{"id":94602,"date":"2016-06-08T23:36:33","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T18:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayapurvoice.com\/svagatam\/?p=94602"},"modified":"2016-06-09T09:13:25","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T03:43:25","slug":"muhammad-alis-mightiest-punch-humble-tribute-humble-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayapurvoice.com\/svagatam\/muhammad-alis-mightiest-punch-humble-tribute-humble-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Muhammad Ali’s Mightiest Punch – A humble tribute to a “Humble Mountain”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI am the greatest! I am the greatest! I\u2019m the greatest,\u201d shouted Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., who later became known as the great Muhammad Ali, after he whipped Sonny Liston as royally\u00a0as a man in the boxing ring can be whipped.\u00a0Time.com<\/a>\u00a0called him “the\u00a0lyrical heavyweight showman who thrilled the globe with his sublime boxing style, unpredictable wit, and gentle generosity \u2013 especially later in life”. Muhammad Ali died at 74, on Friday, 3rd June 2016.\u00a0“Ali had been at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center in Scottsdale since Thursday with what spokesman Bob Gunnell had described as a respiratory issue” reported CNN.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Born in Louisville, USA, at 6:35 p.m. on Jan. 17, 1942, Muhammad Ali did not born with a silver spoon in mouth. His father Cassius Sr. was a sign painter. According to an article published on Time.com, “when he was 8 or 9, an old white man harassed him while he played with friends near the railroad tracks, dragging him by his collar and shouting \u201cshut your mouth, little n\u2014-r\u201d as Clay resisted (another man, the story goes, interceded and saved Clay from further harm). \u201cWhy can\u2019t I be rich?\u201d Clay once asked his father. Cassius Sr. touched his son\u2019s hand. \u201cLook here,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why you can\u2019t be rich.\u201d”<\/p>\n

Back then the world did not know that the same young boy will grow into a heavyweight boxing champion, give millions in charity works, command\u00a0an audience with presidents and the pope, the Dalai Lama, and meet on a mission with leaders like Fidel Castro, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein – a mission that he believed to be his duty towards the world. The world did noy know then that the same young boy will be watched by three billion people lighting and carrying the Olympic torch in 1996, in Atlanta .<\/p>\n

“In 1990, Ali met with Saddam Hussein and helped secure the release of 14 American hostages from Iraq. He has traveled to Afghanistan as a United States messenger of Peace. Jimmy Carter called him \u201cMr. International Friendship.\u201d After September 11, Ali publicly defended Islam, reminding Americans that terrorists don\u2019t represent the millions who practice the religion. \u201cI think the people should know the real truth about Islam,\u201d Ali, his body shaking from Parkinson\u2019s, said during America: A Tribute to Heroes, the benefit concert broadcast on all four networks on September 21, 2001. He showed that his words still had power. \u201cYou know me, I\u2019m a boxer, I\u2019m called the greatest of all time. People recognize me for being a boxer, a man of truth. And I wouldn\u2019t be here representing Islam if it was really like the terrorists made it look . . . Islam is peace, against killing, murder, and the terrorists, and the people doing it in the name of Islam, are wrong.\u201d” (Why Muhammad Ali matters to Everyone – Time.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Before talking about Ali’s final punch, let’s read from the same article about a few hard\u00a0punches Ali landed on his challengers and how, at times, he\u00a0survived their punches:<\/p>\n

“In the 11th round, however, Frazier pummeled Ali with two left hooks. Ali staggered and barely survived the round. In the 15th and final stanza, Frazier landed one more roundhouse left, sending Ali to the canvas. He got back up, but by that point it was finished: Frazier won the fight on a unanimous decision. \u201cIf I was young, I\u2019d have danced for 15 rounds,\u201d Ali said in Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times. \u201cJoe wouldn\u2019t ever have caught me. But the first time we fought I was three-and-a-half years out of shape. He punched hard; he pressured me good. And laying on the ropes to save energy, I lost some rounds I could have won. But it would be wrong to say I gave the fight to Joe. I didn\u2019t give it away. Joe earned it.\u201d”<\/p>\n

“Ali won his next ten fights, before Ken Norton broke his jaw and beat him in a split decision in March of 1973. Ali won his rematch against Frazier in January 1974, but that wasn\u2019t a title bout, since George Foreman had beaten Frazier in Jamaica, taking the heavyweight title from him. With his win over Smokin\u2019 Joe, however, Ali would now get his second shot to reclaim the title, against Foreman, in the \u201cRumble in the Jungle.\u201d”<\/p>\n

\"mummadali1\"<\/a>
Muhammad Ali is pictured above standing over fallen challenger Sonny Liston on May 25, 1965 in Lewiston, Maine. This image of the Heavyweight Champion became iconic and is recognized around the world \u00a0Image credit:\u00a0dailymail.co.uk<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The fight was staged in a soccer stadium, under an African moon. In the first round, both men came out throwing haymakers. Joe Frazier, doing ringside commentary for the television broadcast, called the first round even. When he went back his corner, however, Ali felt tired. The plan was to dance all night, and make Foreman chase him. Ali ditched the script, however, and hung against the ropes in the second round, absorbing punishment from Foreman. Ali figured he\u2019d save more energy getting hit than running around the ring, and that Foreman would tire out while attacking him. His corner was apoplectic. George Plimpton turned to Norman Mailer and wondered if a fix was in. \u201cWhen he went to the ropes,\u201d Dundee said, \u201cI felt sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"mummadali2\"<\/a>
‘I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail,’ Ali said this before fighting George Foreman (above) in 1974 during the historic Rumble in the Jungle match in Zaire. Image Credit dailymail.co.ik<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was the most brilliant tactical move of Ali\u2019s career. By seventh round, Foreman was lumbering, in slow motion. \u201cI got a feeling that George is not gonna make it,\u201d said Frazier on television before the eighth round. He didn\u2019t. Right before the bell, Ali caught him with a left-right combination, and Foreman stumbled to the floor. He got up, but couldn\u2019t go on: the ref stopped the fight. Muhammad Ali, over a decade after he first grabbed the heavyweight crown from Sonny Liston, seven years after his objection to Vietnam service cost him the championship, had regained the title. \u201cMuhammad Ali has done it!\u201d David Frost yelled on the broadcast, as Ali\u2019s supporters spilled into the ring. \u201cThe great man has done it! This is the most joyous scene in the history of boxing!\u201d After the broadcast showed replay of Ali\u2019s closing blows, Frost harked back to the second Liston fight, barking: \u201cThat was not a phantom punch! That was not a phantom punch!\u201d Three hours after a victory that bolstered his status as the most celebrated athlete, if not the most famous person, on the planet, a beaming Ali was spotted on a Zaire stoop, showing magic tricks to African children.”\u00a0 (Why Muhammad Ali matters to Everyone – Time.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

But Ali’s mightiest\u00a0punch was yet to come. After all, Muhammad Ali was a human being. He was not God, and he knew it well. His strong conviction about the existence of God did not satisfy him; he wanted others to have it as well. His game had changed but nature did not. Challenging the opponents with unshakable confidence was his style right from the childhood.<\/p>\n

With the new game, his target and the audience were different. Instead of powerful\u00a0 punches, now he threw stinging words. Addressing\u00a0a question asked by a child as to what would he do after he retired from boxing, Ali’s answer stunned the audience. \u201cLife is real short,\u201d Ali gravely answered after jokingly making snoring noises hinting he would just sleep! He meticulously broke down the number of hours in life that one is conscious and came up with number 16 that he said he had in his next 30 years of life before he turns 65, an old man.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat am I gonna do in the next 16 years? What’s the best thing I can do?<\/p>\n

Get ready to meet God,\u201d<\/p>\n

Muhammad Ali, meaning one who is beloved of God, sanguinely replied.<\/p>\n

He added that material activities and success won’t take one to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He then confidently asked if there were people in the audience who believed in God. Some raised their hands. Then he asked how many were there who did not believe. In response a very few hands went up (as if they were afraid of getting his punch for doing so)!<\/p>\n