Muhammad Ali is 50 years old, and on Friday night his family and friends will celebrate with a bash.
They'll remember the beauty . . . the grace . . . the charm . . . the daring . . . the power . . . the speed. All were atttibutes that made Ali the most recognized sports figure in the world.Ali, now afflicted with Parkinson's Syndrome, is no longer the vibrant personality who transcended generations, whose beliefs extended far beyond the ring. One of those beliefs cost him dearly.
"We never saw Muhammad at his best," trainer Angelo Dundee said. "He would have been as his peak sometime during those 31/2 years."Those years (1967-1970) were lost because Ali was not permitted to fight when he refused military induction over his opposition to the Vietnam War.
"I got no quarrel with them Vietcong," he said at the time.
Ali had raised the ire of conservative America long before, changing his name from Cassius Clay and pledging his life to the Black Muslims. But it didn't hurt his performance, Dundee believes.
". . . People ask me, `Who would have won, the Muhammad Ali after the exile or the Cassius Clay before the exile?' I say the Muhammad Ali after the exile."
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Ky., he gained prominence and a nickname - the Louisville Lip - on a run that resulted in a light-heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Olympics.
In his 20th pro fight, on Feb. 25, 1964, Ali stunned the boxing world by dethroning Sonny Liston.
"Don't you go saying this was no fix," Ali shouted from the ring after Liston was unable to answer the bell for the seventh round.
Ali won his rematch with "the big, ugly bear" a year later, knocking out Liston with what became known as "the phantom punch." That victory was suspect, especially in the minds of those who believed Liston to be indesctructable.
"The Greatest," as Ali called himself, never had to justify his victories again.
He waged epic battles with the likes of champions Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Ali ducked no one, fighting nine men who at one time were designated as heavyweight champions.
A promoter-extraodinaire, Ali mixed poetry with training, frequently predicting with uncanny accuracy the outcome of his fights. He scornfully nicknamed his foes and labeled his fights.
Perhaps the most famous were "the Thrilla in Manila," the final of his three battles with Frazier, in which Ali retained his crown in 1975; and the "Rumble in the Jungle." In that fight, Ali stunned the world - as he had against Liston - by knocking out an awesome Foreman at Kinshasa, Zaire, in 1974.