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Mohammad Ali
Mohammad Ali
America
n boxing legend Muhammad Ali stood up for his convictions, even
when they were unpopular, and went through several disappointments
before his meteoric rise to the hall of fame.Image Credit: Wikimedia
Commons/Dutch National Archives
Everyone knows the name Muhammad Ali – the American boxing legend who
still inspires with his ‘float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’ class act in the ring.
But he was once a teary-eyed 12-year-old, looking for a stolen bicycle and his
purpose in life.
Click start to play today’s Word Search, where you can find a number of
boxing greats.
Here are five things about Ali, that you probably didn’t know:
When Ali was 12, and still went by the name Cassius Clay, he attended an
annual convention of the Louisville Service Club in Kentucky, US. When it was
done, Clay exited the building and looked for his new red and white Schwinn
bicycle. It was nowhere to be found. Tearful and anxious, Clay asked around,
and was directed to the basement of the auditorium by onlookers. That was
where Clay’s life changed forever. The basement turned out to be a boxing
gym, where a policeman by the name Joe Martin met the crying Clay and
consoled him. He also asked him a question that would turn the course of his
life: “Do you know how to fight?” Clay reportedly said no, but that he would
fight anyway. So, Martin told him to learn about fighting “before you go and
make any hasty challenges”. Clay followed his advice, and Martin took on the
role of becoming his first ever trainer.
In 1967, when Americans were asked to join the army, Ali refused to do so. He
issued a statement saying it went against his personal convictions and noted:
“I take my stand in rejecting the call to be inducted. I do so with the full
realisation of its implications. I have searched my conscience.”
The US government didn’t take his decision well. Ali was convicted of draft
evasion and sentenced to the maximum sentence – a fine of $10,000
(Dh36,750) and five years in prison. The New York Boxing Commission even
suspended his license. But in 1970, the New York State Supreme Court
reinstated Ali’s license, and he returned to the ring.
When a young Ali eagerly lined up to meet another American boxing legend,
Sugar Ray Robinson, in 1960, he received a rude shock. He was turned away.
This was incredibly disappointing, since Ali often called Robinson ‘the king,
the master, my idol’. Later in life, Ali reminisced in an interview that this was
the moment he vowed to never turn a fan away. It was a philosophy he
followed throughout life, even saying once: “I’m the people’s champion. You
can walk up to me and say ‘hello’ without paying.”
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