By Todd Carton –
The unexpected death of Muhammad Ali Friday night necessitated a major change in the topics for Saturday morning’s Sports Maven show on Baltimore’s CBS Radio 1300. With Bruce Posner joining us on the phone, Wayne Viener, Freddy, Mason and I spent the show’s first 20 minutes or so talking about the champ and most noteworthy sports figure of the 20th century. Yes, other athletes made great progressive contributions to American society but Ali was a man of the world and, in my mind, stands above them all. Even well past the prime of his career, even suffering from the boxing induced Parkinson’s disease, Ali remained a towering figure and perhaps the most recognized man on the planet.
As an athlete, boxing had never before seen his like. From the time he won a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics the man who brought the lightweight skills and panache of his childhood hero Sugar Ray Robinson, to his shocking 1964 six round TKO of Sonny Liston to claim the heavyweight championship for the first of three times, to suddenly shedding his “slave name” of Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. in that fight’s immediate aftermath, to the moment in his hometown of Louisville when he refused to step forward and accept induction into the U.S. Army because “he had no quarrel with them Vietcong” – a decision that cost him not only his title but three prime years of his career until his license suspension was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court, Ali was both adored and reviled by the American public.
During his exile from the ring, Ali remained an outspoken opponent of the increasingly unpopular Vietnamese War and continually spoke out on matters of racial pride and justice.
When he finally returned to the ring, Ali won a series of fights and regained his crown before suffering the first loss of his professional career and heavyweight championship to Joe Frazier. It was the first of three fights between the two antagonists – three fights that would be among the most epic ever staged. Though Ali would go on to lose a bout to Ken Norton and Frazier would eventually lose his title to the powerful George Foreman, the two met in a rematch in 1974 which Ali won by unanimous decision.
This set the stage for the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa Zaire when the now 32 year old Ali would face Foreman who had knocked out both Norton and Frazier in two rounds Employing the tactic he later dubbed “Rope-a-Dope”, Ali defied not merely the odds as he had as a 7-1 underdog when he first won the title over Liston, but the expectations of all but perhaps his innermost circle.
The buildup and the fight itself are chronicled in the brilliant 1996 documentary film When We Were Kings. A cut to Foreman’s eye delayed the fight but Ali traveled to Africa where he was viewed as a hero. The film shows that Ali remained the brash but ebullient champion while also painting a portrait of a young George Foreman far different from the grandfather image of the man marketing the George Foremen Grill.
I’d urge those youngest among you who have no recollection of Ali, or those slightly older whose principle image might be of the trembling, Parkinson’s riddled 62 year old Ali lighting the torch at the Atlanta Olympics to take some time to find and watch this film. It depicts Muhammad Ali in a manner in which we all should remember him.
Todd
I’d like to thank my anonymous friend (you know who you are) for allowing me to correct myself for an error in the timeline of this story. Rather than screwing up a second time, I will quote from Ali’s Wikipedia page:
“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.[47] Ali’s first return bout was against Jerry Quarry on October 26, resulting in a win after three rounds after Quarry was cut.
A month earlier, a victory in federal court forced the New York State Boxing Commission to reinstate Ali’s license.[48] He fought Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in December, an uninspired performance that ended in a dramatic technical knockout of Bonavena in the 15th round. The win left Ali as a top contender against heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.
Ali and Frazier’s first fight, held at the Garden on March 8, 1971, was nicknamed the “Fight of the Century”, due to the tremendous excitement surrounding a bout between two undefeated fighters, each with a legitimate claim as heavyweight champions.”
This error doesn’t diminish the magnitude of Ali’s sacrifice and unwavering willingness to resolutely and very publicly hold to his principles.
· 11/12/2019
freddy from boca
well done, todd. i didn’t remember the ali-Oscar Bonavena fight came just before the first ali-joe frazier fight.
we’ll never see the likes of ali again.
· 11/12/2019