Ali’s greatest hits

Muhammad Ali left several records in boxing and sports, but much of his transcendence is lost on today’s fight fans. Of course, everyone remembers his standing up to fight the draft sending millions of teen-aged American men to their deaths in the Vietnam War, but beyond that, much of his contribution to sport and society is marked by his greatest fights. Starting out as an American Athletic Union (AAU), Golden Gloves and Olympic champion, the former Cassius Clay carved his name permanently into boxing history and beyond with the following fights.

Sonny Liston. At only 22 years old in 1964 and carrying a 19-0 record, Cassius Clay was still the underdog against the man he called the “big ugly old bear”, mob enforcer Sonny Liston. This fight was the biggest test of his young career. Liston had pretty much mauled everyone who was put in the ring against him. Those who understood boxing feared that the former light heavyweight’s lack of power would leave him helpless and have him running away from Liston. But that was not the case. Ali pretty much dictated the fight, embarrassing the lumbering Liston, who had trouble trying to pin down the fleet-footed youngster. Flustered, Liston refused to answer the bell for the seventh round, and Ali was heavyweight champion. More significantly, the new champion announced afterwards that he was now a  Muslim, and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. In the rematch, Liston mysteriously drops in the opening round, raising the theory of a “phantom punch” and mob manipulation of the fight.

Joe Frazier. Every great athlete is elevated by a rival, especially one often painted as a villain. Their first fight caused a riot, their third and last one caused a sensation. Ali and 1964 Olympic heavyweight champ Joe Frazier were originally good friends outside the ring. In their first bout in Madison Square Garden, Frazier, crouched and bobbing throughout, landed a left hook that sent Ali down in the last round, winning a controversial decision. Fans destroyed the ringside section in disbelief. This was always the high emotional pitch when the two clashed. In their last go-around, the two were actually a replacement to a supposed Bobby Fischer-Anatoly Karpov chess match in the Philippines. With a little push from First Lady Imelda Marcos in New York, promoter Don King staged what Ali called the “Thrilla in Manila”. Three years after the declaration of Martial Law, the fight (and Ali’s positive statements about the country), shed a positive light and greatly helped the country regain stature internationally. With the full support of a sitting president, a Filipino ring announcer (Joe Cantada) and a Filipino referee (Sonny Padilla), what was not to love? Ali won the fight he described as “like death”, and would return to the site of his triumph the following year to inaugurate the shopping mall bearing his name.

George Foreman. Considering how the devastating Foreman, the 1968 Olympic heavyweight champion, had been as a professional, this was as if Ali was going into the ring against a faster, upgraded Liston. Foreman easily demolished Frazier, knocking him down six times in the first six minutes of their heavyweight title fight. How would Ali survive, let alone win, against a 6’4” monster? The answer was by outlasting him. Outside the ring, Ali psyched Foreman out in Zaire, site of their famous “Rumble in the Jungle”, by calling him a traitor to African-Americans, a slave to the white establishment, and by even bringing an alleged witch doctor to Foreman’s training camp to put a hex on him. Inside the ring, the plan designed by Angelo Dundee, was genius. Dundee allegedly loosened the ring ropes to allow his fighter to lean out, and let Foreman heave at him. Knowing Big George rarely went deep into fight because he usually knocked his opponents out early, Ali knew Foreman would punch himself out. And by the eighth round, the seemingly invincible foe fell. 

Leon Spinks. Was he being too cocky, or scheming? Ali, then sporting 55 wins and only two defeats, gets into the ring against 1976 gold medalist Leon Spinks, and loses via a hotly debated split decision. However, just seven months later, Ali gets a rematch, and beats Spinks via unanimous decision, becoming the first man to win the world heavyweight title three times. There are, however, critics who say that Ali purposely lost the first fight, using Spinks as a stepping stone to win back his belt, and another piece of boxing immortality.

Antonio Inoki. Before there was mixed martial arts, Ali was big in Japan for fighting their legendary wrestler Antonio Inoki. On paper, the entire boxers-against-wrestlers card seemed appealing. But in reality, the main event was a bore. Inoki stayed on his back the whole time, trying to use his legs to take down Ali. Ali, for his part, couldn’t consistently reach down and hit the prone Inoki, partly for fear that he would be pounded in the Japanese hero’s ground game. Despite the ho-hum reaction, the event was a precursor to today’s MMA trend. On a side note, the undercard match wherein Andre the Giant threw the hapless Chuck Wepner out of the ring was boldly copied in the film “Rocky III”, when Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), fought an exhibition against the pro wrestler Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan), and suffered a similar fate. But in this version, Rocky is also able to throw the much larger wrestler out of the ring.

Wilt Chamberlain. Believe it or not, this fight almost happened, and was scheduled to be held at the Houston Astrodome in 1971. Ali often bragged that he was so great, he could beat anybody. Wilt Chamberlain had set the scoring record in every venue in the NBA, and was looking for another challenge. This was great late-night talk show fodder, and pretty much that’s where this event was cooked up. The Big Dipper claimed he could beat Ali, and Ali was never one to back down. When they were brought face to face for an on-air announcement, Ali tagged on Chamberlain’s goateé and said he “ain’t fightin’ no billy goat”. Eventually, the talk of the showdown died down, and Chamberlain went on to form his own exhibition basketball team and played professional volleyball, leaving the boxing to Ali.

Superman. Yes, The Greatest fought the Man of Steel, and it was a huge comic book event. In 1978, an era when oversized comic books (Superman vs Spiderman) and using real-life celebrities (Superman working with US President John F. Kennedy and comedian Jerry Lewis) were becoming trends, Superman vs Muhammad Ali showed just how popular the boxing champion was. The brainchild of DC Comics’ immortal Dennis O’Neill and drawn by Neal Adams, the story pitted the two heroes against each other to determine who was Earth’s greatest champion and thus would represent the planet against the champion of an invading alien race. Fighting the title eliminator on a planet with a red sun, Ali beat the superpower-less Superman. How often do sports legends get to go into battle with (or against) comic book icons? The comic book was re-issued in 2010.

In all this, Ali proved that his large personality, poetry and predictions could cross boundaries of sports, news and politics, and he always did it with aplomb.