Larger Than Life: My Muhammad Ali Tribute

The terms “role model” and “hero” are often misused and overstated by many(including myself), repeatedly throughout their lifetimes. Often, it is said in the spur of the moment in an exaggerated fashion or based on pure excitement, and usually it is stated without any basis in reality. There are very few people who are deserving of such a prestigious title in this lifetime but Muhammad Ali is a part of that group of special people who are. As I began typing this article, I heard news that Muhammad Ali may be on his death bed with not much longer to live. My heart sank and I had to sit back and reflect on what this great man has meant to me throughout my life. Although I didn’t have the chance to grow up and experience his greatness during the prime of his career, nor the trials and tribulations he faced with the US Supreme Court over his resistance to draft for the Vietnam War, it still has impacted me greatly regardless. Just hearing about what he stood for and his refusal to cave in to what the Army and Supreme Court wanted because of what he believed in inspired me as a man to do the same, to stand up for what I believed in no matter the repercussions or consequences I could potentially face(and it has bitten me in the ass, but I still have no regrets). Muhammad Ali wasn’t just the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time, he is the most inspirational athlete of all time. I personally put him on a pedestal with the likes of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and others who have reached that iconic status.

Growing up a boxing fan since I was in diapers, as a young child my older family members would tell me how Ali was the greatest, how he possessed welterweight speed with knock out power and how there wasn’t a single heavyweight fighter alive or ever in existence that could have beat him at his peak”. As a young boy growing up in the 90‘s, who was mesmerized by Mike Tyson knocking people unconscious, Evander Holyfield showing the grit and heart of a warrior, and Lennox Lewis’s amazing technical prowess, my family’s bragging and boasting about Ali went through one ear and out the other. It wasn’t until I was coming into my teenage years that I truly understood what they were talking about. >

My mother, who when growing up had always been a great admirer of Muhammad Ali, gave me a movie to watch called “The Greatest”. It was an older biopic from the late 70’s in which Muhammad Ali starred as himself, James Earl Jones portrayed Malcolm X and Ernest Borgnine played Angelo Dundee. She insisted I watch it and so I did, and as the movie chronicled Ali’s life from the Olympics to his fight with George Foreman in Zaire (better known as the Rumble in the Jungle), I could finally understand why the older generation held Ali in such high regard. I took it upon myself to research and study Ali’s life frequently, and whenever having the chance, watching his fights on ESPN Classics when they aired. Upon studying how Ali held firm to his stance of not going to Vietnam because of his personal beliefs, he became someone I was to admire and strive to be like. Watching his old fights and witnessing his amazing hand speed, impeccable reflexes and stellar counter punching I began to warm up to the idea of Ali beating all of my favorite heavyweight fighters I grew up watching in the 90’s. At that moment I realized why he was and is considered the greatest heavyweight of all time.

When my late Grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, we would often sit and talk about Ali’s struggles with it. Seeing Ali live his life with Parkinson’s and doing his best to not miss a beat gave her strength and empowered her to try and do the same. And she did, until eventually passing away at the age of 84. Ali’s legacy gave people strength in so many different ways you can think of. His battles with the justice system, his battles to stand up for what he believed in, his battles in the ring and his battles with his own personal health. Because of his character, anyone could find a way to relate to Ali and find inspiration from such a great role model.

Muhammad Ali, from the bottom of my heart I want to personally thank you. Thank you for giving me a role model to look up to in a time I needed the most with your life story. Thank you for being yourself and not changing a single thing about you despite the government and others who attempted to take away everything you had and have accomplished. Thank you for providing boxing fans from everywhere with remarkable moments that will forever live on in the history. Thank you for leaving behind a legacy that will give people strength and inspiration to be anything they strive for. As a boxing fan, as a man, as a human being, thank you for everything Muhammad Ali. This isn’t goodbye as you are not gone in my eyes, you will live on through us all.

Rest in Power… The Greatest of All Time.

One Comment