Some of the athletes that I admired at the time were Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan and Maurice Greene. I’m happy for that even though I will miss him deeply. He also immersed himself in studying Islam; the Tribune reports that at one point, Ali lived just down the street from Elijah Muhammad, a leader within the Nation of Islam.
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Mohammed Assem Faheem, a three-time youth heavyweight champion in his native Egypt, takes a different view of Ali. A banner showcasing his face – and proclaiming him “Louisville’s Ali” – towers over motorists near the city’s riverfront.
Ali then began the delicate work of bringing the man in off the ledge. When Ernie Terrell refused to acknowledge Ali’s new name, Ali pummeled Terrell while repeatedly asking, “What’s my name?”
Ali called out Jewish promoters in 1970 when he returned to the ring after 3 1/2 years away because of the draft-evasion charges. He loved children. He’d reach out and touch anybody, because he loved people. Ali versus Frazier was the regime’s bread-and-circus for the masses, deflecting at least for that moment criticism of a dictatorship that routinely engaged in human rights violations, torture and extrajudicial killings and, with its massive crony-style corruption, forced the economy to its knees. In Ghana, Ali was a special guest of Kwame Nkrumah’s.
News of Ali’s death drew hundreds of mourners to the boxing legend’s boyhood home in West Louisville and the Muhammad Ali Center in the city’s downtown.
For many people, including African-Americans, this was a first glimpse of a non-Christian religion that is practiced in much of the world.
Funeral plans have been set for legendary boxer and humanitarian Muhammad Ali. They were young and old, black and white, friends and fans. Ali was not one of those few.
Ali’s family is asking that expressions of sympathy take the form of donations to the Muhammad Ali Center. Those decisions alienated him from many in America during those turbulent times. Ali was now in the position of trying to defend America’s foreign policy in Africa, which he knew very little about.
The funeral will also be live streamed via the Ali Center’swebsite.
Inside and outside of the ring Ali was larger than life. Others Ali simply admired. In the field of politics, however, the two became allies in their endorsement of Reagan.
Ali’s emergence coincided with the American civil rights movement and his persona offered young blacks something they did not get from Martin Luther King and other leaders of the era.
Ali, who was raised a Baptist named Cassius Clay, converted to Islam in the 1960s and changed his name.
Ali, Merida says, stood in sharp contrast to all that.
Ali’s introduction to boxing was spurred by a theft. “He was a really sweet, kind, loving, giving, affectionate, wonderful person”, Rahaman said, wearing a cap that read “Ali”, the last letter formed by the silhouette of a boxer ready to pounce.
Despite his frequent jabs at the Jewish community and Israel, Ali couldn’t seem to alienate some of his most fervent Jewish admirers, among them Hollywood star Billy Crystal.
The Louisville native died late Friday evening at a Phoenix hospital of septic shock after battling respiratory problems. When Ali joined the Nation of Islam, it was considered more of a black nationalist cult than a branch of orthodox Islam.
Ali, who was asked for his thoughts on the Iranian hostage crisis by India Today, denounced the Iranians as “fanatics” but still managed to blame the Jews: “Religion ain’t bad; it’s people who are bad”.
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What made him so great? He was a fighter with political and moral convictions, who consistently put those convictions above his sporting career. You can also follow Dwayne on Facebook.
