Ali at 70... fight goes on for the greatest sports hero of them all

These days the once sparkling eyes of Muhammad Ali are invariably hidden behind sunglasses. The body, as he celebrates his 70th birthday today, is frail, the gait uncertain, a walking frame or the arm of an aide often required.

Yet more than 30 years since Ali hung up his gloves after losing his last fight against Trevor Berbick at the age of 39 years and 328 days, following a career forged amid a golden generation of boxing heavyweights, he remains the greatest sportsman who ever lived.

Mention his name and the chances are it will conjure up a kaleidoscope of memories. Great fights such as The Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman and the Thrilla in Manila against Joe Frazier, whose funeral Ali attended in November. Moments of great courage, too, such as the lighting of the Olympic flame at the 1996 Games in Atlanta when Ali, ravaged by the effects of the Parkinson’s disease he has endured for 28 years, gave the world’s greatest sporting festival an iconic image.

His career is a reminder of how far sport can take those determined to ride their natural gifts and in a boxing world which currently lacks credibility, with its plethora of title organisations and its myriad of weight divisions, it is difficult to convey the kudos the world heavyweight title bestowed back in his day.

Suffice to say that he was, almost certainly, the most famous individual on the planet.

If his latter years had been kinder, no doubt he would stand up at his birthday party today in his house in Paradise Valley, Arizona, with Lonnie, his childhood sweetheart and now fourth wife, and for old time’s sake launch into one of those eloquent examples of the Louisville Lip. He’d enthral his friends with tales of Foreman and Frazier and Ernie Terell and Jerry Quarry. He might explain how he managed to fight on to win by a split decision after breaking his jaw against Ken Norton.

Almost certainly he would wax lyrical about the night he fought what has been deemed the perfect fight against Cleveland Williams, stopping his opponent in the third round. He might even mention the time he felt ’Enery’s ’Ammer, the left hook of British heavyweight Henry Cooper, in front of 45,000 British fight fans on a night mired in controversy when the laces of his gloves inexplicably came undone gaining him vital seconds to recover from a crashing knockdown.

He’d reminisce about the days when reporters recorded every syllable of his pre-fight patter. “If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologise,” he famously warned one opponent.

Instead, these days Ali has to let the black-and-white television pictures do the talking. Some say Joe Louis was the best heavyweight boxer the world has ever seen and perhaps technically he does just eclipse the boy who was born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, on January 17, 1942.

But in terms of greatness there is no contest. Ali transcended sport. He proved greatness is not solely to do with what happens inside the ring or on the athletics track or on the football field.When he told us how he “roped a dope” in Foreman, we chuckled at his humour. We marvelled at his eloquence when discussing the world’s problems with politicans and presidents. We respected his objection to the Vietnam War which cost him three years of his career. We were at first quizzical but then accepting of his conversion to Islam and his consequent change of name.

But mostly we were bedazzled by the lightning hands and feet of the fastest heavyweight in history as he saw off the likes of Sonny Liston, Foreman and Frazier.

In all, he held the heavyweight title three times, winning 22 world title fights and losing three, including his ill-advised brutal encounter with former sparring partner Larry Holmes when he was already in the midst of physical decline and sporting a bloated body and wandering mind.

Some would say that is nothing unique and that Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis have also held the world title three times. That, however, would be to miss the unique energy and humility of Ali, a man whose boastful “I’m the king of the world” catchphrases were always tinged with an endearing dash of self-mockery.

His was a career, which began in the most ordinary of circumstances, persuaded into his local boxing club by a policeman named Joe Martin, who found the eight-year-old distraught and bent on revenge on the boy who had stolen his bicycle.

“I wanted to learn how I could box so I could whip the kid who stole my bicycle,” Ali said. Boxing owes and extraordinary amount of gratitude to that bicycle thief.

By 1960, the young Clay was Olympic light heavyweight champion and turned professional having lost just five of 105 amateur fights. Four years later, he won his first world title, overwhelming favourite Sonny Liston in round seven in Miami Beach.

It was the start of a 16-year odyssey that would see him take his remarkable roadshow to all corners of an enraptured and occasional outraged globe. It was after his second win over Liston that he announced he had joined the mysterious Black Muslims and his change of name.

However, Ali’s first tenure as world champion ended one year later when he refused to enter the draft for Vietnam and was stripped of his title, handed a suspended five-year prison sentence and banned from travelling abroad. His three-year boxing exile robbed the world of Ali at his peak.

When he returned, Ali lost a brutal epic on points to Joe Frazier. He may have been defeated, but he was back in the spotlight and when he humbled hard-hitting ogre George Foreman in the now infamous Rumble in the Jungle, his return to greatness was cemented.

Ali gained his revenge over Frazier in their second meeting to set up a third and final clash, the brutal Thrilla in Manila in 1975.It is that third fight with Frazier which many attribute – without proof – to Ali’s current condition. What is certain is that, from that night on, Ali never was the same in the ring again.

He lost his title to brash young upstart Leon Spinks in 1978 and summoned some remarkable reserve of energy to win it back later that year. Comfortable retirement loomed, but Ali came back to challenge Larry Holmes in 1980.

It was a terrible night, a fact Holmes knew only too well. He was close to tears as he handed his hero a merciless 10-round beating, marking the first time Ali had been stopped. The Berbick loss came later, his extraordinary career ended by the clang of a cow-bell.

Ali was more than just a great boxer. He transcended his sport like no other fighter, before or since. Only footballer Pele and golf’s Tiger Woods, prior to his self-destruction, come near to emulating Ali’s universal sporting appeal, men who when they play, hold the world in awe.

Some might say Carl Lewis, Jack Nicklaus, Don Bradman, Bjorn Borg and maybe even Babe Ruth, the greatest player in baseball history, deserve their place in that debate. But, when all is duly considered, one man is way out in front. The man who “floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee”.

“Will they ever have another fighter who writes poems, predicts rounds, beats everybody, makes people cry, and is as tall and extra pretty as me?,” Ali asked the biographer Thomas Hauser. The answer was, ‘No’.

It is no longer possible to know what truly goes on behind those sunglasses. But the memories remain. And for that all sports lovers should raise a 70th birthday toast. Muhammad Ali, still the greatest.

From tales of triumph to despair of defeat, Muhammad Ali’s most magnificent moments in the boxing ring

1 Ali third-round KO v Cleveland Williams, Houston 1966: Ali was at his devastating best against one of the hardest hitters in the sport’s history, flooring his opponent three times towards the end of round two. Only the bell prolonged the fight into the first minute of the third, when Williams hit the canvas again.

2 Ali 14th-round technical KO v Joe Frazier, Manila 1975: Ali triumphed in the pair’s rubber match, the sheer brutality of which eclipsed even their two previous meetings. Ali called it “the closest thing to death” and when Frazier’s trainer Eddie Futch pulled his man out at the end of the 14th round. Ali, was on the verge of quitting too.

3 Ali eighth-round KO v George Foreman, Kinshasa 1974: In the Rumble in the Jungle to the disbelief of all observers Ali opted to play “rope-a-dope” with the fearsome Foreman, lolling back on the ropes and inviting punishment. Foreman punched himself out and Ali pounced, dropping the champion and winning he title back.

4 Ali seventh-round KO v Sonny Liston, Miami 1964: All the experts tipped a Liston walkover, but the baddest man on the planet was made to look flat-footed, fat and old. Liston retired on his stool at the end of the seventh and Clay – who announced his conversion to Islam after the fight – was world heavyweight champion.

5 Ali on points v Ernie Terrell, New York 1967: Terrell refused to refer to him by his new name in the build-up to their bout and Ali made the challenger pay in a deliberately drawn-out 15-round beating. “What’s my name?” Ali repeatedly sneered during a humiliation which was as remarkable as it was unedifying.

6 Ali on points v Earnie Shavers, New York 1977: Coming to the end of his career, Ali was badly hurt in the second but his experience and sheer courage enabled him to regroup. By the end of the 14th Ali was exhausted – but from somewhere he summoned three more excellent minutes and even had Shavers shaking at the end.

7 Ali loses on points v Joe Frazier, New York 1971: Ali was dropped and badly hurt in the 11th round but somehow clawed his way back to the brink of victory until Frazier decked him again in the final round to underline his superiority. Nevertheless Ali’s star did anything but burn out in defeat.

8 Ali on points v George Chuvalo, Toronto 1966: Chuvalo was a rough, tough brawler, virtually impossible to knock out, but the Ali of 1966 was an unforgiving one, an Ali on the top of his game. The champion let Chuvalo whack away to negligible effect, then smoothly did enough to take the rounds – all but one of them, to be precise.

9 Ali on points (12 rounds) v Joe Frazier, New York 1974: Bad blood simmered between the pair before their second meeting, culminating in a brawl in a television studio. In the ring Frazier pushed forward as usual looking, but he was rocked in round two and Ali went on to gain revenge on points.

10 Ali on points v Leon Spinks, New Orleans 1978: Spinks had shocked Ali seven months earlier to claim the title but for the rematch Ali was in better shape and the new champion was ravaged by personal problems. Ali moved better and negated Spinks’ strengths to gain a clear points win and become world heavyweight champion for the third time at the age of 36.