Ali, the legendary subject of books, films and at the middle of historical social and humanitarian activism, was toasted at the fund-raiser forParkinson's diseaseresearch by Angelo Dundee, his longtime trainer.
"The Greatest," as Ali is still referred to as, was a lightning rod in a very time of social unrest within the us by eschewing his given name of Cassius Clay for his current name after converting to Islam and decrying his given name as a slave name.As polarizing as Ali proved to be within the U.S., labeled by some as a draft dodger during the Vietnam War era, he evoked feelings of pride and racial hope throughout the planet, drawing hundreds of thousands in cheering crowds while touring into the African continent for his fights.
Ali rose from the ranks of amateur boxing after growing up in Louisville within the Nineteen Fifties to win a gold medal within the sport at the Rome Olympics in 1960. He won his initial professional heavyweight title in 1964 by knocking out Sonny Liston in what many termed a "phantom punch" that never seemed to hit Liston.
Always brash and outspoken, Ali was the prototype for contemporary day, chest-beating self-aggrandizing athletes. Ali wrote short poetic jabs at his opponents before fights, labeled himself as "The Greatest," and coined the phrase, "floats sort of a butterfly, stings sort of a bee," in one in all his fight poems.
Ali lost his title outside of the ring in 1967 when he was stripped of it for refusing to stick to the military draft. after eventually being released from prison, he regained the championship in 1974 with a shocking defeat of then-undefeated George Foreman in Zaire.
Foreman was known for his heavy, devastating power, but Ali custom-made a method he referred to as "rope-a-dope" that found him leaning into the ropes to absorb most of the powerful blows. That eventually tired Foreman, and Ali was ready to outlast him.
Ali regained the title one more time with a win over Leon Spinks in 1978. Ali's greatest fights are considered the three he had with recently deceased Joe Frazier.
Ali helped provide rise to Easton's Larry Holmes, who worked as a sparring partner for "The Greatest" at his training camp in Deer Lake, Schuylkill County. Holmes, who was the planet champion heavyweight from 1978-85, conjointly worked as a sparring partner for Frazier before the second Ali-Frazier fight.
