The real Muhammad Ali

Few knew the boxer better than author Thomas Hauser, who explores Ali’s life in great detail in this biography

WHEN Muhammad Ali died on June 3, 2016, people from all walks of life paid tribute to “the greatest.” But the former boxer did not think that his famous nickname was good enough. “I’m not the greatest, I’m the double greatest! Not only do I knock ‘em out, I pick the round. I’m the boldest, the prettiest, the most superior, most scientific, most skillfulest fighter in the ring today.”

Ali was many things: He was a boxer, a human rights activist and a showman full of charm and humor. He performed in several films and in a Broadway musical and he also recorded two albums. Few knew him better than Thomas Hauser, his official biographer who spent much time with Ali. “Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to the Greatest” explores Ali’s life in detail. It reveals his true character: What he believed, said and stood for.

Hauser has strongly criticized the deliberate efforts to clean up Ali’s image. This was the case with the film “Ali.” The movie features many factual errors and according to Hauser, “the biggest problem with the movie was that it sanitized Ali and turned him into a virtual Disney character.”

Ali, who was born Cassius Clay in 1942, became a symbol of hope for oppressed people all over the world. He experienced the injustice imposed on black people at a very early age. His late mother Odessa Grady Clay once recalled the time when her son was very thirsty while they were in a store. The young Cassius Clay was refused a glass of water because of his color. He began to cry and his mother told him she would take him to another place where he could have a drink of water. He was only 5 years old but that incident really hurt him deeply.

Seven years later, at the age of 12, the young Cassius Clay’s bicycle was stolen and that was the reason he took up boxing. His first coach was a Louisville policeman, Joe Mar tin. Clay made his way through the amateur championship. When he was 18 he won a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, and later that year he turned professional.

“In the early stage stages of his professional career, Cassius Clay was more highly regarded for his charm and personality than for his ring skills,” writes Hauser.

But then, on Feb. 25, 1964, in one of the most dramatic matches of all time, Clay knocked out Sonny Liston and became heavyweight champion at the age of 22. A month later he shocked the world a second time by announcing that he had converted to Islam and he had changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali.

During a period of three years he dominated the world of boxing until April 28, 1967. With the US at war in Vietnam, Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces. On June 20, 1967, he was convicted and was sentenced to five years in prison. During that time, Ali truly believed that he would never fight again. His conviction was overturned by the US Supreme Court but he was stripped of his boxing titles and banned from fighting for another three-and-a-half years.

He was finally allowed to box again in October 1970. His comeback was temporarily disrupted when he lost to Joe Frazier. But Ali showed everybody that he could take defeat. All he said was, “I’ll beat him next time.”

In this second half of his career, Ali proved he was a unique and courageous fighter: “I fought the best, because if you want to be a true champion, you got to show people that you can whip everybody,” he once said. Ali eventually took his revenge and beat Frazier twice in extraordinary bouts. He went on to win the world heavyweight championship an unprecedented three times. Lighting the cauldron at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta was the last building block for Ali’s legend. Millions of people from all over the world watched him.

Ali was not only a fighter, but also a showman. He always created buzz. When he talked everybody wanted to listen. He always had something to say and most of the time it was funny. “I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark,” he once said.

Ali also came at the right time in terms of television. He never was a creation of the media but he used the media in such an extraordinary way. He loved being on TV and he brought heavyweight championship boxing from the US to the rest of the world.

Moreover, being around Ali was so much fun. He could draw people toward him like a magnet. Two or three days before he was going to fight Charlie Powell (in the days when he was still known as Cassius) he decided to visit a black area of Pittsburg. It was freezing cold but he talked his way through the streets and there were 300 people following him. On another occasion, Ali was defending his title against Richard Dunn and on the day of the fight, he was bored so he decided to organize a press conference. Michael Katz of The New York Daily News recalled that all the members of the press were following Ali, who was searching for a room until the management of the hotel found a suitable venue: “And Ali proceeded to have us all in stitches. He imitated every opponent he’s ever fought, including Richard Dunn, who he hadn’t fought yet. And he was marvelous. You’d have paid more money to see Muhammad Ali on stage at that point than you’d pay today for Robin Williams,” Katz recalled.

Ali was a superstar and a hero who fought for civil rights and for anti-war movements. He was the first person to use his celebrity status to address moral issues. He also talked bluntly about racism. “Ali didn’t just change the image that African-Americans have of themselves. He opened the eyes of a lot of white people to the potential of African-Americans; who we are and what we can be,” the late African-American tennis champion Arthur Ashe once said.

According to Ali’s daughter Maryum: “As soon as he changed his name to Muhammad Ali, he began making plans to propagate Islam when he retired. No one took him seriously then. People said, ‘Well, he won’t really do anything like that’. But he has.”

Ali remained active for as long as he possibly could. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 42. His condition stemmed from repeated blows to the head over time. Unlike former US President Ronald Reagan and former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose mental declines were shielded from the public, Ali was kept in the public eye. Consequently, the whole world became aware of Ali’s illness. “To see this man who once floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee, confined to a wheelchair, unable to lift his head, was hear tbreaking,” writes Hauser.

Ali had experienced extraordinary times but his final years were increasingly challenging and difficult. Despite the severity of his symptoms, he still made numerous public appearances. On Oct. 30, 2014, he attended a college football game; he could no longer speak but everyone wanted to be near him and pay him homage. He was still Muhammad Ali. Two months later, he was hospitalized with pneumonia. He died a year and a half later on a Friday evening at 9 p.m. in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Ali’s staunch faith helped him deal with his illness. “I accept it as God’s will,” he once said. “I know that God never gives anyone a burden that’s too heavy to carry. What I’m going through now is short in time compared to eternity.”