ON January 17, 2012, a truly significant event took place in far-away Louisville, Kenturky in the United States, the birthplace of the legendary Muhammad Ali, the quintessential former world Heavyweight Boxing champion.The occasion was the 70th birthday celebration of a man who in his prime (from 1960-1975) so dominated his surroundings and well beyond, that he became the most photographed, most written-about, and the most well-known human on planet earth. Unlike Argentina's Lionel Messi, three times FIFA Player Of The Year, who is on the front page of the TIME magazine, the first time any footballer of any generation ever made it as cover story of the TIME magazine, Ali made it 12 times in his storied and hugely illustrious career.It was a day America stood still for a man who was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on January 17, 1942 to Cassius Marcellus Clay Snr. and his wife.The high and the mighty in America, including former President Bill Clinton, incumbent American President Barack Obama (who sent in a video-taped tribute), civil rights activist Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Snr, friends and celebrities from different walks of life, including numerous current and former world boxing champions in various categories, national and local politicians were on hand to celebrate the 70th birthday of 'the Greatest' Heavyweight Boxing champion of the world. The celebration was meant to be a purely private event. But how private could it be when it involved such a superstar, as Ali has been in sport, and in other spheres of life'Ever since the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where the flamboyant and fast-talking Clay Jnr. won the gold medal in the light-heavyweight category, and immediately announced to a cynical and unbelieving world that he was going to become the youngest man ever to win the biggest prize in sport ' the Heavyweight Boxing title, he dominated the headlines all over the world. To pursue his ambition, he turned professional, and had his first professional fight on October 29, 1960, against Tunney Hunsakar, in a six-round bout, which Clay won on points.Three months later, on December 27 at Miami Beach, Clay knocked out his next opponent, Herb Siler in the fourth round. Three years after, Clay had won 17 more fights, 14 by way of knock-out, including a fifth round knock-out of Great Britain's folk hero, Henry Cooper in London on June 18, 1963. It was this latest victory which forced the boxing world to begin to take notice, especially when he declared that he would beat the much-dreaded Sonny Liston, the World Heavyweight champion. Liston had, after savagely knocking out and taking the world title from Floyd Patterson, on September 25, 1962 in Chicago, Illinois and repeating his first round knock-out in his first title defence against Patterson in Las Vegas, on July 22 1963, had announced that he would batter any creature walking on two feet.In arguably the most stunning upset in boxing history, Clay knocked out Liston in the seventh round of their much publicised title bout on February 25, 1964, and repeated the feat in more overwhelming fashion in a first round knock-out of the man he called 'Ugly Bear' in the return bout on May 25, 1965.He fought in the Liston return fight with a new name, Muhammad Ali, after changing his faith to Islam, having joined a religious Islamic group called Nation of Islam, which was founded and led by Holy Prophet Elijah Muhammad, with their base in Chicago.Ali courted controversy by refusing to be conscripted into the compulsory military draft for every American, at a time the U.S. was at war in Vietnam. The controversy forced him to 'sacrifice' three years of his prime boxing life, as he was exiled from boxing, and his title declared vacant, and his title was subsequently won by Smokin' Joe Frazier, who had won for Team USA the Heavyweight division Olympic gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.In 1970, Ali's boxing licence was returned to him, resulting in the Boxing world's first title bout between two unbeaten Heavyweight champions. Although Frazier won that most lucrative Boxing title bout at the time, in the fabled Madison Square Garden, New York, on March 8, 1971, it was the beginning of the inevitable building of the legends of both worthy champions, whose fighting careers seemed destined to be intertwined. No historian could write about Ali's career without giving a good mention of Frazier, and vice versa.But it was Ali-Frazier III tagged the Thriller in Manila by Ali, and which was held in the Philippines on January 28, 1974, that defined one of the greatest sporting stories ever told.In the words of Eddie Futch, Frazier's trainer, while preventing his fighter from coming out for the 15th and last around: 'My son, you can't go in there to continue the fight. What you have done here today, will never be forgotten for a very long time.'The world has not stopped talking about that unforgettable night of boxing. It was the opinion of most people that the two 'champions' left pieces of themselves in that Manila ring on October 1, 1975, and that the two should have ended their careers right there, especially after Ali had earlier shocked the world one more time, with his October 30, 1974 eighth round knock-out of the defending champion, the younger and bigger George Foreman, the 1968 Olympic Heavyweight Gold medalist.Ali may have been slowed by Parkinson's disease, which was diagnosed in 1984, but that did not stop him from lighting the Olympic Flame to start off the Atlanta 96 Olympic Games, in a scene watched by more than two billion people around the world, many of them unable to fight back tears.In spite of his health condition, he remains a 'champion' for many other reasons, including the way he has battled the condition for such a long time.Ali has always meant different things to different people, but everybody agrees that Ali is an enigma, and an epitome of courage, discipline, self-belief, and indomitable spirit. For sure, no one ever faced more daunting odds, in sport, and beyond. How many people have fought the American establishment and come out a hero in the end'Ali defended his faith to this day, such that it was the Government establishment which backed down at last.The 'Champ' is a model of hardwork, self-confidence, courage and competence for peoples all over the world. He has shown that there is no limit to what the human spirit cannot accomplish. At 70, the 'Champ' deserves to be celebrated.
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