To say that the life of Muhammad Ali has been an inspiration will be redundant. The man himself was an inspiration- flair and ingenuity personified. He wrestled with alligators and tussled with a whale. He’s handcuffed lightning and thrown thunder in jail. He’s Muhammad Ali, the icon himself. The Greatest Ever.
Shocking yet inevitable as it was, the great boxer left all of us yesterday. What he has left behind for us to learn and marvel is a legacy of grit, perseverance and a collection of fleet footed poetry, much like him in a boxing ring- floating like a butterfly but stinging like a bee.
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The occasion demands our awe, and we bring 7 Amazing Muhammad Ali facts to demand your awe and wow.
1. A Stolen Bike Inspired His Career.
Before he could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, he was a normal child looking for revenge for his stolen bicycle.
A Christmas gift from his father, Cassius Clay (his original name) decided to ride to his home-town bazaar in Louisville, Kentucky.
But when Ali was ready to go home, he found someone had knicked his prized possession. With tears streaming down his face, Ali headed to a local gym, looking for Joe Martin, a cop who just so happened to be a boxing coach.
He explained his situation to Martin and threatened to “whup” whoever the thief was. After taking a long, hard look at the skinny, sobbing young lad standing in front of him, Martin advised, “You better learn to fight before you start fighting.” After helping Ali fill out a police report, Martin handed him a gym application.
And the rest as they say… is history.
2. He Practiced his Dodging and Speed by Dodging Rocks
As bizzare as it may seem, Muhammad Ali practiced over his speed, and nimble-footedness, by dodging rocks thrown at him by his brother. The crazy Muhammad Ali successfully dodged every single rock thrown at him.
His younger brother, Rudy, the rock thrower said,
“NO MATTER HOW MANY I THREW, I COULD NEVER HIT HIM.”
“Floats like a butterfly…. ” Indeed!
3. He was an Actor, a Singer and a Poet.
You do know him as the sensational boxer. Some may also know him as the lovable poet. But not many know that in 1964, shortly before his first fight with heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, Ali released an album with Columbia Records. Humbly titled I Am the Greatest, the album was mostly made up of his famous poems. In true Ali style, he alternated between praising himself (“This is the legend of Cassius Clay / The most beautiful fighter in the world today”) and predicting Liston’s upcoming defeat (“He can’t fight. I watched him shadow boxing. His shadow won in the first round!”).
4. He was afraid of flying.
He was feared. He was fearless. Nothing scared him. Nothing except, perhaps, the idea of flying.
While Ali was getting ready for the 1960 Rome Olympics, he realized he’d have to fly there. Terrified, the 18-year-old asked if he could take a boat ride instead. When his idea was shot down, Ali decided winning a gold medal wasn’t worth risking a plane crash and decided to skip the Olympics.
Only his boxing coach, Joe Martin, was able to talk Ali into going to Rome, although before takeoff, Muhammad bought a parachute and wore it all the way to Italy.
‘He who is not courageous enough will achieve nothing in life.’
5. He convinced Saddam Hussein to release 15 innocent hostages
Ali once convinced Saddam Hossein to free 15 innocent hostages:
When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein invaded Kuwait in 1990, he kept 2,000 foreigners as hostages. Muhammad Ali flew to Baghdad to meet the Iraqi leader with a hope that his status as the world’s most famous Muslim might help him to negotiate. It took 50 minutes to get 15 captive Americans released.
6. Saving a life
Los Angeles, 1981. An unnamed 21-year-old was on the ninth-floor fire escape, claiming the Viet Cong were out to get him. Even worse, he claimed he was going to kill himself. The situation was looking pretty grim—police officers couldn’t talk him down, and the crowd was chanting for the man to jump. In stepped the retired boxer.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ali hurried to the building and offered his assistance. Desperate, the police were willing to give anything a try, but they warned Ali that the young man might have a gun. The champ just shrugged. It was a risk he was willing to take.
Ali convinced the youth to unlock the door leading to the fire escape and finally led the young man safely down the stairs and into his Rolls-Royce limo. The boxer then escorted the man to a hospital and promised to help him build a better future. “Saving a life is more important to me than winning a world championship,” Ali said afterward.
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7. He was Irish!
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Muhammad Ali’s great-grandfather was an Irishman by name of Abe Grady. He immigrated to Kentucky, United States in the mid-1800s where he married a freed slave-Odessa Lee Grandy Clay. As soon as Cassius (Muhammad Ali) defeated Sonny Liston in 1964, he publicly threw off his slave name “Clay“. Then, Cassius was allocated the name Muhammad Ali as a follower of Islam by the movement leader, Elijah Muhammad.
