Mark Twain once observed, “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” Ali had both. He didn’t change the world as much as he wanted to, but the world is better today because he was here. He brought joy to virtually everyone he encountered and was a warm presence in our lives. If he thought that he could do something to help someone, he did it. He was in love with life and had more love in him than anyone I’ve ever known. He didn’t have to meet people to touch them.
One of the things that people fear most about death is the thought of being forgotten. Ali enjoyed a status that has been conferred upon only a handful of men and women in history. He will be remembered for as long as there are people on Earth. He became immortal in his own lifetime.
Don’t cry because he’s gone. Smile because we had him. He did what he was meant to do. His dreams inspired the world.
MUHAMMAD ALI’S
RING RECORD
PROFESSIONAL RECORD:
56 WINS, 5 LOSSES, 37 KOS, 1 KO BY
Olympic Record
Yan Becaus (Belgium)
KO 2
Genadiy Schatkov (USSR)
W 3
Tony Madigan (Australia)
W 3
September 5, 1960
Zbigniew Pietrzykowski (Poland)
W 3
(Won Olympic Light-Heavyweight Gold Medal)
Professional Fights
October 29, 1960
Tunney Hunsaker
Louisville, KY
W 6
December 27, 1960
Herb Siler
Miami Beach, FL
KO 4
January 17, 1961
Tony Esperti
Miami Beach, FL
KO 3
February 7, 1961
Jim Robinson
Miami Beach, FL
KO 1
February 21, 1961
Donnie Fleeman
Miami Beach, FL
KO 7
April 19, 1961
Lamar Clark
Louisville, KY
KO 2
June 26, 1961
Duke Sabedong
Las Vegas, NV
W 10
July 22, 1961
Alonzo Johnson
Louisville, KY
W 10
October 7, 1961
Alex Miteff
Louisville, KY
KO 6
November 28, 1961
Willi Besmanoff
Louisville, KY
KO 7
February 19, 1962
Sonny Banks
New York, NY
KO 4
March 28, 1962
Don Warner
Miami Beach, FL
KO 4
April 23, 1962
George Logan
Los Angeles, CA
KO 6
May 19, 1962
Billy Daniels
New York, NY
KO 7
July 20, 1962
Alejandro Lavorante
Los Angeles, CA
KO 5
November 15, 1962
Archie Moore
Los Angeles, CA
KO 4
January 24, 1963
Charlie Powell
Pittsburgh, PA
KO 3
March 13, 1963
Doug Jones
New York, NY
W 10
June 18, 1963
Henry Cooper
London, England
KO 5
February 25, 1964
Sonny Liston
Miami Beach, FL
KO 7
(Won World Heavyweight Championship)
May 25, 1965
Sonny Liston
Lewiston, ME
KO 1
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
November 22, 1965
Floyd Patterson
Las Vegas, NV
KO12
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
March 29, 1966
George Chuvalo
Toronto, Canada
W 15
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
May 21, 1966
Henry Cooper
London, England
KO 6
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
August 6, 1966
Brian London
London, England
KO 3
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
September 10, 1966
Karl Mildenberger
Frankfurt, Germany
KO12
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
November 14, 1966
Cleveland Williams
Houston, TX
KO 3
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
February 6, 1967
Ernie Terrell
Houston, TX
W 15
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
March 22, 1967
Zora Folley
New York, NY
KO 7
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
October 26, 1970
Jerry Quarry
Atlanta, GA
KO 3
December 7, 1970
Oscar Bonavena
New York, NY
KO15
March 8, 1971
Joe Frazier
New York, NY
L 15
(Challenged for World Heavyweight Championship)
July 26, 1971
Jimmy Ellis
Houston, TX
KO12
November 17, 1971
Buster Mathis
Houston, TX
W 12
December 26, 1971
Jurgen Blin
Zurich, Switzerland
KO 7
April 1, 1972
Mac Foster
Tokyo, Japan
W 15
May 1, 1972
George Chuvalo
Vancouver, Canada
W 12
June 27, 1972
Jerry Quarry
Las Vegas, NV
KO 7
July 19, 1972
Al Lewis
Dublin, Ireland
KO11
September 20, 1972
Floyd Patterson
New York, NY
KO 7
November 21, 1972
Bob Foster
Stateline, NV
KO 8
February 14, 1973
Joe Bugner
Las Vegas, NV
W 12
March 31, 1973
Ken Norton
San Diego, CA
L 12
September 10, 1973
Ken Norton
Los Angeles, CA
W 12
October 21, 1973
Rudi Lubbers
Jakarta, Indonesia
W 12
January 28, 1974
Joe Frazier
New York, NY
W 12
October 30, 1974
George Foreman
Kinshasa, Zaire
KO 8
(Won World Heavyweight Championship)
March 24, 1975
Chuck Wepner
Cleveland, OH
KO15
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
May 16, 1975
Ron Lyle
Las Vegas, NV
KO11
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
June 30, 1975
Joe Bugner
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
W 15
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
October 1, 1975
Joe Frazier
Quezon City, Philippines
KO14
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
February 20, 1
976
Jean Pierre Coopman
San Juan, PR
KO 5
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
April 30, 1976
Jimmy Young
Landover, MD
W1 5
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
May 24, 1976
Richard Dunn
Munich, Germany
KO 5
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
September 28, 1976
Ken Norton
New York, NY
W 15
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
May 16, 1977
Alfredo Evangelista
Landover, MD
W 15
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
September 29, 1977
Earnie Shavers
New York, NY
W 15
(Retained World Heavyweight Championship)
February 15, 1978
Leon Spinks
Las Vegas, NV
L 15
(Lost World Heavyweight Championship)
September 15, 1978
Leon Spinks
New Orleans, LA
W15
(Won World Heavyweight Championship)
October 2, 1980
Larry Holmes
Las Vegas, NV
KO by 11
(Challenged for World Heavyweight Championship)
December 11, 1981
Trevor Berbick
Nassau, Bahamas
L 10
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pulitzer Prize nominee Thomas Hauser is the author of fifty books on subjects ranging from professional boxing to Beethoven. He is widely recognized as the world’s preeminent writer on “the sweet science” and, in particular, Muhammad Ali. Hauser has won the prestigious Prix Lafayette, the Nat Fleischer Award for Career Excellence in Boxing Journalism, and the Haviva Reik Award. He lives in New York City.
BOOKS BY THOMAS HAUSER
GENERAL NON-FICTION
Missing
The Trial of Patrolman Thomas Shea
For Our Children (with Frank Macchiarola)
The Family Legal Companion
Final Warning: The Legacy of Chernobyl (with Dr. Robert Gale)
Arnold Palmer: A Personal Journey
Confronting America’s Moral Crisis (with Frank Macchiarola)
Healing: A Journal of Tolerance and Understanding
With This Ring (with Frank Macchiarola)
Thomas Hauser on Sports
Reflections
BOXING NON-FICTION
The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing
Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times
Muhammad Ali: Memories
Muhammad Ali: In Perspective
Muhammad Ali & Company
A Beautiful Sickness
A Year at the Fights
Brutal Artistry
The View from Ringside
Chaos, Corruption, Courage, and Glory
The Lost Legacy of Muhammad Ali
I Don’t Believe It, But It’s True
Knockout (with Vikki LaMotta)
The Greatest Sport of All
The Boxing Scene
An Unforgiving Sport
Boxing Is . . .
Box: The Face of Boxing
The Legend of Muhammad Ali (with Bart Barry)
Winks and Daggers
And the New . . .
Straight Writes and Jabs
Thomas Hauser on Boxing
A Hurting Sport
Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to The Greatest
FICTION
Ashworth & Palmer
Agatha’s Friends
The Beethoven Conspiracy
Hanneman’s War
The Fantasy
Dear Hannah
The Hawthorne Group
Mark Twain Remembers
Finding the Princess
Waiting for Carver Boyd
The Final Recollections of Charles Dickens
The Baker’s Tale
FOR CHILDREN
Martin Bear & Friends
MUHAMMAD ALI
Pegasus Books Ltd.
148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2016 by Thomas Hauser
First Pegasus Books cloth edition 2016
Interior design by Maria Fernandez
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN: 978-1-68177-169-4
ISBN: 978-1-68177-176-2 (e-book)
Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company
Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Author’s Note
Contents
Essays
The Importance of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali and Boxing
Muhammad Ali and Congress Remembered
The Athlete of the Century
Why Muhammad Ali Went to Iraq
The Olympic Flame
Ali As Diplomat: “No! No! No! Don’t!”
Ghosts of Manila
Rediscovering Joe Frazier through Dave Wolf’s Eyes
A Holiday Season Fantasy
Muhammad Ali: A Classic Hero
Elvis and Ali
Personal Memories
The Day I Met Muhammad Ali
Transcript of March 1967 Radio Interview
I Was At Ali-Frazier I
Reflections on Time Spent with Muhammad Ali
“I’m Coming Back to Whup Mike Tyson’s Butt”
Muhammad Ali at Notre Dame: A Night to Remember
Muhammad Ali: Thanksgiving 1996
Pensacola, Florida
A Day of Remembrance
Remembering Joe Frazier
“Did Barbra Streisand Whup Sonny Liston?”
A Life in Quotes
Legacy
The Lost Legacy of Muhammad Ali
The Long Sad Goodbye
Muhammad Ali’s Ring Record
About the Author
Also by Thomas Hauser
Copyright
Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to the Greatest Page 24
