Reminiscences from the golden era of Muhammad Ali - "The Greatest Ever"

Ali flooring Liston

Recently a Boxing mega event caught the whole world’s attention like none other in a long time. It was the hugely awaited face-off between the two greatest boxers of the present generation – Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao with a purse of $ 250 million.

It was in this glitzy, hugely commercial event that some old timers emotionally remembered an era when a boxer brought the world to his feet time and again and in the process inspired millions not just in the boxing fraternity but the entire world.

Muhammad Ali was not just your run of the mill boxer; he was a superstar and a role model in every aspect. Ali was born as Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky in a tough & racially charged environment. From a young age the racial discrimination had a strong influence on young Cassius and he began to question the status quo around.

He once asked his mother why Jesus and the angels were always depicted as white and not black like him. These thoughts would later shape up his outspoken personality and conviction which he used in the ring as well as outside it, which got him into many controversies. It is said that Ali was inspired to take up boxing after his bicycle was stolen and he wanted to beat the guy who stole it.

Ali started as a promising amateur boxer with a very different approach than any other boxers around. He competed in the heavyweight category but his style was more similar to lightweight boxers who focused more on agility and speed. He phrased his own style as “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.

As an 18-year-old, he won the gold medal in light heavyweight category in 1960 Rome Olympics, although the story of that medal is smeared with racial colour too. Sometime after the Olympic victory, Ali was denied service in a ‘whites only’ restaurant. It is said that he threw his gold medal in Ohio river in disgust. Ali turned professional soon after.

In 1964, when Ali was 22 years old he got the big chance to fight against World Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston. The build up to that fight was really unique and interesting. A young Ali publicly made fun of Liston by making remarks like “Liston smells like a bear”, “Liston belongs in the zoo” apart from making boisterous claims about his own superhuman abilities.

He told a bunch of reporters that he was so fast that Liston wouldn’t be able to see him in the ring. These were the first glimpses of Ali’s trademark build up tactic against opponents where he would combine his wits and big-mouth to psych out his opponents.

Despite all this entertainment, no one gave any chance to this handsome young 22-year-old boy against the powerful monster that Sonny Liston was. To everyone’s surprise Ali was able to back up his big talking with extreme guile and ferocity in the ring and made Liston give up after round 6. Still if there were any doubters left calling the victory a fluke, they all were silenced when Ali knocked out Liston in 1st round itself in the rematch later.

But controversies were also catching up fast. Ali who till now was known as Cassius Clay Jr. joined the ‘Nation of Islam’, a radical group of Black Muslims and converted to Islam. It was then that he acquired his name ‘Muhammad Ali’. He was considered to be close to the group’s leader Malcolm X.

Another controversy which was even bigger was his drafting into United States Army for Vietnam War in 1966. USA was at war with Vietnam during that time and young able bodied men were being involuntarily drafted for fighting in the war.

Ali did not support this war as well as the involuntary drafting of young men into the army. In fact the war was facing lot of criticism from all quarters. But there were legal repercussions for refusing to serve in the army. Ali’s boxing license was revoked and he was stripped of his title.

A ban on Ali came into effect from March 1967 and lasted up to October 1970. This period proved really tough for Ali because ban on boxing resulted in financial difficulties as well. On one hand the undefeated champion Ali was left titleless on the other hand while on the other the heavyweight title exchanged hands and finally rested with Joe Frazier, a hard working fighter known for his determination and stamina. While Ali still claimed the title to be rightfully his as he was never defeated, Frazier’s claim was equally genuine as he had displayed the mettle of a champion during Ali’s absence.

To settle the claim, the two boxers met in March 1971. The fight was dubbed as the ‘Fight of the Century’. Ali who was stripped of title at the age of 25 had lost probably the best 4 years of his life in inactivity. Now 29, he was hungry to get the title back but also rusty from lack of action at the highest level. Frazier, 27 was at the peak of his powers and in tremendous shape. It was a brutal fight lasting 15 rounds. Neither of the boxers was able to knock out the other but Frazier was declared the winner on the basis of points.

Ali struggled to get another chance to the heavyweight title for next 3 years. The chance came in 1974 when he was 32 years old. The scenario had changed dramatically when this chance came around. The title had a new incumbent: the 26-year-old, 6"4' giant George Foreman who had knocked out Joe Frazier in just two rounds with his avalanche of big punches.

Ali was up against a younger, more powerful opponent who had a habit of knocking out his opponents in 2-3 rounds. Under the circumstances all odds were against Ali. The venue of the match was Zaire and it was dubbed as the ‘Rumble in Jungle’.

In the starting rounds, Foreman came out with his heavy punches trying to knock Ali out early. Ali had observed Foreman’s style closely and realized that because Foreman used to knock out his opponents early he didn’t have the stamina to last long. Ali strategy was to prolong the fight hoping to tire out foreman.

But this was easier said than done. Ali wasn’t as fast now as he once was so avoiding punches wasn’t easy. So he engineered a new way to avoid getting hit. He used the elasticity of the ring ropes lean back as much as possible when Foreman was throwing punches thus significantly reducing the impact. This strategy was later called the "Rope-a-dope" and was made famous by this match.

Even though Ali managed to avoid getting knocked out still he endured heavy punishment and managed to remain standing just because of his desire to win. Finally Foreman’s stamina gave way and his punches started missing the mark more often. Seizing this opportunity Ali launched an electrifying counterattack with a flurry of punches and floored his opponent in the 8th round.

Foreman couldn’t get up and Ali had managed to do the unthinkable. He had defeated the seemingly invincible Foreman in a ‘David vs. Goliath’ battle thus starting his 2nd reign as world heavyweight champion. Ali would continue to reign as the champion for 4 more years making several title defences and consolidating his claim to be the greatest ever.