Champion of the ring and the mind

Muhammad Ali, who started our life as Cassius Clay and became probably the world’s most celebrated boxer of all times, will celebrate his 70^th birthday next week on 17 January. His career, above all, illustrated the power of mental strength and attitude on the road to sporting success and greatness.

“On the evening of the fight, the champion of the world packed a loser’s bag,” wrote

David Remnick in his book “King of the World – Muhammad Ali and the rise of an American hero.” It described the psyche of a petrified Floyd Patterson prior to his world championship fight against Sonny Liston.

Patterson decided to pack a false moustache and a beard in case he lost, so that he would be able to slip unnoticed through a side door without having to face the media.

He lost in the first round.

When Liston arrived in Miami for the pre-fight formalities for his world championship bout against Cassius Clay, he was greeted by an agitated and aggressive Clay, who taunted him with the words: “You are a big ugly bear, and I am going to whup you.”

Clay also followed Liston and his team, pushed his car off the road, and a physical confrontation between the two boxers was narrowly averted.

On the night of the fight Ali gave his big opponent no respect, mercilessly challenging him. His corner was concerned about Ali’s mental state and his doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, studied all the shortest routes to different hospitals – extremely concerned that Ali would be badly hurt by Liston.

Liston failed to answer the bell to the seventh round, and Ali became the heavyweight boxing champion of the world on  25 February 1964. He also comfortably won the rematch in May 1965 by knocking down the big ugly bear in the first round.

Ali would establish himself as arguably the greatest boxer in history, and one of the finest sportsmen of all time. In fact, he was crowned Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated in 1999.

Transcending boxing

Bob Mee and Peter Arnold, in the book Lords of the Ring, described the three-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world as much more than the most famous boxer who ever lived, claiming he transcended boxing, and for a while was possibly the most famous, certainly the most recognisable, man in the world.

“As a boxer he was superb, lacking nothing in skill, strength, bravery and showmanship.

“His career was magnificent, yet he had to overcome the handicap of losing three and a half years of it when he was banned after his refusal to fight in Vietnam. And those three and a half years were when he would otherwise have been at his peak.

“His anti-war stand, his religion, his personal charisma and public speaking all combined to make him an idol to a whole generation in the 1970’s. He called himself and his autobiography “The Greatest”, and he was,” maintained Arnold and Mee.

Why celebrate the career of Ali?

Well, it will be his 70^th birthday on 17 January – in an Olympic year, and Ali had an intimate relationship with the gold medal.

Ali’s s story is a colourful one, full of remarkable anecdotes.

He was first introduced to boxing by a white Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin, who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over a thief taking his bicycle. He told the officer he was going to "whup" the thief. The officer told him he better learn how to box first.

As an  amateur Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses.

The king of hype and more

Ali had brought beauty and grace to the most uncompromising of all sports and to become the most famous athlete in the world. He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents, often with rhymes.

Clay built a reputation by correctly predicting the round in which he would "finish" several opponents, and by boasting before his triumphs. Clay admitted he adopted the latter practice from "Gorgeous George” Wagner, a popular professional wrestling champion in the Los Angeles area who drew thousands of fans, reports Wikipedia.

But Ali was not merely hype, and no substance. He truly could, in his own words, float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

Ali would be the champion of the world from 1964 until 1967 before his anti-Vietnam stance brought his career to a halt.

In 1967, he was fined $10 000 and sentenced to five years imprisonment for refusing induction into the army. His refusal to be conscripted into the army was based on his religious beliefs and his anti-Vietnam-war sentiments.

Ali stated: "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” and “no Viet Cong ever called me nigger."

In 1971, in his third contest back after three and a half years in jail (and in the boxing wilderness), Ali challenged Joe Frazier for the undisputed heavyweight championship. The contest, at Madison Square Garden, was billed as the “Fight of the Century”.

Ali was in control during the first three rounds of this fight of the century, but his absence from the ring caught up with him. Frazier caught him with a big left hook in the 15th round and retained the heavyweight crown.

Afterwards, Smoking Joe Frazier said about that left hook: “I fetched it from way back country, man.”

Ali also taunted Frazier and said prior to their third and final fight in 1975: “It will be a killa…and a chilla…and a thrilla…when I get the gorilla in Manila.”

It was words like these that made Frazier extremely resentful and bitter towards Ali in later years.

His “secrets”

Ali used several ploys to become the world’s finest athlete.

He was obviously a well-trained boxer and his work-ethic was superb. But with his magnificent boxing skills he could truly dance around his opponents and unsettle them with straight rights. His quick hand speed and great dirty dancing feet gave him a distinct advantage.

But there were other advantages as well. His self-belief was unwavering. He never allowed opponents to see any hint of uncertainty or a lack of confidence.

He was a master of psychological warfare long before Steve Waugh or Shane Warne were born.

His ability to get under his opponent’s skin with several choice words was legendary.

During the Rumble in the Jungle-fight in Zaire against the magnificent George Foreman, he once said to Foreman, who attacked Ali while the latter used the Rope-A-Dope-tactic: “It is the wrong time to get tired George.”

Foreman had won 37 of his previous 40 fights within three rounds, and Ali used these immortal words as a psychological ploy in the sixth round in Zaire.

Ali would be forever associated with the three fights (some will call it brawls) against Frazier, and the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 against Foreman, but long after those fights were forgotten, Ali would still be remembered.

Ali was an immortal beloved amongst his millions of boxing fans.

His greatest ability was to impose himself mentally upon his opponents.

The Australian cricket team during the midsummer of their domination used some of these ploys against England and South Africa.

But nobody employed it so expertly, so defiantly and with so much flair as The Greatest.

(Next week: Ali’s biggest fights and his legacy).