By James Slater: Boxing legend, icon and global superstar Muhammad Ali turns the milestone age of 70 this month (Jan. 17th) and there are some big celebrations planned. On the big day itself, Ali will visit his hometown of Louisville, at the famous 850,00 visitors a year museum that was built there in his honour.
There will be a fund-raiser entitled “Seven Days For Seven Decades,” during which films dedicated to the life and times of Ali will be shown, Ali exhibits will be on display and there will be a dinner and after-dinner speeches.
There remain a few $1,000 tickets for the birthday dinner evening which Ali will attend – along with those members of his entourage that are still with us; Angelo Dundee among them.
Without doubt the single most important and influential athlete of the 20th Century, Ali has been battling Parkinson’s disease for over thirty years now, yet he has managed to keep going, even out-living a number of his former opponents: Joe Frazier and Sir Henry Cooper among them.
It is not known how much Ali will actually enjoy his forthcoming birthday. Unable to communicate apart from though virtual sign language with his wife Lonnie, Ali has kept his personal appearances down to a minimum in recent years. Bravely appearing before the prying cameras of the media when the need arises – such as at the funeral of former archrival “Smokin’” Joe late last year – Ali will again dominate the sports headlines in nine days time.
Ali’s Greatest Wins:
1: KO8 George Foreman, 1974.
“The Rumble in The Jungle.”
“I’ve always said he’s the greatest heavyweight ever,” Angelo Dundee said of his fighter before this momentous, unforgettable battle. “He has to lick Foreman to make the press admit this.”
Ali sure licked Foreman, and the press dutifully and correctly did as Dundee had predicted.
2: WRTD6 Charles “Sonny” Liston, 1964.
Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, makes his first challenge for the world title; winning via massive upset when Liston quits on the stool after being outboxed for all six completed rounds.
“Oh, God, yes – that was his best-ever fight,” Dundee said when looking back at this fight. “No-one gave my guy a chance.”
Ali, as he would do so again many times, had began “shocking the world!”
3: WRTD 14 Joe Frazier, 1975.
“As close as I’ve ever been to death,” Ali said when describing what he went through in winning the rubber-match with bitter rival Frazier.
Will we ever see heavyweight action as great and as spellbinding – not to mention admirable – ever again? I think not.