By Tim Parsons
The death of Mohammed Ali the great is sad. The legendary boxer, who won the world heavyweight championship three times, had been ill for a while, and was on a life support machine.
A legend of his time, Ali made his mark by fighting and defeating the best of his generation. He often predicted rounds he would win and was right most of the time. He had an aura of class about him in his poetic rhymes, and his ring craft, dancing and moving with style as he delivered accurate punches.
Ali fought in an era of quality opposition, taking on and beating the likes of Ken Norton, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman, even as a huge underdog going into those fights.
Unlike boxers of today, Mohammed Ali was hardly fed weak opposition even in the early days of his career. Mohammed Ali was always going to eventually die of Parkinson’s disease, it was a question of when, not if.
That a man, once so loud and charismatic, would in the end be reduced to a mumbling and whispering sound less noisy than a baby, is so sad.
OUTSPOKEN
Ali was outspoken and independent minded, saying things as he saw them. In 1964, he changed his name from Classics Clay to Mohammed Ali, insisting he was from then on addressed by his new name.
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JAIL: He served three years in jail for refusing to fight in the American army, and came back to regain the championship belt cruelly taking from him. In speaking up for black Americans, became a hero for them. His one downfall was fighting on for too long until 36, after taking so much punishment in some of his fights, like that against George Foreman in 1974. He probably contracted Parkinsons
Parkinsons disease from the many 15 round wars he had that went the distance. He eventually dies of Parkinson’s disease after living with the disease for decades. May his soul rest in perfect peace.
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