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There were moments of marvellous courage, too, such as the lighting of the Olympic flame at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when Ali, ravaged by the effects of the Parkinson’s blight he has endured for 28 years, gave the world’s greatest sporting commemoration an iconic image.
Al’s career is a reminder of how far sport can take those unyielding to ride their natural gifts, in Ali’s case hand and foot boost which saw him win the Olympic heavyweight gold medal in Rome in 1960 before turning knowledgeable.
In a boxing world which currently lacks credibility, with its plethora of headline organisations and its myriad of weight divisions, it is difficult to convey the praise the world heavyweight title bestowed back in Ali’s day.
Suffice to say that he was, almost certainly, the most noted individual on the planet.
“If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologise,” he marvellously warned one opponent.
Some say Joe Louis was the best heavyweight boxer the unbelievable has ever seen and perhaps technically he does just eclipse the boy who was born Cassius Marcellus Clay on January 17th, 1942.
Source: Irish Times