us today, but his greatness has been larger than life and would survive till posterity because the double greatest didn't learn how to lose.
JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
JAI MA BHARTI
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