There are many boxing champions in the world, but only Ali is called "great".
Ali is African-American, and his original name was Cassius Clay.
When Ali was 10 years old, his father bought him a red and white bicycle as a birthday present. He loved the car so much that he often rode to the nearby mall to buy snacks. Until one day, the bicycle was stolen on the road.
Ali was attending a party near Louisville with friends when he saw empty parking spaces and hurriedly dragged his father to the police station to report the crime. Coincidentally, the policeman ran a boxing gym in the local area. Whether the bicycle was later recovered is no longer recorded, but what the police said to him is recorded in history. He told Ali: "If you can box, you can fight crime. ”
Then Ali really began training at the police-run boxing gym for years.
From the age of 18, he gradually entered the amateur boxing arena and developed his own style - "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" - in a group of reckless men who only use brute force, he dodges and bounces, moves briskly like a butterfly, but strikes quickly and accurately like a bee. When facing a strong, clumsy opponent – which seems to be the case with other fighters – he will detour, entangle, confuse the opponent, and then quickly punch short. All those swings, bounces, and unhurried back-avoidance were gearing up for his fatal blow.
This is the realm. He is the best among heavyweights. He presents a gastronomic feast of boxing techniques.
The title of "World Boxing Champion" came in 1964. He competed in his first King of Fighters fight. On February 25, Ali, a 22-year-old strong boy, challenged Liston in Miami, when Liston dominated the boxing scene and ushered in the era of "The Devil", a 37-centimeter boxing champion known as the "killing machine". As a result, Ali technically knocked out Liston in the seventh round, winning the title of "World Champion" for the first time.
The day after the bout, the new champion officially converted to Islam, and his name officially changed from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali as we know him. The move was controversial, black, Muslim, Ali gathered the most sensitive identity labels in the United States of that era.
Ali, who became the boxing king, will not look back on the road of "rebellion".
At the 1960 Rome Olympics, Ali's only Olympic trip was that he returned home with a gold medal. But when he went to eat at a restaurant run by white people, he couldn't find anyone to serve him.
He was puzzled. "I'm the champion, I'm the gold medalist!" The icy reality made him ponder: even champions can't change the prejudices that come with people of color, and that is after that time, the angry Ali is said to have thrown the gold medal into the sea.
Of course, after decades of circulating this claim, some have questioned its authenticity. Whether the boxing king accidentally lost the gold medal or discarded the gold medal because of discrimination and anger are difficult to determine.
In any case, the injustice and discrimination encountered by a generation of boxing champions are real. Ali can't sit still, he not only has to attack on the field, but also in life, smash the deformed reality he encounters one by one.
In 1967, during the outbreak of the Vietnam War, Ali quickly received a letter of conscription. He had seen documentary photographs in newspapers about the destruction of life in the Vietnam War, and his faith and heart pushed him to the forefront of anti-war waves.
Ali was an anti-war fighter, and in the mid-60s of the 20th century, Ali had his boxing license revoked for opposing military service. Today, let's review Ali's speech at that time:
"I will never run thousands of miles away to murder the poor people there, if I want to die, I will die here, let's fight you to death and me to live!" If I want to die, you are my enemy, and it has nothing to do with the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the Japanese. I want freedom, you don't give it; I want justice, you don't give it; I want equality, and you don't give it. But you told me to fight for you elsewhere!" None of you have stood up in the United States to protect my rights and beliefs, and you have not been able to do this in your own country! ”
After this speech, the World Boxing Association revoked Ali's boxing license, and the related schedule was canceled. The notice of the physical examination of the recruitment center was issued again, but Ali still chose to refuse. So the heaviest punishment was announced: a federal court in Houston sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Later, Ali was released on bail. It was not until 1970, as the anti-war cries in the country grew, that Ali was acquitted and reinstated.
Throughout his 56 career games, Ali has only lost five. He ruled the '60s, but the ban wasted the golden period of his career.
After returning to the boxing ring, Ali gained weight, his butterfly dance steps became jerky, and he was no longer the invincible boxing king he was once in the rope. Soon, Ali was knocked out twice by then-boxing champion Fraser, and was broken in the jaw early in the match against Ken Norton, and held out until the end of the bout to lose on points.
The day before the fight with Foreman, Ali received an urgent letter from the old boxing champion Moore. The letter said: "Ali, I want to tell you: Foreman has the indestructible power of an atomic bomb! And you, my dear, you are old, you will definitely lose this game, and after the game you can only hide in the mountains and remain incognito..."
But the tenacious Ali said: "Get up one more time than fall and you're successful." ”
In 1974, during the "jungle battle" in Kinshasa, the capital of the Congo, 60,000 Congolese shouted "Ali, kill him!" Ali successfully challenged the boxing champion Foreman and also regained the boxing championship belt after a seven-year absence.
The following year, in the "Battle of Manila" with temperatures as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the 33-year-old Ali defeated Joe Fraser to win the championship again.
Although Ali defeated countless opponents in his life, his battle was not for himself, nor just to win, but to use each "victory" as a weapon to defend self-consciousness and defend equality, in order to pass on the power of life to more people.
He is a comprehensive portrayal of the painful struggles of black Americans in the mid-twentieth century. Unlike Martin Luther King, Ali is the king of boxing, heroic and powerful, and the world is crazy about it. He resonates with life more than anyone: the frustrations, temptations, conflicts and detours of the boxing career draw people more attention to their own world.
At that time, people also called him "the people's champion", and countless people also learned to face their true selves more firmly under the influence of Ali, and go all out for their passions, which is also Ali's new definition of the word "champion".
But due to years of high-intensity exercise, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome, but Ali still travels the world under the public's attention to promote humanitarian and charitable causes.
In 1996, at the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics, he trembled and took the flame, diligently aimed his hands at the ignition, and finally succeeded in lighting the flame. That was the author's deepest childhood memory of the Olympics.
At that moment, his sickly body also carried the great idea of equality of color, nationality, and religion; He was a fighter against illness and a fighter against racism and equality for all mankind.
That year, during the halftime of the high-profile men's basketball final, surrounded by the superstars of the "Dream Three Team", Samaranch, the president of the International Olympic Games at the time, rehung a special Rome Olympic gold medal on Ali's chest.
The audience applauded, and exactly 36 years later, the Olympic Games once again returned the glory to Ali on behalf of the world.
For more than 30 years, doctors have repeatedly given Ali a "final warning," and everyone thought he might not live long. He himself is optimistic, saying he is going through "the toughest boxing match of his life."
The battle lasted a long time. On June 4, 2016, Ali passed away at the age of 74 and was buried in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. He has dealt with the opponent "Parkinson" for 35 years.
Louisville lowered the flag at half-mast for him that day.
Mandela once said that Ali "inspired me, even in prison, because I remember his courage and his dedication to boxing." I was deeply touched by his love and his talking eyes."
Ali's indomitability, perseverance and tenacity have made his charm enduring. Former U.S. President Barack Obama once praised Ali's efforts in the civil rights cause, praising him, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mandela, for standing up bravely even under difficult circumstances.
When his body is no longer strong, Ali is still willing to travel for peace, telling disabled and seriously ill children that they too can be "the greatest."