“I am happy my father no longer struggles”.
Advertisement
“Boxing legend Muhammed Ali is dead at 74”.
Obama says even as Ali’s physical powers were in decline, the boxing great “became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world”.
Gunnell said Ali’s funeral will take place in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky – where he was born Cassius Clay in 1942 – but no further details will be announced until later today.
He fought in three different decades, finished with a record of 56-5 with 37 knockouts and was the first man to win heavyweight titles three times.
“His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing”.
Ali had battled Parkinson’s Disease for 32 years and had been in an “extraordinarily grave” condition on life support in a U.S. hospital earlier this week.
Twenty years on, Mayweather was clear on his view of Ali’s legacy – forged inside and outside the ring. “I feel your love and appreciate it!!”
Billed as the Philippines’ first shopping mall, the Ali Mall was built by Jorge Araneta without shelling out a single centavo to pay using Ali’s name. I have more than 30 books in my collection on him. I was a kid, I couldn’t comprehend any of that, I rode with Frazier because he was cool and confident in his own way, and that Philadelphia toughness was evident whenever he stepped into the squared ring.
He will forever be my hero and my black Superman. For me, that was it, that was all.
Foreman’s loss to Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire [now DR Congo] 42 years ago stands as one of the most iconic moments in any sport.
The rematches against Frazier were brutal. His fights were so memorable that they had names – “Rumble in the Jungle” and “Thrilla in Manila”. It was the third and final time we’d see these two gladiators get it on.
WBC world champion Tony Bellew called Ali “the greatest sporting icon of all time” and said he “transcended boxing an(d) put our sport on the map”. It gave Ali the series against his chief rival, but you knew after watching that brutal exhibition, those two would never be the same again.
Clinton said he was “honored” to have awarded Ali the Presidential Citizens Medal at the White House in January 2001, just before leaving office.
Ali was certainly polarizing.
“He hit me with a quick one-two, knocked me down to the canvas and my whole life changed”, Foreman told CNN of the epic “Rumble”.
In an aside as he closed his remarks, Sanders noted that Ali “probably fought fights at the end of his career that he shouldn’t have fought, and he took a bad pounding from Earnie Shavers and some of these other guys”.
Former heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis said Ali was “a giant among men”, adding: “Ali displayed a greatness in talent, courage and conviction that most of us will ever be able to truly comprehend”.
Advertisement
“Having the chance to meet the great man will be a memory and privilege I will always hold dear to me – an incredible human being, fighter and role model. And he was the one that stands out most of all”.
