By Terence Dooley

When the news that Muhammad Ali (56-5, 37 KOs) had died from a respiratory issue swept through the boxing world tributes started to drop as heavily and poignantly as the tears shed by the many thousands of people whose lives he touched and brightened up.

Recognisable across the globe, his catchphrases, thoughts and fights will live on for perpetuity as long as people sit down and talk boxing.

From Cassius Clay to Cassius X then on to Muhammad Ali, “The Greatest” AKA the “Louisville Lip” went by many names, chief amongst them “Legend”.  He lived a thousand lives as a few different people in an age where complexity thrived due to a stormy socio-political landscape.

He was a complicated man living in tumultuous times, garnering praise, attracting criticism and proving true that old adage: it doesn’t matter what they are saying, it’s the fact they are talking about you that counts.

And talk about Ali they did, and will continue to do so; unearthing quotes, soundbites and fights in memory of the man generally acknowledged as the best boxer to lace up a pair of gloves.

A behemoth of the sport’s biggest, most famous division, Ali’s death comes at a time when his former kingdom is flourishing.  The heavies are worth talking about again, he must have enjoyed that.

Therefore, although sad, there is a certain delicious Ali-ishness about the fact that today, tomorrow and in the weeks to come his name will ring out—in death he has once again conquered the division and sport he loved and graced.

Peter Fury, the trainer of current heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury, told Boxingscene that the world has not just lost a boxer.  It has lost a true icon, an archetype that was often impersonated yet never surpassed.

“As a young kid growing up, from five onward, I remember Ali,” he said.  “I remember my father speaking about him, listening to the great fights on the radio then seeing them on TV—it was legendary stuff.

“The man had everything.  He could speak.  He had charisma and had everything about him, both inside and outside the ring.  There will never be another person like him.”

“The Greatest” is one hell of a tag yet it goes unchallenged, he wore it that well.  Sure, he lost fights, and, yes, he may have come second best in some mythical match-ups, but he transcended any sphere he entered—that quality alone makes him worthy of the name.

“It is well-justified, he is the greatest in my eyes,” Fury concurred.  “He was a great man in every capacity.  He is up there not just as a sporting legend, but as a unique person as well.

“He is an inspiration to the Fury team and always has been.  Tyson looks up to him and holds him in very high regard.  It you were going to look up to one man, it would be Muhammad Ali.

“People aren’t like they used to be.  When you look back at fighters, you see that we’ve moved on to different times.  I look at the past fighters as the greats, the personalities.  Ali made boxing what it is today, he made it a household sport everywhere in the world.  We’ve lost one of the greatest persons to ever live, in my opinion.”

Often imitated yet never bettered, Ali lifted parts of his persona from the wrestler “Gorgeous” George and introduced what would be later labeled as “Trash talking” to the sport.

Witty, sometimes cruel, his verbal patter and antics moved the unmovable Sonny Liston prior to his world title challenge against “The Bear” in 1963 and infuriated Joe Frazier.  His was the mouth that launched a thousand quips, barbs and lofty pre-fight predictions.  Many have done it since, nobody did it better.

“All these guys haven’t got a patch on Ali, certainly in charisma or the way he was as a person, every time this man spoke you would listen to him and love it—people hung on everything he said,” stated Fury.

“Today’s guys are great in their own right—I’m not showing disrespect here—but Ali had a great character to him, above anyone else.”

He added: “It is a sad time at this present time, a lot depends on what you believe.  He was a God-fearing man who is with his blessed Lord now.  Everyone reaches the end of their days, but he had a great life.  I believe it should be celebrated.”

Coda:

Everyone knows Ali.  There will be perspectives, discussions and analysis in the weeks to come of both the public and private man.

My main memory stems not from a fight—although there are many to be taken from them—or one of his eminently quotable interviews.  When news of his death came through my mind drifted to a side of Ali that I read about in his book The Greatest: My Own Story.

Prior to his fight against George Foreman in 1974, Ali asked himself a few questions after receiving a letter from Archie Moore.  The former great had told Ali that he was stirring up a hornet’s nest by taking on Foreman.

It prompted an inner monologue that showed the other side of the fighter—the honest, troubled side of a boxer that asks some tough questions ahead of a fight—and led to some verbal prods that were pure Ali.

‘What are the signs?’, he wrote.  ‘Does Archie see real signs, as I know he can?  I’ve had defeats, but are defeats the end?  A defeat can be an invaluable experience, but I want to go out a winner…I told everybody, ‘George don’t hit hard.’  But I admit, I’m nervous wondering how hard he does hit.  Can I really take a blow from George?’

Ali spotted Moore during an open workout the next day, introducing him to the crowd as the greatest of all time before embellishing the statement.

‘You won the World Light Heavyweight Championship when you were forty-three,’ wrote Ali, recollecting the exchange.  ‘You had to wait so long because in those days they wouldn’t let a black man fight for the title so fast.  You knocked out the champions of four nations when you were forty-five, forty-six and forty-seven…you whipped the best until the end.’

He added: ‘Archie is looking at me, his smile still on.  ‘Archie, am I too old at thirty-three?’  I see a soft, warm look in Archie’s eyes.  ‘Am I too old?’  I ask again.  He never answers.  He and [Sandy] Sadler walk away.’

We all know what happened next.  Ali wasn’t too old, he was too smart and defeated Foreman in eight extraordinary rounds.  The dark night of the soul and those doubts that were prompted by Moore’s letter had been had been overcome by his keen boxing mind.  Proving once again that boxing is all about ring nous and skill.

In a year in which we have lost too many legends, the loss of Ali feels like the biggest of them all—he has stolen the limelight one last time.  Even in death, he is still the greatest.

RIP the most wise.  Now the most missed.

Ali (17/01/42-03/06/2016).

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