THE GREATEST MUHAMMAD ALI

Los Angeles: Muhammad Ali...who died on 3-6-2016, Friday in Arizona at age 74..was one of the iconic sporting heroes of the 20^th century, the three –time heavyweight champion of the world.

Ali who came of age amid the turmoil of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, dazzled the boxing world as a youngster with his speed, never before seen in his weight class.

He also ratted the established order with an equally quick wit and colourful personality that lifted him into the realm of super-stardom and ushered in age of globally televised multi-million-dollar fights.

The legendary fighter spent his last years ravaged by Parkinson’s disease but never but never returned from public view.

Instead he added a crusade against the illness to the list of battles his extraordinary life.

The rise of Ali...born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17, 1942...to the status of sports icon was not a smooth one.

His conversion to Islam in 1964, announced when he was fresh from victory over Sonny Liston for his first heavy weight world title, deeply disturbed white America.

His decision to change his name from what he called his “slave name” of Cassius Clay was derided.

But that was nothing compared to the outrage that greeted his refusal to join the armed forces in 1967 on the grounds that he was a Muslim minister.

Only 25 years old, he was convicted of draft pastime, stripped of his title and banished from boxing. He was allowed to resume his career in 1970, but feeling was slow to heal. An unidentified man interviewed on camera in 1971 spoke for many when he called Ali’s impending title fight with Joe Frazier “a dishonour”.

Ali suffered his first professional beat in that fight, on March 8, 1971 at Madison Square Garden.

On the same day, the US military was ordering investigations into charges that American soldiers had murdered Vietnamese civilians at My Lai. A few months later, on June 28 of that year; the Superim Court voted 8-0 to overturn Ali’s draft pastime conviction.

“MUHAMMAD ALI’SMAIN PURPOSE IN LIFE WAS TO BE THE WORLD’S BEST-KNOWN SPORTING ICON......”