Although an appeals court ruled in his favor four years later, he lost some of the best years of his career for the decision, not to mention millions of dollars. As a result, he was eventually arrested and found guilty of draft evasion, and stripped of his title.
In 1966, the year I was born, and two years after upsetting Sonny Liston, Ali announced that he would not enter the United States military to serve in the Vietnam War because of his religious beliefs. Sure he was a great boxer, but what impressed me, and other Ali admirers most about him was his moral absolutes, and his willingness to accept whatever consequences came with them. In a world where many people shamelessly choose commerce over conscious with alacrity, Ali remained fundamentally rooted in his beliefs. Ali’s talent in the ring earned him respect, but what he did outside the ring earned him endearment, and is the reason why there is such an outpouring of international tributes from world leaders, celebrities, fans, and even his opponents. Shortly after becoming a fan of Ali the boxer, I began to study him and became enamored with Ali the man. It didn’t matter if you were a supporter or detractor, we were all were punch drunk off of the phenomenon known as Muhammad Ali. We wanted to hear what rhyme he would bless us with next and we wanted to see if his prediction to knock out his opponent in a designated round would hold up. He was a marketing genius who could sell a white suit to a mechanic. Muhammad Ali could have likely ran a Fortune 500 Company.
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The difference was Ali could back it up with frequent precision, plus he was entertaining. Yeah, he was a big talker, but so are most fighters. The more I watched Ali, the more I gravitated towards his energy. Consequently, I respected Ali’s ability to rededicate himself to his craft to achieve victory.
You see, coming from where I’m from, Fifth Ward, one of the toughest neighborhoods in Houston and a place Ali frequented when he lived here, you get used to making adjustments. About this time is when I began to warm up to Ali as a fighter. However, the celebration was short lived because just seven months later, Ali regained his crown, defeating Spinks with a 15-round unanimous decision. When he fought Leon Spinks the first time in February 1978, I didn’t like Ali because of his penchant for bragging. Ali had passed his prime, his motor skills were slower, and his speech had already begun to slur due to being in the early stages of his illness.ĭissonant to my childhood friend, three-time boxing world champion Reggie “Sweet” Johnson, I was not always an Ali fan. Not taking anything away from Holmes, but the Holmes fight don’t really count because it was a money grab. He annihilated the highly favored and skilled Sonny Liston to win his first title at the tender age of 22, then went on to have epic battles with boxing greats Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Ken Norton, and Larry Holmes, beating them all except Holmes. He fought the crème de la crème of heavyweights, guys who made the average Joe think to himself, “I could never do that. Unlike today, where any ole bum might qualify for a shot at a world heavyweight title, and possibly win, Ali competed in an era that serves as the standard for boxing greatness. As a former boxer and lifelong boxing enthusiast, I can recall countless moments of Ali’s greatness in the ring, even in defeat. The boxing icon died at the age of 74 on Friday, June 3, at a Phoenix-area hospital after being admitted for respiratory complications following a 35-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease. But what a remarkably courageous fight he put up to stay with us for as long as he did after being diagnosed with a disease that would eventually claim victory over his life. I knew this day would come sooner or later - we all knew. When I heard that Muhammad Ali had died, tears welled up in my eyes, and my heart became heavy. This post originally appeared in African-American News & Issues, June 10, 2016. He is a former boxer and aficionado of the sport who in part credits his confidence in his own abilities to Muhammad Ali. Editor’s note: Willie D is a member of the legendary platinum-selling rap group the Geto Boys, and writes Ask Willie D, a top-rated weekly advice column that appears in the Houston Press each Thursday.
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