Global sports icon Muhammad Ali celebrated his 65th birthday on
Wednesday, and the former heavyweight champion's glory is
undiminished by the ailment that has dimmed his flamboyant
manner.
At an age when most working Americans retire, Ali's legend has
been epic for decades and neither his absence from the ring for
nearly a quarter-century nor the shaking of his body from
Parkinson's disease have diminished his legacy.
Health issues have limited Ali's public appearances in recent
months but he attended a college football game earlier this month
and watched his daughter Laila Ali fight in New York in
November.
A new official Ali website makes its debut on Wednesday while
fans of "The Greatest" have been sending the legendary boxer and
activist for social change some heartfelt "Happy Birthday" messages
upon the Ali Center website.
"Birthdays of course mark the passage of time but no matter the
year, one thing never changes - you are the greatest of all times,"
was the message sent by noted US sports analyst Bob Costas.
Ali, who along with wife Lonnie has moved to Arizona, will
celebrate his birthday privately, according to a center
spokesperson. The center attracted more than 100,000 visitors in
the past year, including Ali about a dozen times.
Birthday greeting e-mails will be compiled and presented to Ali
and patrons who visit on Ali's birthday can pose in groups with a
"Happy Birthday" banner that also will be given to Ali.
"A very happy birthday to you mate, the champion of all
champions," wrote Australian Sandro Catanzariti. "I still can't
believe the things you have achieved in your life. You are truly an
inspiration to us all."
Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay here on January 17, 1942,
and turned to boxing at age eight after a prized bicycle was
stolen.
Ali won the 1960 Rome Olympics light heavyweight gold medal to
complete a 100-5 amateur record. He went on to post a 56-5
professional record with 37 knockouts and become the first man to
claim the heavyweight crown three times.
As much as what Ali did, it was how Ali did it.
As civil rights issues came to the forefront in 1960s America,
along came an outspoken, bold black man to instill pride in black
culture, respect for black beauty and hope for racial equality.
Ali defeated Sonny Liston on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach
to claim the world heavyweight title and after the triumph
announced he was a Muslim and was changing his name from Cassius
Clay to Muhammad Ali.
Ali bragged that he could float like a butterfly and sting like
a bee during his prime in the ring, a catchphrase for an era
surviving mainly in black and white film where Ali's mouth was
flying nearly as fast as his feet and fists.
After rejecting induction into the US Army to fight in Vietnam
in 1967, Ali was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five
years in prison, although he remained free while appealing.
Ali was stripped of his crown and barred from boxing, keeping
him out of the ring in 1968 and 1969 at what should have been peak
years in his career. The US Supreme Court later overturned his
conviction.
Ali returned to the ring in 1970 and suffered his first loss in
1971 when Joe Frazier won a unanimous 15-round decision.
In 1974, Ali avenged the loss to Frazier and defeated George
Foreman in the famed "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali
took the heavyweight crown with an eighth-round knockout.
Ali stopped Frazier in the 14th round of the "Thrilla in Manila"
in 1975 to win their legendary trilogy, but lost the throne to Leon
Spinks in a 15-round split decision on February 15, 1978.
Ali won a 15-round unanimous decision over Spinks seven months
later to reclaim the title and retired in 1979.
An ill-fated comeback bid saw Ali stopped by Larry Holmes in the
11th round in 1980. Ali climbed into the ring for the final time on
December 11, 1981, at Nassau, Bahamas, and lost a 10-round decision
to Jamaican Trevor Berbick.
Ali's legend grew in the years that followed, peaking when he
lit the cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
"My left hand was shaking because of Parkinson's. My right hand
was shaking from fear. Somehow, between the two of them, I got the
thing lit," Ali said after the moment.
Thomas Hauser, an Ali biographer, said that moment was the point
when Ali's legacy began being rewritten from angry young man to an
icon accepted by the establishment he railed against in his
youth.
"Young people today know he stood up for principles, but they
don't know what those principles were," Hauser told the Chicago
Tribune, saying a 2001 Ali film "made the man like a Disney
character."
"(He remains) such an iconic figure, even with the younger
generation, because they have seen him at public moments like the
Olympic flame and because of stories they were told by their
parents."
Ali received a US Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush
in 2005 and was at the millennium-ending New York Stock Exchange
moment on New Year's Eve in 1999.
Awards keep coming for Ali. He will receive the Living Legend
Award from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
at a summit February 13 in Abuja, Nigeria. Prior honorees include
Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan.
(China Daily via?AFP January 18, 2007)