2011 shows World Heavyweight Boxing
Champion Muhammad Ali at a news
conference at the National Press Club
in Washington.
Boxing legend
Muhammad Ali, dies at 74. The former
heavyweight world champion was
hospitalized on Thursday at a Phoenix,
Arizona, hospital with a respiratory
issue, which US media reported was
complicated by his Parkinson’s disease.
PHOTO: AFP / YURI GRIPAS
Heavyweight boxing legend
Muhammad Ali, an icon of the 20th
Century whose fame transcended the
sport during a remarkable career that
spanned three decades, died Friday,
his family said.
The beloved 74-year-old sports hero,
who had been battling Parkinson’s
disease for decades, passed away in a
hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, where he
had been admitted earlier this week
suffering from respiratory problems.
“After a 32-year battle with
Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali
has passed away at the age of 74,”
spokesman Bob Gunnell said.
“The three-time World Heavyweight
Champion boxer died this evening.”
Funeral arrangements for Ali would be
announced on Saturday, he added.
Concern for Ali had grown throughout
Friday, and tributes immediately
poured in for “The Greatest,” who was
known globally not only for his storied
ring career but also for his
humanitarian activism.
Ali had been hospitalized multiple
times in recent years.
He spent time in hospital in 2014 after
suffering a mild case of pneumonia
and again in 2015 for a urinary tract
infection.
His Parkinson’s, thought to be linked
to the thousands of punches he took
during a brutal career studded by
bruising battles inside the ropes, had
limited his public speaking.
But he continued to make appearances
and offer opinions through his family
members and spokespeople.
In April, he attended a Celebrity Fight
Night Dinner in Phoenix that raised
funds for treatment of Parkinson’s.
In December, he issued a statement
rebuking US presidential hopeful
Donald Trump’s call for a ban on
Muslims entering the United States.
“Muhammad Ali transformed this
country and impacted the world with
his spirit,” said longtime boxing
promoter Bob Arum.
“His legacy will
be part of our history for all time.”
– ‘The greatest’ –
His 30-year career, which stretched
from 1960 to 1981 and saw him retire
with a record of 56-5, included such
historic bouts as the Rumble in the
Jungle — against George Foreman in
1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire.
Other defining moments of his career
included two knockouts of Sonny
Liston and his thrilling rivalry with
Joe Frazier — which saw the two men
slug it out in the ring and verbally
spar out of it.
“Ali, Frazier & Foreman, we were 1
guy. A part of me slipped away — the
greatest piece” Foreman wrote on
Twitter shortly after Ali’s death was
announced.
Former heavyweight champion Mike
Tyson added: “God came for his
champion. So long great one.
@ MuhammadAli #TheGreatest #RIP.”
Ali, born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr in
Louisville, Kentucky, dazzled fans with
slick moves in the ring, and with his
wit and engaging persona outside it.
His refusal to serve in the Vietnam
War saw him banned from the sport
for years, but the US Supreme Court
overturned his conviction for draft
dodging in 1971.
He took the name of Muhammad Ali
after converting to Islam in 1964, soon
after he had stunned the sport by
claiming the title with a monumental
upset of Sonny Liston.
He was vilified in some quarters for
that conversion and his outspoken
stance on Vietnam and civil rights
issues, but he held firm to his beliefs
and eventually earned accolades as an
activist.
He was chosen to light the Olympic
torch in 1996 in Atlanta and was
named a UN messenger of peace in
1998.
He received the highest US civilian
honor, the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, in 2005.
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