13 ms·

Muhammad Ali has died

674 points by aaronbrethorst 10y ago

danso 10y ago
After reading the NYT's obit for him, all I can think of is, wow, what a full life and long journey. Being born after his competitive career, all I mostly hear about is how he was "The Greatest", but not so much about his losses and his comebacks. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-dies.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-dies.h...
- OmarIsmail 10y ago
  Here's one of my favorite sport highlight videos. https://youtu.be/072IsGDEpTc https://youtu.be/072IsGDEpTc His speed, footwork, and power is just incredible.
  - danso 10y ago
    Damn...whenever I watch boxing movies like Rocky, I always think the action and power look so fake compared to what you normally see when watching broadcast boxing fights. But I guess if you grew up watching videos of Ali, you'd have a higher expectation of razzle-dazzle.
    - daveguy 10y ago
      I wonder if is now ingrained in boxing training to move like that -- no one notices a big difference like they did with Ali because everyone is trained to move like that. Looking back through the videos I have to think that none of the heavyweight boxers move like that today. I wonder if there will be a renaissance in boxing where you have a whole generation of boxers moving like Ali. Does anyone follow boxing? Can anyone comment on how Ali influenced the state of boxing generations later?
      - elcapitan 10y ago
        I would imagine it's something that worked at the time, because it successfully exploited the slow, static movement of his opponents, but today it's probably "priced in" as a possibility with known correct countering, so that people don't actually use it anymore. Like a rare chess opening that was once used successfully until people figured out how to deal with it later in the game.
      - unclebucknasty 10y ago
        Sadly, boxing as a sport has much declined since Ali's day, and especially in recent years. In particular, the heavyweight division has been found most acutely lacking for some time. However, you are correct that heavyweights don't and have not typically "moved like that". Even those who were relatively fast and defensively gifted (e.g. a young Tyson) didn't move as poetically. He moved like a boxer of a much lower weight class and, beyond even that, he moved like Ali. Graceful. Fluid. Quick. Rhythmic. Instinctive. Check out some of his highlights on YouTube. There are entire sequences during which he defied opponents to hit him through head/upper body movement alone. Hands are low and movement is so fast and well-timed that it seems to predict his opponent's next move. It's as if he is training his opponent to punch wherever he moves his head, and his opponent is reacting to him vs. the other way around. And, this is to say nothing of his footwork. He glided without effort and the mechansim by which he changed direction was almost imperceptible. It seemed that he was being guided on a wire versus using his legs. Back then, it was amazing to see a man his size (or any) move like that, and it would be just as much so today.
        Double_Cast 10y ago
        At 1:21 and 1:35, Ali does this shuffle thing with his feet. How does one do that? I just tried it, and I can't imagine how I would move my feet that rapidly even with extensive training. I'm pretty lanky. Would it be easier to foot-shuffle if I had Ali's build? Or would it be even harder because of his mass. And does this maneuver have a name? It seems like he does it when he's winding up for a jab combo. To make his punches unpredictable. Am I reading his movements correctly?
    - bjourne 10y ago
      Steroids were legal and veeery prevalent during these days. They increase athletes endurance and ability to take blows immensely. Boxers could get flash knocked down multiple times and still come back and win the fight. Fights like Ali vs Foreman and a lot of other fights considered best of the century are just impossible without steroids.
  - Jommi 10y ago
    and even after his retirement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9OlmPyjsNU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9OlmPyjsNU
  - koenbok 10y ago
    I like this one even better. It gets real dark through some of his setbacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v-izDj5n7c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v-izDj5n7c
  - tempestn 10y ago
    This one's good too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhpZoPOfZI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhpZoPOfZI
    - typon 10y ago
      Can any boxing expert explain how he can be that fast? Is it a practice + muscle memory + probablistic decision or is his reaction time that good? Is he anticipating the punches or reacting to them individually?
      - louthy 10y ago
        I'm not a boxing expert, so take this with a pinch of salt. But I expect he uses the same techniques that Bruce Lee advocated in Jeet Kune Do [1], which is about looking for the tiny trigger movements of your opponent and reacting before they've even started really moving (if you look in that video, he sometimes moves out of the way of a punch that doesn't come); probably combined with selling the opponent a 'dummy' to tempt them into making a known move. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do
      - fear91 10y ago
        If you are relaxed and trained you can dodge the punches because it takes time for them to reach you. You really have to be aware of what is happening though, it's hard to learn not to flinch/close your eyes when the hand is flying to you. But if you are completely relaxed and see it coming, with good footwork and balance you can dodge many of them. You don't actually have to move your head that much, it's just the tiniest distance that will take you away from the trajectory of the punch. The thing with punches is that once you throw a punch, you can't really change its direction or it will lose most of the momentum and speed... That's why it's possible to dodge them, because they fly into particular spot and you can just move away. It's important because it lets you counter instantly. You can only really hit somebody when they are exposed, meaning not holding the guard - so when they are punching. If you were to block the punch with your hands, you couldn't react as quickly because your hands wouldn't be in the ready position. It's really good skill to have but takes years and years of practice to develop.
kennethfriedman 10y ago
Sad day. A video that probably won't be played very often, but might be special to this crowd: a 1997 Apple commercial staring The Greatest, during their Think Different campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n83xzu2xH-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n83xzu2xH-E The video was created to poke fun at Michael Dell, when Dell was being "rude", as Jobs put it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hq0Ny1WgFs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hq0Ny1WgFs
- melling 10y ago
  I think that video is from his training in Africa for the George Foreman fight. it might be in this movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Were_Kings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Were_Kings It's a great documentary.
  - elcapitan 10y ago
    Yes, it is. A great film, recommended. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfUHYUpmTFs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfUHYUpmTFs It shows Ali and Foreman in preparation for their fight in Zaire/Congo (the famous 'rumble in the jungle' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle). You can see the clever Ali blend in with the local population, winning their hearts and their cheers. Ali won the combeback fight against the younger, much stronger Foreman in a way nobody had predicted, leaning into the ropes and taking a lot of beating to his upper body, while giving short, fast hits on Foremans head. After 2/3 of the fight Foreman was completely out of fuel and Ali gave him one legendary, sudden last punch, and the giant tumbled down. https://youtu.be/55AasOJZzDE?t=21m4s https://youtu.be/55AasOJZzDE?t=21m4s
    - deleted 10y ago
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kevindeasis 10y ago
He was a really smart dude. The way he marketed himself was I think the first of his kind. Plus he won some of his fights even before stepping in through the ring by getting into his opponents head. Just imagine Ali going to your yard a few days before the match in the middle of the night with a loud speaker
brudgers 10y ago
Great photos of the Greatest by Neil Leifer: http://neilleifer.com/gallery/muhammad-ali/ http://neilleifer.com/gallery/muhammad-ali/
- brudgers 10y ago
  More: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/oct/30/muhammad-ali-25-best-photographs-cassius-clay-legendary-boxer?CMP=fb_gu https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/oct/30/muhamm...
melling 10y ago
Muhammad Ali was so popular in the 1970's that they made a (not so good) Saturday morning cartoon about him, back when most people were only watching 3 network TV channels. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_the_Greatest:_The_Adventures_of_Muhammad_Ali https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_the_Greatest:_The_Adven... I remember watching a few of them: https://youtu.be/9nKpmzQZa5w https://youtu.be/9nKpmzQZa5w
xufi 10y ago
A sad day. He was an inspiration for American youth for 3 decades when he was active. RIP, the world has lost a champion
- xufi 10y ago
  A sad day. He was an inspiration for American youth for 3 decades and being a 3 time heavy weight champion when he was active. RIP, the world has lost a champion
tomashertus 10y ago
Place the black stripe on the top. He was the greatest...
- deleted 10y ago
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walru 10y ago
Muhammad Ali is something we won't allow public figures to be anymore. Being outspoken and standing up for his beliefs, against all repercussions, were his his greatest feat(s). I hope, over all else, his contributions to the human spirit reign over the rest of us. We need another (dozen) Cassius Clays.
- sametmax 10y ago
  Nobody allowed him to be this at the time either. It was not easier in any way. He just had the gut to do it. In France we had some old celebrity known for their very funny yet inapropriate one man show. Everybody said that he would not be able to do the same today. Well, all his friends responded, at the time neither. He got sued. Threaten. Physically and financially attacked. Disruption is always hard. And eventually others benefit more from it than you do.
  - walru 10y ago
    You're correct. That's what I ultimately meant. His words were met, in the media, with challenge. Having his words even echoed was a feat in and of itself. You or I could not replicate his feat as we don't have the stage. People hinged on his every word because of his prowess in a field people could understand. Guys like LeBron James and Michael Phelps are the only folks who could garner the same level of respect in the here and now, but the field has changed, there's too much money at risk... Case and point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l35nC0jVNuk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l35nC0jVNuk
    - stan_rogers 10y ago
      People don't hinge on words (although their lives may); they hang on them. The idiom is "case in point", meaning "here is an example in furtherance of my argument." Yes, that may seem like nitpicking, but whether it's fair and logical or not, people will at least partially base their assessment of your message (or argument, or what have you) on the language you use to convey it.
      - deleted 10y ago
fmdos 10y ago
Why the Times can produce this so quickly. http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/author/margalit-fox/ http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/author/margalit-fox/
- flyt 10y ago
  All publications of a certain size pre-write obits. This isn't unique to the Times.
- deleted 10y ago
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- danso 10y ago
  Here's another explainer: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/insider/when-death-comes-and-the-obituary-quickly-follows.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/insider/when-death-comes-a... The obit for Steve Jobs was initiated 4 years before his death.
- icc97 10y ago
  A similar way that reports of boxing matches come out very quickly after the end of the match - because they didn't wait for the end to start writing.
lisper 10y ago
The saddest thing about Ali's life IMHO is that he lived in a world where the best way he could make his living was hitting and being hit by others. It is time to recognize boxing for the barbarism that it is and retire it from the repertoire of human activity along with bullfighting and bear baiting.
- alayne 10y ago
  It's not barbarism when it's consenting adults. Bulls and bears do not consent.
  - hermannj314 10y ago
    I agree that OPs point is not necessary and his analogy with animal murder is plain wrong, but the definition of barbarism does not hinge on the existence of consent. Brutal, uncivilized, or cruel imply barbarism. Consent does not imply non-brutal and civilized and uncruel.
    - alayne 10y ago
      Sorry, I was sloppy with language just to riff on his words. Of course you are right. I wanted get at the subtext of boxing being exploitative, in particular where it is comparable to something like bullfighting. Are we really aiming for a non contact world because some people see it as primitive and cruel? That's what comments like OP's make me think. Go after unscrupulous managers or the long term injury aspect, but I just don't see the problem with fighting sports where everyone is opting in and aware.
      - lisper 10y ago
        In retrospect, I realize I should have said that it is time to retire professional boxing, not boxing in general, but it's too late to edit my original comment. Amateur boxing, where protective head gear is worn and the object is not to render your opponent unconscious, is fine with me. What makes professional boxing barbaric IMHO is that it is designed to maximize the possibility that the participants will get injured. The goal in professional boxing is to render your opponent unconscious. That is IMHO barbaric.
homero 10y ago
Wasn't his daughter on a reality show about jails?
pknerd 10y ago
One of his best replies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QE9XBovMk0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QE9XBovMk0
- typon 10y ago
  Holy crap that was amazing. Thanks for the link!
manav 10y ago
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hand's cant hit what the eyes cant see. - M. Ali.
zer00eyz 10y ago
Oh man this is a bummer. For as beautiful as it was to watch him box, it is even more beautiful to watch him and Howard Cosell interact. The two of them were a pair, and Cosell was one of the first if not the first to acknowledge his name change. Cosell also stood by him when he decided to be a conscientious objector.
signa11 10y ago
"The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! Rumble, young man, rumble!" rip
- agumonkey 10y ago
  He must be chatting with Bruce Lee right now.
- 13of40 10y ago
  Thank you - I never heard the first part of that quote.
argumentum 10y ago
Rumble young man, rumble. Rumble in peace now ..
argumentum 10y ago
Some great quotes: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3624652/The-30-best-quotes-Muhammad-Ali-original-trash-talking-self-aggrandizing-motormouth-sport.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3624652/The-30-best-... 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.' - He said this quote after he won the Olympic light-heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Games in Rome Pretty amazing for an 18 year old .. if a bit Trump-like.
- microcolonel 10y ago
  It's all about perspective. Trump should jump on this because in spirit they're alike; at least when it comes to a duty to succeed as a nation by vanquishing others with competitive success.
mturmon 10y ago
An earlier HN article (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9478442 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9478442), partly an appreciation of Ali's style, made me look up an early fight of his from 1966: http://youtu.be/oJUzl0aFHZw http://youtu.be/oJUzl0aFHZw It lasts only 8 minutes. The opponent is clearly a slugger who is baffled by Ali's style. Ali moves very fast, and fights with his gloves down. I'm not a fan of boxing, but she's right, that fight is an amazing spectacle.
rmason 10y ago
I don't think any athlete will ever match Ali's impact. He could get into see anybody. The US State department used him as back door conduit to pass messages. He was a big fan of basketball. He had a house outside Benton Harbor on Lake Michigan is the southwest part of the state near Indiana. Someone passed word to the coach of the Michigan State Spartans that Ali was a fan of the team. Coach Izzo arranged for him to attend a game each year.
hackuser 10y ago
If you want to understand Ali's genius then I highly recommend When We Were Kings, an Oscar-winning documentary about Ali's 'Rumble in the Jungle'. After watching it, I finally understood that he wasn't just another athlete with a big ego and mouth, but a brilliant, courageous competitor, far beyond the rest. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118147/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118147/
joliya65 10y ago
Is that why Nakamura named the Bomye that! Very cool and what a great Homage.
thorin 10y ago
Some great interviews with parkinson https://youtu.be/YkM0v4lYEUc https://youtu.be/YkM0v4lYEUc
cmod 10y ago
What's My Name? Beautiful little 20 min doc on his life and, yes, his name: http://www.nytimes.com/video/sports/100000003216440/muhammad-ali-whats-my-name.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=clearfix&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news http://www.nytimes.com/video/sports/100000003216440/muhammad...
hkmurakami 10y ago
I remember him receiving an honorary doctorate degree on stage during my own college graduation. He was shaking from Parkinson's, helped by his daughter, but looked strong. This was 9 years and 3 days ago. RIP.
zaf 10y ago
I met him briefly in 1991 but will never forget. A man in the history books now and forever. I shall look up to the sky and smile. I'm sure he is resting in peace.
nuttinwrong 10y ago
My wife visited his home in Berrien Springs, MI. As an exchange student she had no idea who he was. Hugging The Champ in his frail years without having a clue... sigh. Fun fact.
wrecktangle 10y ago
Such an embodiment of what it means to stand up for the truth in a time it was powerlessly rare. "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee..." RIP, ALI.
plq 10y ago
This news item currently has 260 upvotes on hacker news. Think about this a little. Think and try to name anybody else from boxing (or heck, any other sports) who could be up here. I know can't think of more than a few people. He was the greatest in his time. Rest in peace, Mr. Clay. You are among the icons of the 20th century.
- maz1b 10y ago
  Is HN going to make the bar black colored?
- GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
  Why do you call him "Mr Clay"?
  - plq 10y ago
    When one converts to Islam, it's customary to change his name but generally people hold on to their surnames. So I always thought of him as "Muhammet Ali Clay". This apparently wasn't the case with him. Too late to edit my post now...
maskofzorro 10y ago
Rest in peace
ceyhunkazel 10y ago
He is a man who have a heart that bigger than his fists. “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”
- rubenolivares 10y ago
  Don't let that fool you. The real reason Ali didn't go to war was pure fear. He's always been a very egotistical man.
- me_and_you 10y ago
  Pretty incredible. Made me proud of him when I read that.
- c3477372 10y ago
  Do leftists love him or hate him? On the one hand there is that quote you just posted, but on the other there is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Y693cSF7E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Y693cSF7E
  - braythwayt 10y ago
    Crazy idea, but maybe there are individual people that have a spectrum of political and social beliefs that don’t neatly fit into “left” and “right.” Maybe the world isn’t so starkly bipartisan as you suggest. And maybe such people have a variety of complex feelings about people that don’t neatly fit into “love” and “hate.” Maybe, just maybe, binary thinking is the exact opposite of being a Hacker. Maybe it’s a crutch, an excuse for not seeing the world as it really is, or a rhetorical device for steering discussions away from truth and towards an end someone is trying to socially engineer.
joeyspn 10y ago
My biggest sports idol, rude from outside (probably because of his "job") but inspiring, compassionate and with an enormous heart on the inside.... Superbowl 2004, in one of the classic IBM's Linux commercials, teaching Linux (represented by a kid) how to grow up... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BesI6NEPWlM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BesI6NEPWlM
f_allwein 10y ago
By the way, I sometimes wonder how appropriate it is to say "rest in peace". To me, it always sounds like you assume someone may not rest in peace (i.e. end up in hell?).
- joeyspn 10y ago
  https://twitter.com/hashtag/restinpower https://twitter.com/hashtag/restinpower better?
- k-mcgrady 10y ago
  You're over thinking it. It's like telling someone to have a safe flight. You're not assuming they're going to have an unsafe one. Or wishing someone good luck - you're not assuming they'll have bad luck. It's just a nice platitude.
deleted 10y ago
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CommanderData 10y ago
A true character filled with personality and changed my view of certain aspects of life. Rest in peace and with success.
ck2 10y ago
Don't care for people hitting each other, even if it is consensual HOWEVER - he overcame amazing odds for growing up in a heavily racist, segregated country and I have massive respect for him giving up his career while refusing to serve in the Vietnam War and kill others simply at the order of the government. So why do we always wait for people to die to honor them - why not do it when they can appreciate it?
- gus_massa 10y ago
  There are a lot of small honor ceremonies, for example he lighted the olympic torch in Atlanta 1996. The problem is that is difficult to coordinate that all the major newspaper put an article about him in the front page. (Perhaps for some anniversary, like the x0th anniversary of the word championship? And what happens if he lives 10 more years?) Also, there is some social norms that prevent criticism at the obituaries so they are more hagiographic than usual articles.
maz1b 10y ago
Very sad to hear this. He was a legendary person in so many different aspects of life. Rest in power.
braythwayt 10y ago
To me, this is why he will always be “The Greatest.” Not his feet or his fists or his showmanship, but his humanity: Zawadzki picked Ali up at Pearson International and they were on their way downtown when Ali asked Zawadzki, the son of Polish immigrants, about his family. The Etobicoke native mentioned to the former three-time world heavyweight champion of the world that his mom Wanda had spent years in a slave labour camp during the Second World War. “Suddenly, he said he wanted to meet her,” said Zawadzki. “So even though we were already halfway downtown, we turned around. When we walked into our condo, Muhammad walked up to my mom, gave her a big hug, and the two of them sat together, and talked and hugged for a good 45 minutes. She told him all about her experiences in the camp.” “When you walked away from Muhammad Ali, you were a better human.”—Ed Zawadzki http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/toronto-author-ed-zawadzki-recounts-how-gracious-muhammad-ali-was-attending-chuvalo-tribute http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/toronto-author-ed-zawadz...
slicktux 10y ago
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icc97 10y ago
There's a couple of people in here still referring to Ali as Cassius Clay or Mr. Clay. He's quite clear in this excellent interview talking about racism [1] that Clay was a slave name and he was now a free man and wants to be called Muhammad Ali. > "How would a Chinese look named 'Robert Smith'?" [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtxfTEyJZg4
- GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
  Lots of people still fighting those culture wars.
bitsoda 10y ago
Would've loved to see him fight Teofilo.
hvo 10y ago
He was one of my favorite folks in the world.A very good man.I often read his words for inspiration.He will be missed. "A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted thirty years of his life." "Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." "He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." "It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself."
intrasight 10y ago
It would be hard for someone who did not grow up in the '70s to understand the huge cultural influence of Muhammad Ali. The kids next door were African-American and my younger brother and I watched several of the Ali matches. He was strong, fast, smart, and good looking. He was outspoken and opinionated. He was a different kind of black man than what was portrayed in movies or on TV. He was revered by us kids at the time. If I knew nothing more than what I witnessed in the boxing ring he would still have been revered. But of course there was much more to Muhammad Ali than boxing.
runn1ng 10y ago
When I read and see some interviews with people like him, it's interesting to me how Islam was seen - not very long ago - as some self-determination movement for black people. (Malcolm X, and all that.) It makes sense to me of course, but it's still interesting to see Islam being perceived totally differently today, just a few decades later. If you hear someone mention today that he wants to make "islamic nation", your mind goes to what is happening in Middle-East right now.
davidgerard 10y ago
This was a full page headline on BBC News earlier today as well.
- UncleSlacky 10y ago
  He was very popular in the UK, as a result of his fight with Harry Cooper and his appearances on Michael Parkinson's chat show over the years.
tauslu 10y ago
"During my more than 50 years in the public eye, I have met hundreds of renowned celebrities, artists, athletes, and world leaders. But only a handful embodied the self-sacrificing and heroic qualities that defined my friend and mentor, Muhammad Ali. A master of self-promotion, he declared early in his boxing career, I am the greatest! This kind of boasting enraged many people, just as he’d hoped, ensuring a large audience that just wanted to see this upstart boy taught a lesson. But it was Muhammad who taught the lesson because, as he once said, It’s not bragging if you can back it up. And back it up, he did. Again and again. And not just in the ring. Part of Muhammad’s greatness was his ability to be different things to different people. To sports fans he was an unparalleled champion of the world, faster and smarter than any heavyweight before. To athletes, he was a model of physical perfection and shrewd business acumen. To the anti-establishment youth of the 1960s, he was a defiant voice against the Vietnam War and the draft. To the Muslim community, he was a pious pioneer testing America’s purported religious tolerance. To the African-American community, he was a black man who faced overwhelming bigotry the way he faced every opponent in the ring: fearlessly. At a time when blacks who spoke up about injustice were labeled uppity and often arrested under one pretext or another, Muhammad willingly sacrificed the best years of his career to stand tall and fight for what he believed was right. In doing so, he made all Americans, black and white, stand taller. I may be 7’2" but I never felt taller than when standing in his shadow. Today we bow our heads at the loss of a man who did so much for America. Tomorrow we will raise our heads again remembering that his bravery, his outspokenness, and his sacrifice for the sake of his community and country lives on in the best part of each of us." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
pavalercci 10y ago
I've read Hacker News for a long time and never published a comment until today. Ranked by my earnings and by education I'm probably in the bottom 2% of users on this site...but I'm proud to see today that in spite of that fact I'm one of the very, very few who refuses to deify sports celebrities. By and large the majority of you who throw adoration at Muhammed Ali never lived through his era. You never interacted with him. You never experienced him as a person other than retrospectively through his manicured public image. And yet you revere him unsparingly, without hesitation, without qualification. How disgusting. It is this trait in human beings, this desire to worship and affiliate with those one wishes to be like that enables power stratification in society...and always will.
- deleted 10y ago
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- robtaylor 10y ago
  I preferred HN in the time when you had never published a comment.
- Tycho 10y ago
  One of the best qualities people can have is to see the good in something/someone. The bad is of no value, so forget it, but celebrate the good. People here are celebrating the things they admired about a public figure. Likewise you can look at an online community and take heart at how people had a shared recognition of great achievements and are able to celebrate it together. It does no good to dwell on the negative and suppose that people would actually deify someone or support everything they do without hesitation in order to affiliate themselves in some way.
  - pavalercci 10y ago
    Thanks for your thoughtful reply. In defense of my mentality: > One of the best qualities people can have is to see the good in something/someone. The bad is of no value, so forget it, but celebrate the good. This depends on your objective. If your objective is to be liked by others - then by all means ignore the undesirable aspects of people and things and only acknowledge those which perpetuate warm and fuzzy feelings all around. My problem with this behavior is that it makes its way into the democratic process, and tends to override objective critical analysis. I think as a society we need to respect and honor openness and critical thought. Censoring our interactions in a manner that perpetuates some kind of self delusion - although a happy delusion - is counter productive to progress. > Likewise you can look at an online community and take heart at how people had a shared recognition of great achievements and are able to celebrate it together. It does no good to dwell on the negative and suppose that people would actually deify someone or support everything they do without hesitation in order to affiliate themselves in some way. That might hold some weight, in this case, if there wasn't an overwhelmingly disproportionate amount of grieving for someone whose life as an entertainer made little impact on the daily lives of others. Sure, there was admiration and fantasy spread amongst the throngs of enthusiasts who followed the life and times of Muhammed Ali. But had he never existed the world would be no different today. So I think it is absolutely incumbent on me to outwardly, vehemently condemn the intellectual class (Hacker News) for being so shallow, so superficial, and so sycophantic. We must rise beyond this mentality as a people in order to gain equality and value those who contribute in a more fair sense.
msie 10y ago
I wondered if he received any experimental treatment for his Parkinson's. Or Michael J. Fox? Are we any closer to the cure?

674 points by aaronbrethorst 10y ago

danso 10y ago

After reading the NYT's obit for him, all I can think of is, wow, what a full life and long journey. Being born after his competitive career, all I mostly hear about is how he was "The Greatest", but not so much about his losses and his comebacks. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-dies.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-dies.h...

OmarIsmail 10y ago
Here's one of my favorite sport highlight videos. https://youtu.be/072IsGDEpTc https://youtu.be/072IsGDEpTc His speed, footwork, and power is just incredible.
- danso 10y ago
  Damn...whenever I watch boxing movies like Rocky, I always think the action and power look so fake compared to what you normally see when watching broadcast boxing fights. But I guess if you grew up watching videos of Ali, you'd have a higher expectation of razzle-dazzle.
  - daveguy 10y ago
    I wonder if is now ingrained in boxing training to move like that -- no one notices a big difference like they did with Ali because everyone is trained to move like that. Looking back through the videos I have to think that none of the heavyweight boxers move like that today. I wonder if there will be a renaissance in boxing where you have a whole generation of boxers moving like Ali. Does anyone follow boxing? Can anyone comment on how Ali influenced the state of boxing generations later?
    - elcapitan 10y ago
      I would imagine it's something that worked at the time, because it successfully exploited the slow, static movement of his opponents, but today it's probably "priced in" as a possibility with known correct countering, so that people don't actually use it anymore. Like a rare chess opening that was once used successfully until people figured out how to deal with it later in the game.
    - unclebucknasty 10y ago
      Sadly, boxing as a sport has much declined since Ali's day, and especially in recent years. In particular, the heavyweight division has been found most acutely lacking for some time. However, you are correct that heavyweights don't and have not typically "moved like that". Even those who were relatively fast and defensively gifted (e.g. a young Tyson) didn't move as poetically. He moved like a boxer of a much lower weight class and, beyond even that, he moved like Ali. Graceful. Fluid. Quick. Rhythmic. Instinctive. Check out some of his highlights on YouTube. There are entire sequences during which he defied opponents to hit him through head/upper body movement alone. Hands are low and movement is so fast and well-timed that it seems to predict his opponent's next move. It's as if he is training his opponent to punch wherever he moves his head, and his opponent is reacting to him vs. the other way around. And, this is to say nothing of his footwork. He glided without effort and the mechansim by which he changed direction was almost imperceptible. It seemed that he was being guided on a wire versus using his legs. Back then, it was amazing to see a man his size (or any) move like that, and it would be just as much so today.
      - Double_Cast 10y ago
        At 1:21 and 1:35, Ali does this shuffle thing with his feet. How does one do that? I just tried it, and I can't imagine how I would move my feet that rapidly even with extensive training. I'm pretty lanky. Would it be easier to foot-shuffle if I had Ali's build? Or would it be even harder because of his mass. And does this maneuver have a name? It seems like he does it when he's winding up for a jab combo. To make his punches unpredictable. Am I reading his movements correctly?
  - bjourne 10y ago
    Steroids were legal and veeery prevalent during these days. They increase athletes endurance and ability to take blows immensely. Boxers could get flash knocked down multiple times and still come back and win the fight. Fights like Ali vs Foreman and a lot of other fights considered best of the century are just impossible without steroids.
- Jommi 10y ago
  and even after his retirement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9OlmPyjsNU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9OlmPyjsNU
- koenbok 10y ago
  I like this one even better. It gets real dark through some of his setbacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v-izDj5n7c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v-izDj5n7c
- tempestn 10y ago
  This one's good too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhpZoPOfZI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhpZoPOfZI
  - typon 10y ago
    Can any boxing expert explain how he can be that fast? Is it a practice + muscle memory + probablistic decision or is his reaction time that good? Is he anticipating the punches or reacting to them individually?
    - louthy 10y ago
      I'm not a boxing expert, so take this with a pinch of salt. But I expect he uses the same techniques that Bruce Lee advocated in Jeet Kune Do [1], which is about looking for the tiny trigger movements of your opponent and reacting before they've even started really moving (if you look in that video, he sometimes moves out of the way of a punch that doesn't come); probably combined with selling the opponent a 'dummy' to tempt them into making a known move. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do
    - fear91 10y ago
      If you are relaxed and trained you can dodge the punches because it takes time for them to reach you. You really have to be aware of what is happening though, it's hard to learn not to flinch/close your eyes when the hand is flying to you. But if you are completely relaxed and see it coming, with good footwork and balance you can dodge many of them. You don't actually have to move your head that much, it's just the tiniest distance that will take you away from the trajectory of the punch. The thing with punches is that once you throw a punch, you can't really change its direction or it will lose most of the momentum and speed... That's why it's possible to dodge them, because they fly into particular spot and you can just move away. It's important because it lets you counter instantly. You can only really hit somebody when they are exposed, meaning not holding the guard - so when they are punching. If you were to block the punch with your hands, you couldn't react as quickly because your hands wouldn't be in the ready position. It's really good skill to have but takes years and years of practice to develop.

kennethfriedman 10y ago

Sad day. A video that probably won't be played very often, but might be special to this crowd: a 1997 Apple commercial staring The Greatest, during their Think Different campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n83xzu2xH-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n83xzu2xH-E The video was created to poke fun at Michael Dell, when Dell was being "rude", as Jobs put it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hq0Ny1WgFs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hq0Ny1WgFs

melling 10y ago
I think that video is from his training in Africa for the George Foreman fight. it might be in this movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Were_Kings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Were_Kings It's a great documentary.
- elcapitan 10y ago
  Yes, it is. A great film, recommended. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfUHYUpmTFs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfUHYUpmTFs It shows Ali and Foreman in preparation for their fight in Zaire/Congo (the famous 'rumble in the jungle' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle). You can see the clever Ali blend in with the local population, winning their hearts and their cheers. Ali won the combeback fight against the younger, much stronger Foreman in a way nobody had predicted, leaning into the ropes and taking a lot of beating to his upper body, while giving short, fast hits on Foremans head. After 2/3 of the fight Foreman was completely out of fuel and Ali gave him one legendary, sudden last punch, and the giant tumbled down. https://youtu.be/55AasOJZzDE?t=21m4s https://youtu.be/55AasOJZzDE?t=21m4s
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]

kevindeasis 10y ago

He was a really smart dude. The way he marketed himself was I think the first of his kind. Plus he won some of his fights even before stepping in through the ring by getting into his opponents head. Just imagine Ali going to your yard a few days before the match in the middle of the night with a loud speaker

brudgers 10y ago

Great photos of the Greatest by Neil Leifer: http://neilleifer.com/gallery/muhammad-ali/ http://neilleifer.com/gallery/muhammad-ali/

brudgers 10y ago
More: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/oct/30/muhammad-ali-25-best-photographs-cassius-clay-legendary-boxer?CMP=fb_gu https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/oct/30/muhamm...

melling 10y ago

Muhammad Ali was so popular in the 1970's that they made a (not so good) Saturday morning cartoon about him, back when most people were only watching 3 network TV channels. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_the_Greatest:_The_Adventures_of_Muhammad_Ali https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_the_Greatest:_The_Adven... I remember watching a few of them: https://youtu.be/9nKpmzQZa5w https://youtu.be/9nKpmzQZa5w

xufi 10y ago

A sad day. He was an inspiration for American youth for 3 decades when he was active. RIP, the world has lost a champion

xufi 10y ago
A sad day. He was an inspiration for American youth for 3 decades and being a 3 time heavy weight champion when he was active. RIP, the world has lost a champion

tomashertus 10y ago

Place the black stripe on the top. He was the greatest...

deleted 10y ago
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walru 10y ago

Muhammad Ali is something we won't allow public figures to be anymore. Being outspoken and standing up for his beliefs, against all repercussions, were his his greatest feat(s). I hope, over all else, his contributions to the human spirit reign over the rest of us. We need another (dozen) Cassius Clays.

sametmax 10y ago
Nobody allowed him to be this at the time either. It was not easier in any way. He just had the gut to do it. In France we had some old celebrity known for their very funny yet inapropriate one man show. Everybody said that he would not be able to do the same today. Well, all his friends responded, at the time neither. He got sued. Threaten. Physically and financially attacked. Disruption is always hard. And eventually others benefit more from it than you do.
- walru 10y ago
  You're correct. That's what I ultimately meant. His words were met, in the media, with challenge. Having his words even echoed was a feat in and of itself. You or I could not replicate his feat as we don't have the stage. People hinged on his every word because of his prowess in a field people could understand. Guys like LeBron James and Michael Phelps are the only folks who could garner the same level of respect in the here and now, but the field has changed, there's too much money at risk... Case and point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l35nC0jVNuk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l35nC0jVNuk
  - stan_rogers 10y ago
    People don't hinge on words (although their lives may); they hang on them. The idiom is "case in point", meaning "here is an example in furtherance of my argument." Yes, that may seem like nitpicking, but whether it's fair and logical or not, people will at least partially base their assessment of your message (or argument, or what have you) on the language you use to convey it.
    - deleted 10y ago

fmdos 10y ago

Why the Times can produce this so quickly. http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/author/margalit-fox/ http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/author/margalit-fox/

flyt 10y ago
All publications of a certain size pre-write obits. This isn't unique to the Times.
deleted 10y ago
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danso 10y ago
Here's another explainer: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/insider/when-death-comes-and-the-obituary-quickly-follows.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/insider/when-death-comes-a... The obit for Steve Jobs was initiated 4 years before his death.
icc97 10y ago
A similar way that reports of boxing matches come out very quickly after the end of the match - because they didn't wait for the end to start writing.

lisper 10y ago

The saddest thing about Ali's life IMHO is that he lived in a world where the best way he could make his living was hitting and being hit by others. It is time to recognize boxing for the barbarism that it is and retire it from the repertoire of human activity along with bullfighting and bear baiting.

alayne 10y ago
It's not barbarism when it's consenting adults. Bulls and bears do not consent.
- hermannj314 10y ago
  I agree that OPs point is not necessary and his analogy with animal murder is plain wrong, but the definition of barbarism does not hinge on the existence of consent. Brutal, uncivilized, or cruel imply barbarism. Consent does not imply non-brutal and civilized and uncruel.
  - alayne 10y ago
    Sorry, I was sloppy with language just to riff on his words. Of course you are right. I wanted get at the subtext of boxing being exploitative, in particular where it is comparable to something like bullfighting. Are we really aiming for a non contact world because some people see it as primitive and cruel? That's what comments like OP's make me think. Go after unscrupulous managers or the long term injury aspect, but I just don't see the problem with fighting sports where everyone is opting in and aware.
    - lisper 10y ago
      In retrospect, I realize I should have said that it is time to retire professional boxing, not boxing in general, but it's too late to edit my original comment. Amateur boxing, where protective head gear is worn and the object is not to render your opponent unconscious, is fine with me. What makes professional boxing barbaric IMHO is that it is designed to maximize the possibility that the participants will get injured. The goal in professional boxing is to render your opponent unconscious. That is IMHO barbaric.

homero 10y ago

Wasn't his daughter on a reality show about jails?

pknerd 10y ago

One of his best replies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QE9XBovMk0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QE9XBovMk0

typon 10y ago
Holy crap that was amazing. Thanks for the link!

manav 10y ago

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hand's cant hit what the eyes cant see. - M. Ali.

zer00eyz 10y ago

Oh man this is a bummer. For as beautiful as it was to watch him box, it is even more beautiful to watch him and Howard Cosell interact. The two of them were a pair, and Cosell was one of the first if not the first to acknowledge his name change. Cosell also stood by him when he decided to be a conscientious objector.

signa11 10y ago

"The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! Rumble, young man, rumble!" rip

agumonkey 10y ago
He must be chatting with Bruce Lee right now.
13of40 10y ago
Thank you - I never heard the first part of that quote.

argumentum 10y ago

Rumble young man, rumble. Rumble in peace now ..

argumentum 10y ago

Some great quotes: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3624652/The-30-best-quotes-Muhammad-Ali-original-trash-talking-self-aggrandizing-motormouth-sport.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3624652/The-30-best-... 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.' - He said this quote after he won the Olympic light-heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Games in Rome Pretty amazing for an 18 year old .. if a bit Trump-like.

microcolonel 10y ago
It's all about perspective. Trump should jump on this because in spirit they're alike; at least when it comes to a duty to succeed as a nation by vanquishing others with competitive success.

mturmon 10y ago

An earlier HN article (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9478442 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9478442), partly an appreciation of Ali's style, made me look up an early fight of his from 1966: http://youtu.be/oJUzl0aFHZw http://youtu.be/oJUzl0aFHZw It lasts only 8 minutes. The opponent is clearly a slugger who is baffled by Ali's style. Ali moves very fast, and fights with his gloves down. I'm not a fan of boxing, but she's right, that fight is an amazing spectacle.

rmason 10y ago

I don't think any athlete will ever match Ali's impact. He could get into see anybody. The US State department used him as back door conduit to pass messages. He was a big fan of basketball. He had a house outside Benton Harbor on Lake Michigan is the southwest part of the state near Indiana. Someone passed word to the coach of the Michigan State Spartans that Ali was a fan of the team. Coach Izzo arranged for him to attend a game each year.

hackuser 10y ago

If you want to understand Ali's genius then I highly recommend When We Were Kings, an Oscar-winning documentary about Ali's 'Rumble in the Jungle'. After watching it, I finally understood that he wasn't just another athlete with a big ego and mouth, but a brilliant, courageous competitor, far beyond the rest. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118147/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118147/

joliya65 10y ago

Is that why Nakamura named the Bomye that! Very cool and what a great Homage.

thorin 10y ago

Some great interviews with parkinson https://youtu.be/YkM0v4lYEUc https://youtu.be/YkM0v4lYEUc

cmod 10y ago

What's My Name? Beautiful little 20 min doc on his life and, yes, his name: http://www.nytimes.com/video/sports/100000003216440/muhammad-ali-whats-my-name.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=clearfix&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news http://www.nytimes.com/video/sports/100000003216440/muhammad...

hkmurakami 10y ago

I remember him receiving an honorary doctorate degree on stage during my own college graduation. He was shaking from Parkinson's, helped by his daughter, but looked strong. This was 9 years and 3 days ago. RIP.

zaf 10y ago

I met him briefly in 1991 but will never forget. A man in the history books now and forever. I shall look up to the sky and smile. I'm sure he is resting in peace.

nuttinwrong 10y ago

My wife visited his home in Berrien Springs, MI. As an exchange student she had no idea who he was. Hugging The Champ in his frail years without having a clue... sigh. Fun fact.

wrecktangle 10y ago

Such an embodiment of what it means to stand up for the truth in a time it was powerlessly rare. "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee..." RIP, ALI.

plq 10y ago

This news item currently has 260 upvotes on hacker news. Think about this a little. Think and try to name anybody else from boxing (or heck, any other sports) who could be up here. I know can't think of more than a few people. He was the greatest in his time. Rest in peace, Mr. Clay. You are among the icons of the 20th century.

maz1b 10y ago
Is HN going to make the bar black colored?
GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
Why do you call him "Mr Clay"?
- plq 10y ago
  When one converts to Islam, it's customary to change his name but generally people hold on to their surnames. So I always thought of him as "Muhammet Ali Clay". This apparently wasn't the case with him. Too late to edit my post now...

maskofzorro 10y ago

Rest in peace

ceyhunkazel 10y ago

He is a man who have a heart that bigger than his fists. “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”

rubenolivares 10y ago
Don't let that fool you. The real reason Ali didn't go to war was pure fear. He's always been a very egotistical man.
me_and_you 10y ago
Pretty incredible. Made me proud of him when I read that.
c3477372 10y ago
Do leftists love him or hate him? On the one hand there is that quote you just posted, but on the other there is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Y693cSF7E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Y693cSF7E
- braythwayt 10y ago
  Crazy idea, but maybe there are individual people that have a spectrum of political and social beliefs that don’t neatly fit into “left” and “right.” Maybe the world isn’t so starkly bipartisan as you suggest. And maybe such people have a variety of complex feelings about people that don’t neatly fit into “love” and “hate.” Maybe, just maybe, binary thinking is the exact opposite of being a Hacker. Maybe it’s a crutch, an excuse for not seeing the world as it really is, or a rhetorical device for steering discussions away from truth and towards an end someone is trying to socially engineer.

joeyspn 10y ago

My biggest sports idol, rude from outside (probably because of his "job") but inspiring, compassionate and with an enormous heart on the inside.... Superbowl 2004, in one of the classic IBM's Linux commercials, teaching Linux (represented by a kid) how to grow up... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BesI6NEPWlM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BesI6NEPWlM

f_allwein 10y ago

By the way, I sometimes wonder how appropriate it is to say "rest in peace". To me, it always sounds like you assume someone may not rest in peace (i.e. end up in hell?).

joeyspn 10y ago
https://twitter.com/hashtag/restinpower https://twitter.com/hashtag/restinpower better?
k-mcgrady 10y ago
You're over thinking it. It's like telling someone to have a safe flight. You're not assuming they're going to have an unsafe one. Or wishing someone good luck - you're not assuming they'll have bad luck. It's just a nice platitude.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

CommanderData 10y ago

A true character filled with personality and changed my view of certain aspects of life. Rest in peace and with success.

ck2 10y ago

Don't care for people hitting each other, even if it is consensual HOWEVER - he overcame amazing odds for growing up in a heavily racist, segregated country and I have massive respect for him giving up his career while refusing to serve in the Vietnam War and kill others simply at the order of the government. So why do we always wait for people to die to honor them - why not do it when they can appreciate it?

gus_massa 10y ago
There are a lot of small honor ceremonies, for example he lighted the olympic torch in Atlanta 1996. The problem is that is difficult to coordinate that all the major newspaper put an article about him in the front page. (Perhaps for some anniversary, like the x0th anniversary of the word championship? And what happens if he lives 10 more years?) Also, there is some social norms that prevent criticism at the obituaries so they are more hagiographic than usual articles.

maz1b 10y ago

Very sad to hear this. He was a legendary person in so many different aspects of life. Rest in power.

braythwayt 10y ago

To me, this is why he will always be “The Greatest.” Not his feet or his fists or his showmanship, but his humanity: Zawadzki picked Ali up at Pearson International and they were on their way downtown when Ali asked Zawadzki, the son of Polish immigrants, about his family. The Etobicoke native mentioned to the former three-time world heavyweight champion of the world that his mom Wanda had spent years in a slave labour camp during the Second World War. “Suddenly, he said he wanted to meet her,” said Zawadzki. “So even though we were already halfway downtown, we turned around. When we walked into our condo, Muhammad walked up to my mom, gave her a big hug, and the two of them sat together, and talked and hugged for a good 45 minutes. She told him all about her experiences in the camp.” “When you walked away from Muhammad Ali, you were a better human.”—Ed Zawadzki http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/toronto-author-ed-zawadzki-recounts-how-gracious-muhammad-ali-was-attending-chuvalo-tribute http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/toronto-author-ed-zawadz...

slicktux 10y ago

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icc97 10y ago

There's a couple of people in here still referring to Ali as Cassius Clay or Mr. Clay. He's quite clear in this excellent interview talking about racism [1] that Clay was a slave name and he was now a free man and wants to be called Muhammad Ali. > "How would a Chinese look named 'Robert Smith'?" [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtxfTEyJZg4

GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
Lots of people still fighting those culture wars.

bitsoda 10y ago

Would've loved to see him fight Teofilo.

hvo 10y ago

He was one of my favorite folks in the world.A very good man.I often read his words for inspiration.He will be missed. "A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted thirty years of his life." "Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." "He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." "It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself."

intrasight 10y ago

It would be hard for someone who did not grow up in the '70s to understand the huge cultural influence of Muhammad Ali. The kids next door were African-American and my younger brother and I watched several of the Ali matches. He was strong, fast, smart, and good looking. He was outspoken and opinionated. He was a different kind of black man than what was portrayed in movies or on TV. He was revered by us kids at the time. If I knew nothing more than what I witnessed in the boxing ring he would still have been revered. But of course there was much more to Muhammad Ali than boxing.

runn1ng 10y ago

When I read and see some interviews with people like him, it's interesting to me how Islam was seen - not very long ago - as some self-determination movement for black people. (Malcolm X, and all that.) It makes sense to me of course, but it's still interesting to see Islam being perceived totally differently today, just a few decades later. If you hear someone mention today that he wants to make "islamic nation", your mind goes to what is happening in Middle-East right now.

davidgerard 10y ago

This was a full page headline on BBC News earlier today as well.

UncleSlacky 10y ago
He was very popular in the UK, as a result of his fight with Harry Cooper and his appearances on Michael Parkinson's chat show over the years.

tauslu 10y ago

"During my more than 50 years in the public eye, I have met hundreds of renowned celebrities, artists, athletes, and world leaders. But only a handful embodied the self-sacrificing and heroic qualities that defined my friend and mentor, Muhammad Ali. A master of self-promotion, he declared early in his boxing career, I am the greatest! This kind of boasting enraged many people, just as he’d hoped, ensuring a large audience that just wanted to see this upstart boy taught a lesson. But it was Muhammad who taught the lesson because, as he once said, It’s not bragging if you can back it up. And back it up, he did. Again and again. And not just in the ring. Part of Muhammad’s greatness was his ability to be different things to different people. To sports fans he was an unparalleled champion of the world, faster and smarter than any heavyweight before. To athletes, he was a model of physical perfection and shrewd business acumen. To the anti-establishment youth of the 1960s, he was a defiant voice against the Vietnam War and the draft. To the Muslim community, he was a pious pioneer testing America’s purported religious tolerance. To the African-American community, he was a black man who faced overwhelming bigotry the way he faced every opponent in the ring: fearlessly. At a time when blacks who spoke up about injustice were labeled uppity and often arrested under one pretext or another, Muhammad willingly sacrificed the best years of his career to stand tall and fight for what he believed was right. In doing so, he made all Americans, black and white, stand taller. I may be 7’2" but I never felt taller than when standing in his shadow. Today we bow our heads at the loss of a man who did so much for America. Tomorrow we will raise our heads again remembering that his bravery, his outspokenness, and his sacrifice for the sake of his community and country lives on in the best part of each of us." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

pavalercci 10y ago

I've read Hacker News for a long time and never published a comment until today. Ranked by my earnings and by education I'm probably in the bottom 2% of users on this site...but I'm proud to see today that in spite of that fact I'm one of the very, very few who refuses to deify sports celebrities. By and large the majority of you who throw adoration at Muhammed Ali never lived through his era. You never interacted with him. You never experienced him as a person other than retrospectively through his manicured public image. And yet you revere him unsparingly, without hesitation, without qualification. How disgusting. It is this trait in human beings, this desire to worship and affiliate with those one wishes to be like that enables power stratification in society...and always will.

deleted 10y ago
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robtaylor 10y ago
I preferred HN in the time when you had never published a comment.
Tycho 10y ago
One of the best qualities people can have is to see the good in something/someone. The bad is of no value, so forget it, but celebrate the good. People here are celebrating the things they admired about a public figure. Likewise you can look at an online community and take heart at how people had a shared recognition of great achievements and are able to celebrate it together. It does no good to dwell on the negative and suppose that people would actually deify someone or support everything they do without hesitation in order to affiliate themselves in some way.
- pavalercci 10y ago
  Thanks for your thoughtful reply. In defense of my mentality: > One of the best qualities people can have is to see the good in something/someone. The bad is of no value, so forget it, but celebrate the good. This depends on your objective. If your objective is to be liked by others - then by all means ignore the undesirable aspects of people and things and only acknowledge those which perpetuate warm and fuzzy feelings all around. My problem with this behavior is that it makes its way into the democratic process, and tends to override objective critical analysis. I think as a society we need to respect and honor openness and critical thought. Censoring our interactions in a manner that perpetuates some kind of self delusion - although a happy delusion - is counter productive to progress. > Likewise you can look at an online community and take heart at how people had a shared recognition of great achievements and are able to celebrate it together. It does no good to dwell on the negative and suppose that people would actually deify someone or support everything they do without hesitation in order to affiliate themselves in some way. That might hold some weight, in this case, if there wasn't an overwhelmingly disproportionate amount of grieving for someone whose life as an entertainer made little impact on the daily lives of others. Sure, there was admiration and fantasy spread amongst the throngs of enthusiasts who followed the life and times of Muhammed Ali. But had he never existed the world would be no different today. So I think it is absolutely incumbent on me to outwardly, vehemently condemn the intellectual class (Hacker News) for being so shallow, so superficial, and so sycophantic. We must rise beyond this mentality as a people in order to gain equality and value those who contribute in a more fair sense.

msie 10y ago

I wondered if he received any experimental treatment for his Parkinson's. Or Michael J. Fox? Are we any closer to the cure?