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MUHAMMAD ALI HAS passed away, aged 74.
Ali passed away at a hospital in the Phoenix area of Arizona after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, a family spokesperson said.
“After a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening,” Bob Gunnell, a family spokesman, told NBC News.
The boxing legend, who was born Cassius Clay, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984 but continued in public life until recent years.
In 2012, he was a bearer of the Olympic Flag in London during the Opening ceremony, helped by his wife Lonnie.
Since then, his health deteriorated with reports in February 2013 that he could no longer speak.
“The Greatest”
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Kentucky on 17 January 1942, he fought in his first competitive boxing bout in 1954 at the age of 12.
Given the title of Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC, Clay burst onto the national boxing scene at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, taking the light heavyweight gold medal.
He turned professional that same year – at the age of 18.
A steady stream of victories coupled with extreme self-promotion and showmanship saw Ali quickly rise in the ranks of professional boxing.
Clay danced and moved like a light-weight, taunting his opponents inside and outside of the ring with lightning fast combinations and witty taunts.
Just four years after going pro, at the age of 22, the Kentucky native won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston, a spectacular upset to the sport.
Clay hadn’t been given a chance by the pundits, but he danced rings around the older Liston before forcing him to quit on his stool at the end of the sixth round.
As well as a formidable force inside the ring, Clay was politically active and a strong opponent of the racism that besetted America at the time.
He joined the Nation of Islam – a civil rights movement that called for the development of black people as separate from whites.
Clay soon converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
His divisive political stance and brash manner made him somewhat of a hate figure for many Americans – with just 2,000 people turning up for his rematch title bout against Sonny Liston in 1965.
Ali would defend his title 8 more times but was stripped of the belt when he refused to join the American army fighting in the Vietnam War.
Decline and comeback
Ali was sentenced to five years in jail, but had the conviction quashed on an appeal.
He was eventually allowed back to fight in the ring – three years after he was suspended.
The years of absence had slowed the legendary boxer down somewhat, and he lost the first bout of his career to Joe Frazier in 1971.
Ali would go on to fight Frazier two more times and win both days in brutal protracted battles that lasted many rounds.
After a title fight against Frazier in 1971, Ali said it was the closest thing to death he had ever come.
But Ali’s most famous bout came against then-champion George Foreman in 1974 in the “Rumble in the Jungle” title bout.
Ali wasn’t given a chance against the younger, hulking Foreman, but after leaning back against the ropes for the first eight rounds and absorbing Foreman’s blows, Ali bounced back and delivered a little combination – sprawling Foreman to the mat.
At the of 32, Ali had regained his heavyweight championship title.
He would go on to lose the title to Leon Spinks in Las Vegas in 1978 and regain it eight months later.
By now, however, Ali was fading as a fighter, and lost a couple of bouts before retiring in December 1981 at the age of 40.
His final boxing record is an impressive 56 wins out of 61 fights, which included an incredible 37 knockouts.
With reporting from Sinead O’Carroll
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“If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.” Muhammad Ali! RIP
Did he actually say that? Genuine inquiry, not being facetious
Yup, he did. He was a showman, he had some
If the best quotes.
Ali on golf: “I’m the best. I just haven’t played it yet”. Legend. RIP
Legend https://youtu.be/I-srOOwtwVM
” sonny Liston is so ugly, when he cries the tears flow down the back of his head” RIP ALI..
“Tyson would have beat me in 10 seconds. He is truly the greatest boxer I have ever seen.” Ali acknowledged the real champ.
“I’m so fast that when i turn off the light, I’m in bed before the room goes dark”
Ali’s got a left, Ali’s got a right – when he knocks you down, you’ll sleep for the night; and when you lie on the floor and the ref counts to ten, hope and pray that you never meet me again.
“Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion” and he did
Ali…the greatest sportsman of our time. Simple as that.
Funny that coz Tyson recognised Ali as the greatest ever.
Who cares who’s “the greatest”, tyson was great inside the ring as was Ali. Ali had the addition of civil rights campaigning which played a big role during Vietnam and the likes. Don’t pit two greats against eachother just appreciate both of them
The world had lost a good man rip
32 year battle with Parkinson’s disease, an awful disease & was his bravest fight. Rest easy Ali
What a lovely way to out it x
What the **** is wrong with trolls these days
“The Greatest”!!! I remember staying up until the small hours as a kid to watch him fight against Holmes, I was only 10. He truly was a remarkable boxer. RIP, to one of the greatest fighters ever.
Greatest boxer Ali RIP
When We Were Kings. Probably the greatest sports documentary ever made. RIP.
Just wondering if it was really worth it taken all the blows to the head ? What a great man . May he rest in peace
Alan, cop yourself on. He’s accepted as the greatest professional boxer to ever wear gloves by anyone with an iota of knowledge of boxing. He entertained anyone who watched him fight or even speak during an interview and to top it off, he was a black man, which, at the time, was an incredible feat. So yeah, I’m pretty sure he would say it was all worth it! What have you done with your life?
“I’m so fast, last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and I was in bed before it was dark”
RIP
He lived 32 years with his disabilities. He fought the ultimate fight.
I was never much of a boxing fan but I was in awe of Muhammad Ali. As a kid I used to love watching his fights and always looked forward to the interviews afterwards. Not only was he the greatest boxer of all time but he was so intelligent and witty he could have been a great writer had he not been struck down by Parkinson’s.I do not think it’s an exaggeration to say that he was the greatest sportsman of the 20th Century. He was certainly the most famous. Rest in Peace Ali, you will always be the greatest in my eyes.
‘Just last week I hospitalised a brick,
I’m so bad I make medicine sick’
RIP
That man will still be mentioned centuries from now. 20th century icon.
Loved Muhammad Ali, his quotes got me through some rough times in college when my movation was an all time low. Nice to see the quotes resurface in comment box. RIP Ali, The world’s greatest!
I’m a show you how great i am
“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. A desire. A dream. A vision. They have to have the skill and must be stronger than the skill.” RIP.
I thinks it’s “the will has to be stronger than the skill” . Again, I think….
Simply The Greatest. RIP.
I kinnda knew he’s going when I read he’d been hospitalised yesterday. Rest in peace man
Another legend gone, what a year 2016 has been and we are only in June.
“Float like a butterfly sting like a bee – his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.” RIP Champ
He was in Ennis a few years ago, great day. He seemed to enjoy seeing people out in the street for him. RIP big man.
In the ring and out he really was the Greatest.
RIP. The greatest of them all.
“I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning and throw thunder in jail. You know I’m bad. Just last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick. I’m so mean, I make medicine sick”
Legend !
A true revolutionary of his sport and a global icon! I hope he has peace now that his disease hadn’t afforded him for some many years now!
Keep fighting till the end , I hope his passing was as sweet as my memories of him are . Rip god speed
Rest in peace champ.
Another great legend has left us. RIP
I cam wait to hear the greatest all time legend mcgregor spout shite about a man he tries to mimic in his interviews. No comparison
Exactly. Noticed a few lines from McGregor that I read in Ali biographies.
To mention McGregor in the same sentence as Ali would be insulting to his memory.
He truly was the greatest.We will never see hus like again.Rest in peace.
A revolutionary and an inspiration, Slán leat Ali. RIP
This is the story of cassius clay The most beautiful fighter in the world today He talks a great deal And brags indeedy Of a muscular punch That’s incredibly speedy The boxing world was dull and weary With a champ like liston Things had to be dreary Then someone with colour Someone with dash Brought fight fans a running with cash This brash young boxer is something to see And the heavyweight championship is his destiny
R.I.P to an absolute Legend. Thank you for all the entertainment both inside and outside the ring.
God Bless him a true Legend R.I.P
An inspiration to so many people in so many ways..RIP champ…
You can certainly tell from the comments here what affection people have for him. Looking back at the old interviews the humour, warmth and charisma is unmatched. Because of that though I think people give him a pass for stuff. The article above says he was an opponent of racism, yet in the same paragraph mentions that he wanted a separation of black and white people? That’s surely racism, though in the context of growing up black in the south, the anger was understandable.
Also, his treatment of Joe frazier was terrible in the lead up to the manila fight. He made many racially references to his appearance, while simultaneously calling him an uncle Tom. This affected frazier and his family directly. I saw a frazier doc once when frazier was asked about this and he thought it was payback for the kindness that he had shown Ali when he was banned. Ali was a beautiful, compassionate human, but also had his faults.
Well said.
No doubt he held racist views, Michael Parkinson who interviewed him several times described him as racist just recently. But it has to be acknowledged that he was in very many ways a great man. He actually admitted to feeling bad in later years for the way he treated some of his opponents during his career, even going so far as to speculate that his illness might be a god-sent punishment for past misdemeanours.
“Ali Bom-by-eh”
He was also a member of the Nation of Islam and spewed out some very racist comments. He was not the shining light everyone makes him out to be.
Eveyone was racist in 60s America. He joined NOI because of the racism that he witnessed against his own people and against him personally. As he said himself and he was right, at the time…
Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.
He truly was the greatest.
Spot on, Sean.
Today is one of those sad days when the world is a little worse off. RIP.
. So would you if you had NEGRO stamped on your birth certificate. Ifts called been human fighting for ones rights as a human.
Its easy to parse his comments in a 21st century European mindset and come to that conclusion. But remember that racism was rife in America in that era. Even activist Ministers like Malcom X were slow to come to the view that unity was the way forward.
His comment about his refusal to fight in Vietnam said it all: ‘I Ain’t Got No Quarrel With The VietCong…No VietCong Ever Called Me Ni**er.’
The best of the best
Truly the greatest. Rip
The greatest and most charismatic sportsman that ever lived. The last true sporting living legend has left the building.
Rip, a true sporting icon and legend
Legend
Another legend gone in 2016 including my own father last week who was a legend.in his own circle. Of kungfu master wally h dillon. Rest in power Muhammed.!
Fight like a butterfly, sting like a bee. RIP Ali
You had one job
Sorry meant to say float like a butterfly!
Eh???
A legend. Anyone else have those toy puppet boxers as kids, when boxing then was in its hay day? A relative met him when he came to visit Croke Park..shook hands saying ‘Shake the hand that shook the world’
Stands head and shoulders above them all, RIP
Couldn’t agree more. He single handedly showed and broadened what sport could achieve emotionally and commercially. What a presence. He will be truly missed.
Rip
Ali .. Heroes are remembered legends live forever
“Muhammad Ali……Did you know he met me once?”
“Clough I have had enough” legend.
Of all the dead he is the latest.
What a legend now Ali is Safe in the arms of Jesus
Ali didn’t pray to Jesus yah nob.
Have some respect.
Except Jesus is revered by Muslims.
Fair comment.
It’s still all bollocks tho’.
Hun stop calling yourself names your letting yourself down here.
Jesus was a racist.
Sure he was a Christian before he turned Muslim. Gone but not forgotten.
Never again will we see his like. 2016 will for many be known as the year we lost legends. Today we lost the greatest legend of them all. Really sad to hear this news this morning. RIP
Honestly to me the greatest sportsman of them all. He raised the bar for all sport, showed what it could achieve, emotionally and commercially. That coupled with a brilliant mind. Very rare, he will be truly missed.
Sad to lose a great boxer but everybody knows the man was a horrible racist but somehow they don’t want to recognise that fact. Watch the video to the end.
Stay quiet white devil
Calling out white supremacists doesnt make him racist.
Here look pal if your birth certificate had NEGRO stamped on it you would have something to fight the power about too.
If you grew up in Kentucky in the 1940′s as a black person I’m sure you’d have different views on race too.
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.” – Muhammad Ali.
Yes Les and Ali decreed that because some white people were not racists didn’t mean that white people in general weren’t racist. That sounds pretty much like hatred for white people.
Pathetic. The man was a racist and no better than Donald Trump. His hatred for white people is down in black and white but hey, it’s cool to like Cassius Clay.
Watch the video to the end. If a white person held the same views they’d be buried alive! But it’s ok for a black person to say such things??? Do one!
The term Legend is bandied about with little respect these days but Ali is one of the few true Legends. #TheGreatest.
A legend, icon and hero to a generation, I’ve so many memories of watching his fights with my Dad from a stack of VHS tapes we had at home.
Rip to ‘The Greatest’
Decent boxer, but he wouldn’t have lasted one round with Mike Tyson who is truly the greatest!
You seem to be very fond of Tyson, John. Shall we forget the whole rape conviction thing then? Ali was a great fighter but also a great man.
Dead right Joe. Tyson was a brute and an animal. He used his tremendous power to win his fights. Ali in his hey day we would have dodged those heavy punches and picked him off with jabs until he wore him down.
You’re all forgetting that Cassius Clay was a serial adulterer….
RIP champ
My sports hero died today. Simply the Greatest ever
Set the alarm as a kid in the 70′s to watch his fights in TV
RIP Muhammad Ali
An unforgettable year for superstar deaths continues. RIP Ali
In the movie when we were kings a journalist told Ali the shortest poem ever written was two words, Adam had’m. Ali thought for a second and replies ” me oui”. Long live the greatest.
Simply ” The Greatest” R.I.P.
A true legend,best quotes,he just simply knew he was the greatest of them all.
RIP
I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.
– The greatest of all time
RIP to a true legend
Heartbroken here
Enjoy the rest Champ !
And his mother an O’Grady from Ennis. RIP
Sure it was his great grandfather that was an o grady from ennis not his mother .
0 Grades for your research Mark : )
Boxing made him a champ but I wonder did it also destroy him at the end …..so many blows to the head over the years I guess didnt help …… I read somewhere that a traumatic blow to the head which causes injury to the brain can offset parkinsons in later years but I guess scientists are still trying to find out if there is a connection.
What a champ he fought the good fight to the very end, left the ring, can rest in peace and I hope he is “floating like a butterfly” wherever he is…..no need to sting like a bee anymore. Good on ya Ali
It was definitely as a result of taking the heavy punches to the head that triggered his parkinsons disease.there can be no doubt.
Icon , legend , champion , these words get thrown around rather easily but they are nearly an insult to this guy. His talent was as such that it conquered , religious , class and race divides and that’s some achievement.
“THE GREATEST”
Legend is an understatement . .R.I.P
“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are”
The Greatest
The greatest by a mile
Rest in peace a truly champion and lovely man…
what do you think of the new rules regarding ring size Ali?
I don’t care how small the ring is il fight that chomp in a telephone box!
I as an Ali fan in my younger days but his “greatness” has been tempered in my mind by the way he treated Joe Frazier. Frazier helped him with moral and financial support to regain his license after he was stripped of his license for his Vietnam war stance.
And how did Ali repay him, by calling him a gorilla and an Uncle Tom. In many people’s view, including mine, Frazier won the Manila fight, only to be let down, possibly for his own good, by his corner. Frazier wanted to fight on while Ali was ready to quit.
His treatment of Frazier shows a very dark side to his character belied by his intellect and charisma. Sure he was a great fighter but was never the “Greatest”.
He really was the greatest sportsman there ever has been ,the purest might say there were better boxers but he has so much else that made him the greatest ,
entertainment,intelligence,believes,charismatic, confidence,respect I could go on all day
RIP
Jesus he could box !! Gona watch full box set , fairwell legend x
A truly incredible person. Rest in peace.
The man who made Islam popular in the West.
RIP. I remember climbing over the walls of Croke Park when he fought there (1972) to watch him fight. Got a hole in my new jeans on barbed wire but it was worth it. A true gentleman.
A legend inside the ring and outside the ring. Rest easy champ.
God; its scary, all the great legends disappearing. He really was the greatest.rest in peace .
Always remember meeting him when I was knee high to a grasshopper, when he visited Ireland. A big gental giant. He lived the Irish.
RIP…a true LEGEND.
“But continued on in public life until recent years” was he supposed to hide because he had Parkinson’s?
Such a fantastic role model RIP.
That stick ya have in yer hand there Erin,…..well…………ya have the wrong end of it.
The last of the great legends
The greatest , rest easy
And the same people lauding Ali today will be back to vilifying muslims tomorrow… or probably later today, depending on what news breaks.
He had skill, speed and confidence in the ring, a fantastic sports man. But it was his use of words and massive charisma that made the world love him. A cultural icon that will never be equalled.
Float Like an Angel Sting Like A Bee R.I.P #LEGEND
Actually it was after Ali’s third fight with Joe Frazier, in 1975, that Ali said it was as close to death as he had come, according to a Sports Illustrated article written shortly after the Thrilla in Manila. RIP, Muhammad Ali.
A lptand I mean a lot of ignorant muppits in this bye
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