Muhammad Ali: biography of a legend of boxing and anti-racism
"The greatest" (the greatest of all time), "the champion of the people" (people's champ) and the "champion of Louisville", are some of the qualifying adjectives that are recognized worldwide to refer to the most famous fighter and controversial of all times: Muhammad Ali (1942 - 2016), or Cassius Clay , which was the name with which he was born.
Some of the world-renowned magazines such as The Esquire, The Time and Magazine, have exalted the figure of Muhammad Ali as the most influential athlete and character of the late twentieth century. Still some, after his death, continue thinking that there has not been and there will be no other like him, especially because of the context in which the legend was born.
You can find below a short biography of Muhammad Ali that goes from his early years to his triumph in the world of boxing.
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Biography of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali, born as Cassius Marcellus Clay in 1942 in Louisville (Kentucky, USA), came from a middle-class black family who made a living with art , since his father was dedicated to painting portraits and religious representations for the privileged white classes, something that the little prodigy liked little because of the racial segregation that lived the country in that turbulent time of the Ku Klux Klan.
Attending high school like any other child of the time, some events frustrated Clay and marked his political-social vision in a very premature manner. Once, says his mother Odessa Clay, they denied him a glass of water for being black , fact that infuriated to Cassius and returned to house asking explanations to his progenitor.
Recall that in the United States ran times of great controversy for the contradiction of having fought in World War II for freedom, at the same time in the country itself the races were segregated between whites and blacks , and where you could see posters in the shops "here is not sold to blacks."
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Boxing, an accident in your life
Muhammad Ali never thought about boxing, let alone becoming the icon that he became globally. An anecdotal, circumstantial fact would change his life forever: the theft of his bicycle. He undertook his hunt for the thief, when a policeman in the area intercepted him and asked for explanations. Muhammad Ali, crying, told him he was going to "beat the father" to the thief.
The policeman in question, Joe E. Martin, advised him to train a few hits on the punching bag before hitting anyone, in order to vent their anger. Later, Joe would be his personal trainer, since he was his mentor and the first person to see the terrible potential that Ali had to exploit yet.
The Olympic Games in Rome in 1960
The event of the Olympic Games of Rome of the year 1960 supposed the beginning and professionalization of the amateur boxer. The first steps taken in the world of boxing had not shown any exceptionality in the qualities of Ali, a fact that kept him out of the orbit of professional scouts.
However, in the Olympic Games won the gold medal against more skilled rivals on paper , defeating all its adversaries with relative ease. When returning to his country in the United States, rather than becoming a hero in the wings, his own people continued to treat him as "black", a disdainful pseudonym with which he referred to African-American citizens.
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Muhammad Ali against the Establishment and segregation
In 1964 he became, against all odds, the heavyweight world champion against Sonny Liston, another black boxer who was invincible until the arrival of Muhammad Ali, who defeated him twice.
His recent successes, his charisma and popularity, began to worry the authorities Americans, supporters of the Statu Quo imposed by means of segregation. Thus, during the Vietnam War, Muhammad Ali was called to perform military service by arbitrarily degrading him to a lower category (on the military scale), a fact that forced him to fight in the Asian country.
Ali refused, He was sentenced by the Supreme Court to serve in prison and stripped of his title as a boxer, as well as the title of world champion.Far from being offended, Cassius Clay converted to Islam (hence his renown), took advantage of his popularity to fight for the rights of blacks, attended demonstrations, university talks and public scenarios to extend his struggle.
"I do not understand why I have to go thousands of miles away from home and kill people who have not done anything to me while it is mine that calls me black," Ali said in one of his talks.
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Boxing legend, political activist and mass idol
In the strictly sporting field, fights like "The fight of the century" (1971) against his archenemy Joe Frazier , "Rumble in the jungle" (1974) against "Big" George Foreman or Thrilla in Manilla (1975), against Joe Frazier for the third time, where both fighters claimed to have felt as close to death, are still recognized today like the most spectacular matches in the history of boxing, and Muhammad Ali participated in all of them.
Returning to the political arena, Muhammad Ali he rubbed shoulders with the most important personalities of the struggle for the rights of blacks. Among them is Martin Luther King, Malcom X and Rosa Parks, making the boxer another indispensable element for that cause.
Finally, a global icon was erected for all : rich, poor, athletes, journalists, politicians and disadvantaged youth. Lewis Hamilton, three times champion of Formula 1, dedicated a victory to him the year of his death shouting by radio the famous motto of Ali "flies like a butterfly and stings like a bee!".
