Boxing legend Muhammad Ali dies at 74
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali – one of the world’s greatest sporting figures – has died at the age of 74.
The former world heavyweight champion died late on Friday at a hospital in the US city of Phoenix, Arizona, having been admitted on Thursday.
He had been suffering from a respiratory illness, a condition that was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.
Ali’s funeral will take place in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, said his family.
Muhammad Ali dies – the world pays tribute
Ali on politics
“Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.”
“Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it, and I didn’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name, and I insist people using it when speaking to me and of me.”
“Nobody has to tell me that this is a serious business. I’m not fighting one man. I’m fighting a lot of men, showing a lot of ’em, here is one man they couldn’t defeat, couldn’t conquer. My mission is to bring freedom to 30m black people.” Before Ali’s fight against Jerry Quarry in 1970.
“I am America. I am the part you won’t recognise, but get used to me. Black, confident, cocky. My name, not yours. My religion, not yours. My goals, my own. Get used to me.”
“I’m gonna fight for the prestige, not for me, but to uplift my little brothers who are sleeping on concrete floors today in America. Black people who are living on welfare, black people who can’t eat, black people who don’t know no knowledge of themselves, black people who don’t have no future.”
“I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin’ hell, but as long as they ain’t free, I ain’t free.”
Ali on boxing
EPA
“To make America the greatest is my goal, so I beat the Russian and I beat the Pole. And for the USA won the medal of gold. The Greeks said you’re better than the Cassius of old.
“ After winning Olympic light-heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Games in Rome.
“Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can’t talk. The man can’t fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he’s gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons.
” Before fighting world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in February 1964.
“I shook up the world! I shook up the world!” After beating Liston.
“I’ll beat him so bad, he’ll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.” Before beating Floyd Patterson in 1965.
“I never thought of losing, but now that it’s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That’s my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.” After losing to Ken Norton in 1973.
“I’ve seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won.” Before knocking out Foreman in their famed ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ clash in 1974.
“I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick.” Before the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’
“It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.”
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”
‘His heart wouldn’t stop beating’
Ali in his own words
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“It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.”
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”
“I’m the boldest, the prettiest, the most superior, most scientific, most skilfullest fighter in the ring today.”
“If you even dream of beating me, you better wake up and apologise.”
“Will they ever have another fighter who writes poems, predicts rounds, beats everybody, makes people laugh, makes people cry and is as tall and extra pretty as me?”
“The fact is, I was never too bright in school. I ain’t ashamed of it, though. I mean, how much do school principal’s make a month? I said I was ‘The Greatest’, I never said I was the smartest!”
“At home I am a nice guy – but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.”
‘Ali was my inspiration’ – Calzaghe
Former world super-middleweight and light-heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe:
“Ali was my inspiration.
“People loved him, he was someone completely different, he backed it up in the ring and everybody wanted to tune in and watch him fight.
“There’ll never be another Muhammad Ali. He was a superstar.”
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