Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to the Greatest

by Thomas Hauser

  ALEX WALLAU: I’d pick Ali over every other heavyweight in history and that includes Joe Louis. Louis was a more complete fighter and certainly he had a better punch than Ali. But Ali had one extraordinary skill that distorted the equation, and that was his speed. He had the speed to make opponents miss throughout a fight; and the few times they connected, he had the chin and heart to see him through. Also, Louis avoided a lot of tough fighters, particularly the other black heavyweights. And Ali really fought everybody.

  FERDIE PACHECO: If you add it all up, Muhammad Ali reigned officially as heavyweight champion for less than seven years. There were three years in the mid-sixties before they took away his title; three years in the mid-seventies after he beat George Foreman; and a few months in 1978-79 after he regained the championship from Leon Spinks. But he dominated boxing for twenty years, and boxing isn’t the same without him.

  ALI’S NICKNAMES FOR OPPONENTS

  Sonny Liston—The Big Ugly Bear (“Because he’s ugly and smells like a bear.”)

  Archie Moore—The Old Man (“He’s old enough to be my grandfather.”)

  Floyd Patterson—The Rabbit (“In the ring, he’s frightened like a rabbit.”)

  George Chuvalo—The Washerwoman (“He punches like a woman who’s washing clothes.”)

  Ernie Terrell—The Octopus (“He grabs and holds a lot when he fights.”)

  Joe Frazier—The Gorilla (“He’s ugly and looks like a gorilla.”)

  George Foreman—The Mummy (“George is slow. Clomp! Clomp! He moves like a mummy.”)

  Earnie Shavers—The Acorn (“He’s got a shaved head that looks like an acorn.”)

  Leon Spinks—Dracula (“The man is missing his front teeth.”)

  Larry Holmes—The Peanut (“His head is shaped like a peanut.”)

  MUHAMMAD ALI RATES HIS OPPONENTS

  • The most skilled as a boxer—Floyd Patterson

  • The scariest—Sonny Liston

  • The most powerful—George Foreman

  • The roughest and toughest—Joe Frazier

  MUHAMMAD ALI RATES HIS FIGHTS

  • When I was at my best—against Cleveland Williams

  • The best fight for fans—against Joe Frazier in Manila

  • The fight that meant the most to me—beating George Foreman to win the championship of the world again

  MUHAMMAD ALI RATES THE GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHTS OF ALL TIME

  1. Me

  2. Jack Johnson

  3. Joe Louis

  MUHAMMAD ALI’S LIST OF “THE TEN BEST-LOOKING HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONS EVER”

  I’m number one. After me, it don’t matter.

  DAVE KINDRED: There’s no cruelty left in him. As a fighter, it was necessary. As a fighter, you’re supposed to be cruel. In the ring, if you’re a nice guy, you get knocked out in a hurry. But that cruelty is no longer a part of him.

  JOSE TORRES: The only bad thing that Ali left behind was his boxing style. His style—hands down, chin up in the air—is detrimental to fighters who try to imitate him because they don’t have the timing, the genius, and the magic that Ali had. So they try to imitate him and they get knocked out.

  EARNIE SHAVERS: Ali did things that nobody did before in life. Never did them after, neither.

  TEDDY ATLAS: People talk about Ali being a hero. But a lot of people lose sight of the fact that one of the most heroic things about Ali was his almost complete unselfishness. I’ll give you an example. In the 1988 Olympics, Greg Louganis cut his head on the diving board. At the time, Louganis knew he was HIV-positive. Now Greg Louganis is a magnificent athlete. I give him all the credit in the world for his athletic skills and the fact that he continued to live a full life after learning that he was carrying the AIDS virus. But Louganis took the easy selfish way out. Instead of telling the doctor who treated him, “Look, you’d better get some gloves,” he put his own personal interest ahead of the safety of the doctor. Now ninety-nine-point-nine-nine percent of the people in the world would have handled that situation the same way as Louganis. They wouldn’t have jeopardized their public image or their chance to win an Olympic gold medal. But by acting the way he did, Greg Louganis knowingly put another man’s life at risk. And I don’t think Ali would have done that. Muhammad Ali always put other people first. I believe that, if it had been Ali on that diving board, regardless of what it cost him, he would have told the doctor to put on a pair of gloves before he allowed the doctor to suture him up.

  HAROLD CONRAD: Ali is a decent man, a kind man; and it doesn’t do you any harm to be around one of those. You’ve got to pick up some of it. Sometimes I wish I could be more like him.

  LARRY HOLMES: If you treated Ali right, he’d treat you right. And if you didn’t treat him right, he’d still treat you right. That’s just one reason why people love Ali.

  DICK GREGORY: If people from outer space came to Earth and we had to give them one representative of our species to show them our physical prowess, our spirituality, our decency, our warmth, our kindness, our humor, and most of all, our capacity to love—it would be Ali.

  LARRY HOLMES: Ali opens his arms right up to people. They don’t have to approach him. He approaches them and makes them feel comfortable.

  EARNIE SHAVERS: Ali’s got a heart as big as all outdoors and a love that encompasses all people. He’s as pretty on the inside as he is on the outside. Always has been; always will be.

  DICK GREGORY: If I wanted to teach a little grandchild of mine about the universe, I’d go and get Muhammad Ali’s story and say, “Here is what happened to the universe. One day, something went from nothing to BOOMMMM. The big bang. And it keeps getting bigger.

  LOU DIBELLA: Ali’s style has been taken to extremes in ways that I’m sure he never intended it to be. Now you have boastfulness and bragging, but with no sense of irony and no principles behind it. These guys—Deion Sanders, Barry Bonds, all of them—they just don’t get it. Ali was the best “sound bite” in history. Ali was “prime time” before Deion Sanders was born. Ali did that schtick better than anyone. But with Ali, there was social relevance and substance behind it.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: I used to daydream all the time about being successful in boxing and being famous. One time I remember; Floyd Patterson was heavyweight champion of the world. I was at the Olympics in Rome and I went to sleep in my room, pretending I was heavyweight champion. This was even before I won the gold medal. But I lay in bed, pretending I was famous, pretending everyone liked me and looked up to me the way I looked up to Floyd Patterson. And God blessed me. My dream came true. But I got different dreams now. Now I dream about doing something to stop all the hating in the world. I dream about feeding people who are hungry. I dream about children learning how to read and write. And sometimes, when I’m really dreaming, I dream about being a rock star like Elvis or Little Richard.

  JOHN THOMPSON [FORMER GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL COACH]: In 1989 before the start of the NCAA tournament, I played a tape of Ali for the team. It was a tremendous piece, a documentary that I wanted them to see as an inspirational thing. Then, in the locker room right before the first game, I talked with them about motivation and confidence. And just before they went out on the floor, the kids put their hands together and shouted, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Rumble, young man, rumble. Ahhh!” Then the game started, and we came within a basket of losing to Princeton.

  KWAME TOURE: Muhammad Ali has a responsibility, and he knows what that responsibility is. His image must be used for positive reasons. His image must be used to advance humanity; his image must be used in the struggle against injustice; and his image must be used to harness souls toward a belief in God.

  JEFFREY SAMMONS [PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES]: One of the things that troubles me about Ali is his association with conservative Republicans. And finally, I came to the conclusion that Ali likes power; real power. In fact, I don’t have any question about it. He likes the spotlight, the attention, the stage; that’s part of it. But there has
always been something more. I think Ali has always wanted power. When he was boxing, he had a legitimate power base outside of the political system because of his affinity for people and skill at media manipulation. Because of the political and racial climate, he was an important figure. But that political and racial climate has passed him by, and boxers rarely have much influence after they leave the game. Yet, in his mind, Ali still seeks power. And I believe he feels the only way he can have that power now is by associating with powerful people. But it’s no longer on his own terms. It has to be on theirs.

  JULIAN BOND: Watching Ali with Ronald Reagan and Orrin Hatch was worse than watching him against Larry Holmes.

  JERRY IZENBERG: During the [1991] Persian Gulf War, there was virtually no resistance from the Iraqi military. And as speculation about Saddam Hussein’s strategy continued to mount, you began to hear that maybe he was conducting some form of “rope-a-dope” defense. Now the use of that phrase tended to obscure the fact that tens of thousands of people were dying. But it also said something about the way in which Muhammad Ali has transcended sports and entered the world’s consciousness.

  DAVID HALBERSTAM: One of the great things about this country is that you can invent yourself and reinvent yourself many times. And Ali was a true American original in every aspect of his life. I mean, really; what other country in the world could have created Muhammad Ali? If you look at his childhood, his rise, his complexity and contradictions; he’s unmistakeably American. He might be a Muslim, but he’s a hell of an American too. And it speaks well for this country, not only that we created him, but also that we came to understand what he was about in time to admire him; that he’s not a prophet without honor in his own land.

  WILLIAM NACK [SPORTSWRITER]: Even though he’s still with us, I miss him. I miss his voice. I miss his sense of the absurd. Ali had a sense of the unpredictability and craziness and hypocrisy of life. I wish he was still running around, making speeches and doing all the other things he used to do. You know, in addition to being the quintessential civil disobedient and a walking lesson in decency and independence, Ali was one of the few people I know of who could make almost anyone laugh out loud.

  ROBERT LIPSYTE: Athletes die young. And ultimately, all athletes make a Faustian bargain that they have to pay off on in the end. So for the people who hated Ali, everything is fine now. He’s a ruin; he’s a wreck. And in retrospect, weren’t they confident all the time that it would end this way as they moved on with their own civil-service kind of lives toward picket fences, retirement, and whatever else they think of as security.

  TIM WITHERSPOON: One thing bothers me about me and Ali. [In 1986] I was getting ready to fight Tony Tubbs in Atlanta. And to sell tickets for the fight, Don King brought Ali in to spar with me. That’s when people were starting to talk a lot about how Ali took too many punches and he’s not coordinated and he’s not talking right. Ali wanted to slow the talk down, so he sparred with me for a week. Every day, he had on a sweatsuit, headgear, mouthpiece. And in the ring, he’s telling me to hit him in the head. “You can punch me; hit me hard. Come on, sucker; give me your best shot. Go to the head.” In my mind, I didn’t want to do it. But I was training for a world championship fight, so I went to his body pretty hard. I only went to his head a little bit. But I went to his body hard.

  RALPH BOSTON: I’m not sure I’m good enough with words to express what I feel when I see Ali today. Maybe what I should say is, I remember all the chance meetings he and I had, passing each other in airports, heading in different directions. I’d see him through the crowd and wave, and he’d wave back, and maybe we’d talk for ten seconds. At the beginning, he was always so incredibly vocal and alive. But then I began to see that he was getting a step slower and talking a little softer. And seeing him now—he’s still alive; he’s still sharp mentally—but it bothers me.

  DICK SCHAAP: As the years have gone by, I think it’s become harder and harder to be Muhammad Ali. It’s probably the toughest role that anybody has had to play in the twentieth century. And to play that role twenty-four hours a day, day after day, year after year; I think that’s taken as much of a toll on him as the punches.

  LOU DIBELLA: I hear people talking about how they feel sorry for Ali, and isn’t what happened to him terrible. But to be honest with you, I don’t have that reaction. Sure; it makes me sad that his health isn’t what it used to be. But he’s still the same person. He still enjoys life. The sense of decency and principles that drove him in the 1960’s still drive him. What does bother me though, is the way some people react to Ali; like he’s infirm or mentally deficient or in need of care. Watching people react to Ali like that depresses me. Seeing Ali himself is still very much uplifting to me.”

  LONNIE ALI: There are times when Muhammad allows his physical condition to take things away from him unnecessarily. He doesn’t speak as often as he should; partly because he doesn’t like the way he sounds, and partly because he can accomplish most of what he wants to accomplish by communicating non-verbally. Still, I have to say that Muhammad isn’t as self-confident as he used to be, and still should be. Sometimes, I think back to how in love he was with the camera, and how in love the camera was with him. And it makes me sad to see the way Muhammad sometimes shies away from cameras today.

  BETTY SHABAZZ: Muhammad Ali has been a giver and not a taker. He lived life as he saw it. I look at his physical condition and I cannot bear it. I know he could have done differently; but he didn’t, so we accept what he is. I hope that people will speak kindly of him, always.

  RALPH WILEY [SPORTSWRITER]: People look at Ali’s condition today and say, “That’s sad.” But they forget that, over the years, Ali punched a lot of people. He did damage to other peoples’ brains too.

  JOE FRAZIER: God has shut him down. He can’t talk no more because he was saying the wrong things.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: I’d rather be punished here in this life than in the hereafter.

  JULIAN BOND: Ali doesn’t say as much now as he did before, but he doesn’t have to. He said it all, and said it when almost no one else would.

  TIM WITHERSPOON: When I see Ali today, the way he is now, I wish it wouldn’t be.

  ROY JONES [AFTER A 1997 MOCK SPARRING SESSION WITH ALI IN WHICH NO BLOWS WERE STRUCK BUT A LOT OF STRATEGIZING WENT ON]: “When I’m fighting, the first thing I do is, I want to see my opponent’s jab to find out if there are any flaws in it. The first time my opponent makes a mistake, I pick up on it. The moment Ali and I started sparring, I could see he was searching for the hole, looking for a flaw in my jab. Right away, he picked up on something I do that I can get away with because of my speed. He thought was a flaw and he found it. I’ve never seen anyone who could go out and search for the flaws that quickly. I said to myself, this guy fights like I do. I run fights against guys like Sugar Ray Robinson and Marvin Hagler through my head from time to time. I have a strategy for beating all of them. So after sparring with Ali, I asked myself, “If I was fighting the young Muhammad Ali and we were both the same size, what would I do?” I don’t know the answer. If I was fighting the young Ali, I’d try to get inside his head, jab with him, go to the body. There’d be no sense in trying to knock him out. But then again, it would be very hard to outpoint him. In a lot of ways, it would be a tactical fight. But to be honest, against Ali when he was young, I don’t see much that anyone could do with him. And I’ll tell you something else. Sparring with Ali has made me feel better about where he’s at today. Physically, he’s still strong and a lot quicker than I thought he’d be. The man could get in a boxing ring tomorrow and beat the average person walking down the street easily.

  REGGIE JACKSON: Muhammad likes me. I can feel him like me. I don’t think he knows or understands or cares what I’ve accomplished in baseball. I’ve told him that I was called Mr. October, but that doesn’t mean anything to him. He has no idea that I hit five hundred home runs or what that means. Still, I have to say, it’s a nice feeling, to be liked by Muhammad Ali.

>   RON BORGES: I was in Miami for the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. It was a Friday night, and I was on a bus full of sportswriters who were about to leave for one of those big Super Bowl parties. Anyway, I looked up and there was Ali getting on the bus. The first thing Ali did when he got on was reach out and shake hands with the bus driver. And of course, not a single one of us on the bus except for Ali had in any way acknowledged the driver. Then we got to the party. We walked in and the first thing Ali did was shake hands with two waiters who were at the door. Don Shula saw Ali and came running over, but Ali stood there talking with the waiters and Shula had to wait his turn. That’s the way Ali was the entire night. All the little people—the waiters, the busboys, the people that most of us never bother to think about—Ali stopped for every one of them.

  FERDIE PACHECO: Ali has an awareness that he’s somebody gigantic in this world. But the truth is, he’s remarkably humble and it’s not an artificial humility. As far as using ego in the sense of a Hollywood actor or some superstar athlete who’s puffed up by his fame and self-importance, there’s none of that. “I’m the great Ali; give me a hotel room.” Never. “I’m Ali; get me on this airplane even if you have to throw someone else off.” Not a chance. He’s just not like that.

  CRAIG HAMILTON [BOXING COLLECTIBLES EXPERT]: I remember going to a sports memorabilia show at Hofstra University. Ali was there and I had some photographs I wanted him to sign. He was sitting at a table. I handed him the photos. He looked at each one very carefully. And one came up; it was that famous photo you’ve seen of Cassius Clay sitting on a mountain of money. Anyway, Ali stared at the photo for a long time and then he asked how much money I wanted for it. I said what I hope anyone would say under those circumstances: “Champ, it’s yours.” And I’ll never forget; Ali stood up, put his arms around me, and hugged me like I’d just given him, not the photo, but the whole mountain of money. That’s the way Ali is. He appreciates every little thing that anyone does for him and doesn’t think twice about giving away the world.