Farewell, The Greatest

Barack Obama, America’s first black President, led the tributes to a professional boxer who shook up the ring and the wider world beyond. In fact, after Abraham Lincoln, two key figures behind America’s social transformation were Martin Luther King, Jr and Muhammad Ali. Few sports stars could have transcended their narrow world like Ali, who as Cassius Clay was named after a fighter against slavery. He was a prizefighter, political activist, humanitarian, poet and showman and, as Mr Obama said, “Muhammad Ali was the Greatest. Period.”

As a crusader against white domination, Ali was without parallel. Having shocked white America by converting to the Nation of Islam, he refused to be drafted into the US Army, saying: “Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.” He sacrificed three of his prime years to take a principled stand, and in doing so set off a wave of protests against America’s war in Vietnam that resonated across the world. A balletic boxer who brought stunning speed of foot to the ring, Ali was, unfortunately, scarred by the destructive force of boxing. For almost 30 years, the world saw only a shadow of the man who could “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” It is only appropriate Ali should get a grand sendoff in his hometown Louisville, in Kentucky, later this week. Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino world boxing champ of his time, captured Ali’s role best: “Boxing benefitted from Muhammad Ali’s talents, but not nearly as much as mankind benefited from his humanity.”