Muhammad Ali — 1942-2016

Muhammad Ali, boxer, raconteur, cultural icon, civil rights activist and much much more, has died aged 74. He had been admitted to hospital with respiratory problems a week ago, they were compounded by Parkinson’s disease and he died quietly surrounded by his family. Commentators are virtually unanimous in calling him one of the greatest sportsmen of all time, not only of the era he dominated. Three times world heavyweight boxing champion, he ended his career in the ring just as Parkinson’s disease was beginning to take hold, and his latter years were spent in quiet contemplation and prayer. His speech was occluded by the condition that ravaged him and he made few public appearances in the last decade, but he will be remembered even by those who never saw him in his heyday as a man who embodied not only physical prowess but as a man of honour and principle.

Starting life as Cassius Clay, he converted to Islam — and Muhammad Ali — in 1975. He won 56 out of his 61 fights, 37 of those by knockouts, and lost five. Spectacular as his record in the ring was, it was life and achievements outside the ropes that for many made him The Greatest. His refusal to fight in the Vietnam War won both friends and enemies. He was stripped of his titles in 1967 and spent arguably the best years of his boxing life scratching a living as a motivational speaker and making Broadway appearances. By the mid-1970s, he was the biggest sports star on the planet and he remained so even after his boxing career had long ended. His many failings and missteps were forgiven and mostly forgotten; he was not a perfect man as he so readily acknowledged himself. It is often said on the death of a famous personage that ‘we shall never see his like again’. For Muhammad Ali that is in all probability true. We never will see his like again and the world is poorer for his passing, for he truly was... The Greatest.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2016.

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