Now fighting in another ring
MUHAMMAD Ali (1942-2016), the three-time world heavyweight boxing champion who identified himself as “The Greatest”, and was in fact The Greatest both in and outside of the boxing ring, as a boxer, had challenged his opponents in and out of the ring, psychologically destroying them long before the actual fight commenced.When Sonny Liston reigned as king of the heavyweight division, having defeated Floyd Patterson, Ali, who broke into the heavyweight boxing scene, challenged him. As part of his psychological warfare techniques, he called Liston a beast and every name he could have found.
On his part, he spoke of himself with elegance and grandeur. He was proud of his looks, and flaunted same in the imitable Ali style. He was known to say that nobody hits him in his face, and when it comes to boxing, his was the ability to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee”.
It was such confidence of self that he not only brought to the sport of boxing and his personal life, but also to the social causes he took interest in.
As a citizen of the world, he has left a legacy that is unmatched by many elected world leaders. In reviewing his life, one remembers his refusal in 1966 to be inducted into the armed forces under the United States (U.S.) draft law to go and fight in Vietnam. By his refusal, he was making a profound statement to the U.S. and the world, given that to refuse to comply with the law could have resulted in penalty of imprisonment and grave risk to his boxing career.
In his letter making known the principles that informed his decision, he had this to say, among other things: “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?”
The challenge he took to the political establishment saw mainstream America standing on one side and he on the other. His defiance endeared him to oppressed communities in his country and around the world. This was during the era when the struggle for decolonisation was rampant and the colonised felt they had a common bond with the Civil Rights struggle of African Americans for equality.
The world followed the case of his being charged and placed before the court for not obeying the Draft. He was convicted in 1967, stripped of his world heavyweight title, had his boxing licence suspended, fined US$10,000, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
However, he never went to jail; he renamed on bail, having appealed the matter to the Supreme Court.
He returned to boxing in 1970, and won his case against the Supreme Court in 1971. This victory was seen not only as vindication of his conviction, but also strengthened the resolve of those who were fighting to change the dire circumstances under which they lived.
Ali represented a beacon of hope, not only in the sense of breaking barriers in the boxing realm, but also his proudness in declaring his blackness when such was not favourably looked upon; and demonstrating that, with equal opportunity, he can be as good as, or even better than, any man of any other race.
When Ali converted to the Islamic faith in 1961, and changed his name in 1964 from Cassius Clay, he was engaging in acts considered disruptive to the status quo. Though the U.S Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, the Nation of Islam (NOI) which influenced his religious choice, was seen as a fringe element in society and the group was considered anti-national. Yet, it was the NOI who had among its aims the improvement of the lives of African Americans, and aggressively pursued same.
When some in society insisted on calling him ‘Clay’, he made known: “Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it, and I don’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name – it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me.”
Malcolm X, a fellow Muslim and a leading figure in the NOI, who was viewed with skepticism for his activism by the political establishment, white community and some within the black community, was a major influence in Ali’s life, and he proudly and publicly shared this friendship, having him among selected friends at his boxing events.
Ali was nimble on his feet and in his speech. He had a way with words and a love for poetry, which were respected, as seen in him delivering an address to graduates of the Harvard University, considered among the U.S elite universities, and being a professor of poetry at Oxford, considered an elite British university.
Guyana holds the honour of saying this great man had walked on our soil in the visits he paid to this country in the 1970s.
If one were asked to describe him in few words, it would be: Ali used sports and religion as vehicles to fight for change, justice, and hold government to account. This was a man of humble beginning who, when he took up boxing at age 12, saw it as a way out of poverty; but he used boxing not only to empower himself, but many others. He rose to a pinnacle, and held his own among and above many. And while some may marvel at his rise, given his confidence of self, he would have viewed it as destined.
Ali passed away on Saturday, 4th June. Though he embraced the Muslim faith and there is respect for the religion’s view of the afterlife; as a Christian, the view is held that Ali has, in another ring, flown like a butterfly and is already angling to make his presence felt. Woe to any in the Great Beyond whom he may feel the need to sting.
Rest in peace, Champ!
