Muhammad Ali changed the world

Peter Holland // Staff Writer

It doesn’t matter whether or not you grew up watching Muhammad Ali live on TV back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, or simply looked up one of his boxing matches and press conferences; somehow, Ali played a role in just about everyone’s life.

Think about when Michael Jackson died seven years ago, and how the earth stopped spinning for one day when the news broke. Ali’s announced death on Friday had the same effect. The former heavyweight boxing champion changed the world with his cocky attitude, winning mentality, religious beliefs as a Muslim and his unapologetic stance against enlisting in the army.

His rise to greatness started in 1964, when he defeated Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight championship title in Miami Beach using his birth name, Cassius Clay. After the upset victory, Ali wasn’t afraid to flex both his muscles and his mouth to the press.

“Eat your words!” he said at a press conference. “I am the greatest! I shook up the world. I’m the prettiest thing that ever lived.”

Those were just some of the memorable quotes he gave the world. He finished his career with a record of 56 wins (37 by knockouts) and five losses.

Right after winning his first title, the Louisville, Kentucky native announced to the public that he had converted to Islam and legally changed his name to Muhammad Ali, stating that his government name was his slave name. He contributed to and opened doors for the Nation of Islam. He was also involved in the Civil Rights Movement with his mentor, Civil Rights activist and leader, Malcolm X.

His Islamic beliefs were tested in 1966, when he publicly refused to enlist in the army to fight in the Vietnam War. According to Quran scriptures, all Muslims are against fighting in wars. He questioned the government, and why Americans were being forced to fight another country.

“We don’t take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers. Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” he said to the media. “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?”

Because of his refusal to fight the Vietnam War, he was stripped of his world heavyweight title, convicted of draft evasion with a sentence of five years in prison -which he successfully appealed- and given a $10,000 fine.

Ali feared no man he stepped toe-to-toe with, inside and outside the ring. He stood up for what he believed in, for better or worse. It didn’t matter who loved him or hated him; he demanded respect for his greatness, even if it meant knocking somebody out for it. That’s why former and current athletes admire him so much.

Death was bound to come eventually, accelerated by Parkinson’s Syndrome, which he was diagnosed with in 1984. He fought many challenges and faced all of the obstacles thrown at him, with his disease being the toughest one. Instead of hiding away his struggles, he embraced them.

“Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing,” Ali said.

His life struggles to overcome racism and adversity and battle against Parkinson’s prove to us all that impossible is nothing.

The Greatest can now rest easy, but his mentality still lives on in each and every one of us.

 

Photo by Ian Ransley via Flickr https://goo.gl/C9wKux