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WHEN boxing superstar Muhammad Ali, the man who called himself “The Greatest” of all-time, whose influence on sport and politics will live forever, died in the United States, a big part of Africa died with him.
Not because he was black and very proud of that.
But because he stood up for the black people, famously taking on the powerful American establishment by refusing to go and fight in Vietnam because, in his words, “no Vietcong ever called me n****r”, and found beauty in his blackness.
“I’m the greatest thing that ever lived,” he thundered.
“I’m King of the world. I’m a bad man. I’m the prettiest thing that ever lived.
“I have been so great in boxing they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counteract my image in the ring.
“America has to have its white images no matter where it gets them. Wonder Woman, Tarzan and Rocky.”
He dumped his original name, Cassius Clay, because he felt that it represented his ties to a past when his people were slaves.
“Cassius Clay is a name that white people gave to my slave master,” Ali said. “Now that I am free, that I don’t belong to anyone, that I’m not a slave anymore. “I gave back their white name and I chose a beautiful African name.”
That name, Muhammad Ali, would become a password for greatness in sport with the legendary boxer winning three world titles and fighting some of the greatest battles in the ring the world has ever seen.
Or will ever see.
From the Fight of the Century to the Thriller In Manila, with the Rumble In the Jungle part of the menu, Ali was involved in some of heavyweight boxing’s most brutal fights creating sights and sounds that will last a lifetime.
Forty-two years ago, Ali came to Africa and left a big impression on the continent, in the Rumble in the Jungle boxing showdown against the then undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, which will never be forgotten as long as mankind lives. The fight, on October 30 1974 in Kinshasa, attracted 60 000 fans and was the first $10 million sporting event on the continent, funded by the government of the DRC, with Ali getting $5 million and Foreman another $5 million.
It’s an event that has inspired some of the best movies and documentaries, including “When We Were Kings”, where Ali — during a flight across the Sahara Desert in a plane flown by Congolese pilots — pours out his admiration of being piloted by black pilots who, unlike him, can speak French, English and Lingala.
He said African Americans could not do that. And, 42 years after knocking out Foreman in probably the greatest upset in the history of sport given that the defending champion was not only younger and stronger but had demolished Ken Norton and Joe Frazier in just two rounds of brutality, the people of Kinshasa have not forgotten their hour when they were the in the global spotlight.
“When Muhammad Ali sent George Foreman to the floor, there was an outbreak of joy from the people of Kinshasa and from all of the Congolese people.”
Richard Lubaka was 15 when that fight unfolded and, today, he still remembers it all.
“I didn’t believe that Ali could defeat Foreman because Foreman trained with a sack of cement. He killed live animals!” Lubaka told Reuters.
“Ali wasn’t strong. But technically, he was brilliant.”
Agence France Press said last week that Ali “held the whole world spellbound when he took on the massive undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman in the capital of what was then Zaire.
“Ali knocked the big man down at the end of round eight in one of the sporting upsets of the 20th century. In doing so he inspired a whole nation.
“Ali’s exploits in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo inspired a generation.” Ali was already popular in Africa, where he was treated like royalty, as evidenced by how the people of Ghana welcomed him on an earlier visit. “For our generation, which was crying out for a hero, he was everything,” Danny Mandishona, an architect based in Harare who said he followed Ali’s fights as a kid growing up in Zimbabwe, told The Southern Times.
“He made black people like us feel proud for being black, he made us believe that we would not be barred from achieving greatness simply because of the colour of our skin and he was the ultimate role model.
“Like President (JF) Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing.” There will never be anyone like him.
• This article was written by our Senior Sports Editor Robson Sharuko for The Southern Times weekly newspaper
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