By Matt Sanders
He’s not the greatest. He’s the double greatest.
Muhammad Ali is regarded as the best boxer of all time defeating all the top names and hence becoming the omnipotent force in what was considered to be the golden era of the sport.
Ali demonstrated unbelievable speed and grace in the ring – floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. He constituted his own specific techniques such as rope-a-dope and the Ali shuffle, to give him the optimum in physicality of both offense and defense.
Mentally, Ali had the ability to beat an opponent before they had even stepped foot in the ring. He tore his foes apart when it came to pre-match mind games, shoving his determination and self-confidence down his opponents throats with the perfect combination of excitement and arrogance.
It was such physical and mental capabilities that saw Ali win countless fights, including most memorably The Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman, The Fight of the Century and The Thrilla in Manila, both against rival Joe Frazier.
He became heavyweight champion an unprecedented three times in his career and has been named the sportsman of the century by the BBC, Sports Illustrated, GQ and the World Sports awards.
Yet, he has not reached the pinnacle of our list purely for his boxing alone.
Ali made his name not only as a boxer, but as a humanitarian. He was always eager to stage his biggest fights in less economically developed locations around the world, in places such as Manila and Kuala Lumpur, in order to raise awareness of the conditions in the developing world. Since his retirement in 1981 he has played a pivotal role in helping to provide 232 million meals to such countries.
Born Cassius Clay Junior, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964, referring to Clay as his slave name and joining the Islam religion. It was because of his new beliefs that Ali refused to be inducted into the US Army to fight in the Vietnam war. For this he was put to trial and found guilty, but succeeded in an appeal with the mounting opposition to the war building up and putting pressure on government. It was in this way that Ali played a huge part in the anti-war movement.
Albeit, ultimately what made Ali unanimously remembered as one of the greatest of all time was the excitement he could generate through speech, whether it was before a boxing bout or making a rallying speech to the black youth in schools around the world. He had a line for just about everything. Here is one of the best -
‘I’m so fast that last night, I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.’
Priceless.
