Before he was stripped of his title in 1967, Ali had 9 victorious title defenses (including a rematch with Liston and a convincing win against old heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson ) and had built up his description to 29-0 with 25 wins by knockouts (including Tkos). The boxing world had never seen so excellent a boxer. Or, so I thought. Ali's refusal to enter into the U.S. Army was big news and immediately made me a boxing fan. My father, a fan of both Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis, explained to this sports-nut 8-year-old the best he could about Ali's inheritance and talents up to this point. He explained to me that some white population did not like Ali because he was so loud and brash and did not toe the line as Joe Louis had. Also, that some white population did not like him naturally because he was black. He explained that the government went after Ali for these reasons. (In 1964 Ali failed the Armed military qualifying test because his writing and and spelling skills were sub par. The tests were revised in 1966, and "somehow" Ali was reclassified as 1A.) Soon after this, Martin Luther King was assassinated, and I now learned the full meaning of the words bigotry and prejudice. Even an 8-year-old (with the allowable guidance) could see that Ali, while not perfect, was not being treated fairly.

I became a Muhammad Ali fan even though I had never seen him fight! Every occasion I had over the next few years I would at look at boxing magazines and boxing books at newsstands, magazine stores, and libraries. The articles (including ones in "Ring Magazine", called the "bible of boxing") that curious me the most were the ones where the so-called boxing experts (who I fancy were all older white guys at that time) would rate the most fighters of all time (yes, there was an foremost point to this story), and specifically, the most heavyweights of all time. Routinely, Ali did not even make the lists of most fighters (pound-for-pound) and on the lists for most heavyweights of all time he was was much lower than I expected, ordinarily 6th-10th and sometimes not even in the top 10! My father had told me he idea Ali and Louis were the two most heavyweights ever, so dream my surprise. Was my father wrong (I was inevitable he was not), or were the boxing "experts" underrating him because they did not like him and/or because they were prejudiced? Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, all white, were all the time rated higher than Ali. (Dempsey, I would later learn, refused to fight any of the black heavyweight fighters of his time. How could a neutral man (say a man with green skin) not rate him lower just because he ducked at least half the good and/or great heavyweights of his time?) These lists made me so mad that to this day I look at any athletes' rankings with a jaundiced eye, especially when it is from a very small sample of people. Think about the reaction of our imaginary young Ali fan if he or she saw these lists! (I am sure this is surprising to a lot of readers, which is part of the fancy that I decided to write this article.)

The boxing experts (and I use that term as loosely as humanly possible) said that while Ali was fast (how is that for an understatement?), he had little or no power (what drugs were they on?). They also said he had poor technique on defense, mainly because he would often avoid punches by leaning his head straight back. (This was, at the time, carefully poor technique because the fighter would be off-balance and if he got got caught with a punch, it would accentuate the force of that punch and, of course, increase the occasion of a knockdown or knockout.) Some writers even recommend he did not take a punch well (hello, is anybody out there?). They recommend both of his victories over Liston were fixed (with no proof) and that Liston suddenly was not as great as they idea he was before he fought Ali (Ali was a 7-1 underdog when they fought for the title, and Liston was carefully "invincible" before the fight). My popular was the implication that Ali's first victory over Liston was not that impressive because Liston got "old in the ring" -- a phenomenon that logically does not exist (as you know, population age gradually over time, not in an instant), but creative nonetheless. They had other lame reasons (I cannot remember them anymore) for rating this super fast and unbelievably talented undefeated fighter so low. I suppose I could go and elaborate why all these criticisms are not true, (I will save that for my article, "The 10 most Heavyweight Boxers of All Time") but that is not the point of this article. The point that I am making, is that while Ali is a very popular outline right now and carefully the most heavyweight of all time and one of the two most fighters all time ("pound for pound" -- along with Sugar Ray Robinson -- I give the edge to Ali), neither of these things were close to being that way in 1967. The query is: How and why did he magically transform himself to how he is viewed currently?

In order to talk this question, we have to cease the story (both mine and Ali's). Ali's last title defense was in March 1967 against Zora Folley, and the next time he that he was able to fight was in October 1970 against Jerry Quarry, a top contender for the heavyweight crown. Ali was no longer the official champion, even though he had never lost a fight (how fair does this seem?). For the Quarry fight, Ali was able to get a boxing license straight through the help of a state senator in Georgia, because Georgia was the only state in America without a boxing commission. Ali won in 3 rounds when the fight was stopped because of a cut to Quarry's face. Although rusty, Ali was clearly good than Quarry. Sadly, though, Ali was not the same fighter as before. Ali had lost some of his speed, quickness, bounce, and sharpness because of the 3-year, 7-month lay-off. Ali was 25 years, 2 months old when he last fought and was now 28 years, 9 months old. Even sadder was when the realization sank in that the sports world had missed looking the most and most intriguing boxer in history fight while his best prime years. (On a personal note, this made me even angrier than those moronic all time heavyweight rankings lists.) Soon after the Quarry fight, Ali was able to get a boxing license in New York, when the New York consummate Court ruled that Ali had been unjustly denied a boxing license. He fought this fight in Madison square organery against an additional one top contender, Oscar Bonavena. Ali, who was ahead on all 3 of the judges' scoring cards, knocked down Bonavena 3 times in the 15th round, which caused an self-acting stoppage of the fight.

Soon after that, Ali ultimately got a shot at the heavyweight title with a fight against the current "champion", Joe Frazier (who also happened to be undefeated at 26-0). Never before in the history of boxing had two undefeated fighters, both with legitimate claims to the heavyweight crown, fought for the heavyweight championship. It was the most thinkable, fight in boxing history and was billed, appropriately, as "The Fight of the Century." I remember Quarry, who also fought and lost to Frazier (a Tko -- again a cut to Quarry's face) shortly before he fought Ali, thinkable, Ali would win because he was too fast for Frazier. Who good than Quarry would know? On March 8th, 1971, a now 11-year-old boy's sports hero was ultimately going to get the title back that was unjustly taken from him. Or, so I thought. I was helping my brother with a morning paper route at the time, and I woke up at 5:30 on the morning after the fight and easily ran down the steps to see the morning paper. I grabbed the paper, and I still remember the headlines in huge capital letters (biggest headline I ever saw) "It'S Frazier." My heart sank as low as a heart could sink. I am surprised whatever got their papers that morning. Sometimes life is just not fair, I thought. Then I imagined how Ali must have felt that morning. And, how low was Ali going to be on those slow-witted lists now?

The fight was very close and Frazier fought a great fight (his best carrying out ever) and even knocked Ali down with a vicious left hook in the final round (the 15th). At the time, there was no "10-point-must scoring system", so whoever won the round got a point. I have since watched the fight three times and I scored it 8-7 all three times, with Ali winning each time. You can watch the fight and make your own decision. All three judges had Frazier winning -- 8-6-1, 9-6, 11-4 (what fight was he watching?). Both fighters spent time in the hospital after the fight, with Frazier spending more time there. Hmm. But, as far as the description books go, Ali had lost his biggest fight (so far, at least).

Soon after the fight, on June 28, 1971, the United States consummate Court, in a unanimous 8-0 (with one abstention -- no -- Antonin Scalia was not on the bench at that time) decision, reversed Ali's conviction for refusing to enter the U.S. Army. Finally, some good news for Ali and his fans. With the conviction and the 5-year jail sentence no longer hanging over his head, Ali, like a man possessed (and with good reason), fought and won an phenomenal 10 times in 17 months against top heavyweight opposition between July, 1971 and February, 1973. It seemed as if Ali was trying to make up for lost time, get all the rust off, and force a rematch with Frazier. Unfortunately, Frazier defended his title against hard-punching and also undefeated (37-0) George Foreman in January, 1973, and in somewhat of a surprise, lost his title when he was destroyed by Foreman. Foreman knocked Frazier down (as Cosell famously screamed "down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier") an phenomenal 6 times in just 2 rounds before the fight was stopped. In March of 1974, Ali lost to an excellent fighter, Ken Norton (29-1), when Norton broke Ali's jaw and won a close decision. Six months later, Ali won the rematch against Norton in an additional one close decision.

In January, 1974, Ali ultimately got his rematch against Frazier, although this time it was not for the heavyweight crown. Foreman had agreed (at least unofficially), however, to fight the winner for a shot at his heavyweight crown. In the second round, Ali had Frazier in issue on the ropes and it appeared he might knock Frazier out when the referee stopped the fight because he said he idea he heard the bell signifying the end of the round. There was, however, still practically 30 seconds left in the round. Frazier was able to recover and the fight ended up going the distance (12 rounds). Ali clearly won a unanimous decision with the judges scoring it, 8-4, 7-4-1, 6-5-1 for Ali. Even though Ali was 3 years older than he was in the 1st fight, he somehow looked a little sharper than in the 1st fight. It appeared that any rust that could possibly be knocked off was fully knocked off now, even though he was never the same fighter after the lay-off. Ali ultimately had an additional one shot at the heavyweight crown, but as they say, "be particular what you wish for."

Meanwhile, Foreman fought Norton two months later and pulverized him with 3 knockdowns in 2 rounds before the fight was stopped. Foreman had won his last 8 fights with 1st or 2nd round knockouts. He was an impressive 40-0 with 37 knockouts (including Tkos), 30 of which occured in the first 3 rounds! He also was just hitting his prime at age 25. Ali was now 44-2 and past his prime at age 32. Boxing experts were saying that Foreman had the hardest punch of whatever in the history of boxing (this time the boxing experts knew what they were talking about -- go watch the the Frazier and Norton fights if you have any doubt). It looked to me at the time that Foreman had a shot at going down in history as being the most heavyweight ever. He looked more invincible and excellent than Liston did before he fought Ali the first time. In addition, Foreman was younger than Liston (age 32) when Liston fought Ali in 1964, and Ali was now older. Plus, Foreman had destroyed Frazier and Norton while Ali had 4 close decisions with them, winning 2 and losing 2. Foreman was heavily favored (5-1 odds) and even Ali's longtime supporter, Cosell, did not think Ali had a occasion of winning. How come Ali and his now 15-year-old supporter cannot get a break? I easily idea Ali would find a way to win a 15 round decision by winning the later rounds as Foreman got tired, but I do not know if I easily believed it, since I all the time idea Ali would win (excluding his two fights when he was old -- 38 and practically 40 years old). My father agreed, but neither one of us was inevitable enough to make it sound like a real prediction. After all, Foreman looked awesome and fought as if he had only one goal in mind when he was in the ring -- to knock the other fighter senseless -- and Ali was going to be no exception.

Interestingly, Ali easily gave away part (but only part) of his strategy by manufacture fun of Foreman's slow, long, deliberate punches (one of the funniest moments in sports history) and mentioning the fact that Foreman had only fought past the 8th round (remember that round) three times in his career. Ali said that Foreman would get tired, and I believed him, because it made sense to me logically. in case,granted that a 32-year-old Ali, who was slower now and no longer capable of dancing for 15 rounds, could avoid getting knocked out. Tall order against the likes of Foreman.

The fight ultimately took place on October 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire and was billed as "The Rumble in the Jungle." Ali, who ordinarily started gradually in the second half of his career, surprisingly came right at Foreman and caught Foreman several times with punches to his head. While Foreman looked imposing in the ring, it was clear after the end of the first round that Ali was faster, quicker, and most importantly, by far the good "boxer". While none of this was surprising, looking this gave Ali fans hope. Then in the second round, Ali unveiled the other half of his strategy -- the half he did not tell whatever about. For most of the next 7 rounds, Ali sat on the ropes and let Foreman hit him with all his might. Ali absorbed the punches with his arms and fists and also threw in some well-timed counter punches. Ali even taunted Foreman in an exertion tire him both mentally and physically. Each round Foreman grew more and more tired and, as a result, he threw his punches with decreasing force and effectiveness. Near the end of the 8th round, Ali caught an exhausted Foreman in a counter- punching combination, and Foreman spun nearby and fell mightily to the canvas. Goliath was slain with a composition of brains and brawn, and 7 long years after his title was unjustly stripped from him, Ali was again the "rightful" heavyweight champion. And a 15-year-old sports nut idea to himself: Can my sport's hero ultimately get some respect from the so-called boxing experts? Do you still think he cannot take a punch? Did you see that explosive, excellent composition at the end of the fight? Did you notice that poor defensive technique now known as the "rope-a-dope?" Was this fight fixed also? Will we ever see a heavyweight as fast and quick as Ali? Will Foreman suddenly and magically be carefully overrated just like Liston? And, did a 25-year-old Foreman get "old in the ring" too?

This fight, more than any other, helped persuade Ali's critics that they were wrong about his thorough abilities as a boxer (whether they easily admit it or not -- I am doing it for them). The rest of his career, except for his 3rd fights with Norton and Frazier (the "Thrilla in Manila"), are fairly inconsequential to our discussion. He beat Norton in a close fight to gain a 2-1 occupation edge against him (Norton would at last win a quantum of the heavyweight crown after Ali retired). Before the third fight with Frazier, Ali called Frazier a "gorilla" while punching a play gorilla as if it were Frazier while the promotion of the fight. Joke or no joke, all things considered, for Ali to call an additional one black man a gorilla was truly a despicable act and his bottom moment as a communal figure. (Openly cheating on his second wife nearby the time of the Foreman fight was not an admirable operation either.) The fight, however, was an additional one classic, and Ali again showed both his capability to take a punch and a lot of heart. In a sometimes brutal back and forth fight, Ali won when Frazier's corner did not allow him to talk the bell for the 15th round because his eyes were done and he had taken a beating the last combine of rounds. Ali fell to the canvas in exhaustion when he realized he had won. Ali now also had a 2-1 occupation edge against Frazier. Later, Ali would lose his title to an inexperienced Leon Spinks and then win it back 6 months later to come to be the first fighter to win the heavyweight title 3 times.

In 1998, Ring Magazine ranked Ali as the #1 heavyweight boxer of all time (finally!). Ring Magazine also did a ranking of the 80 most boxers in 80 years in 2002, and Ali was 1st among heavyweights and 3rd thorough (Sugar Ray Robinson was 1st overall, the great Henry Armstrong was 2nd, and Louis was 4th overall, 2nd among heavyweights). Espn recently listed the 50 most boxers of all time, and Ali was 2nd thorough and 1st among heavyweights. Five-time middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson was 1st thorough and Joe Louis was second among heavyweights and fourth overall. At the end of 1999, Abc voted Ali the "Athlete of the Century" ahead of Jordan, who was second. Also late in 1999, a panel of 46 sports experts voted Ali the 3rd most Athlete of the 20th Century. Jordan was first (and deservedly so), Joe Louis was 11th, and Sugar Ray Robinson was 24th. Now I ask you again: How and why did Muhammad Ali's magical transformation take place?

His transformation easily happened in two separate ways. First, there is his popularity as a communal sports figure, and second, the ranking of his boxing skills. I will deal with his boxing skills first. When I first started looking at these lists, Ali had only done the first half of his career. He was, as previously mentioned, 29-0, and in his 9 title defenses he looked heads and tails above his opponents. To get full appreciation of Ali's greatness you have to watch his 10 fights between 1964 and 1967 when he was between the ages of 22 and 25. They are the most thinkable, display of boxing you will ever see. Blinding speed and quickness, phenomenal footwork, sharp jabs, and excellent combinations. He also displayed an phenomenal capability to avoid getting hit by dancing nearby his opponents and using his abnormally quick reflexes to avoid their punches. This capability and the speed of his punches and footwork had never been seen before in the history of boxing. As for power, I think 25 knockouts (including Tkos), 14 of which were in the first 5 rounds, in 29 bouts, speaks loudly enough. In one fight in particular, against Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams (check it out on youtube where you can study the "Ali Shuffle"), he looked so sharp, fast, and powerful, yes powerful, you would have idea we did have that time machine mentioned in the beginning of our story, and that he was an athlete from 200 years into the future! Nobody, not even the great Joe Louis, would have stood a occasion against Ali that night. In other words, while his prime, his opponents were wholly outclassed -- he barely got touched in most of these fights. (In the Williams fight, for example, (by one count that I read) Ali landed over 100 blows while Williams landed only three!)

After the lay-off, however, it was a separate story, since he lost some of his speed, quickness, and the bounce in his legs, so he could no longer dance nearby his opponents as he used to for an whole fight. So, Ali had to find other ways to win. He also had to take punishment, something that was not tested much in the first half of his career. It turns out that his capability to take a punch might have been his biggest strength, but we did not know it till after 1969. So, while he did not look as good thorough in the second half of his career, he did display two foremost qualities in a fighter which he had not displayed before: 1) an phenomenal capability to take a punch and punishment; and 2) an capability to find other ways to win, such as "ring smarts." So, to be fair to the so-called boxing experts in the late 1960's and 1970's, the evaluation of his boxing skills should have gone up, but not by that much. Which means that some of them had grossly underestimated his abilities. This includes Ring Magazine.

Ring Magazine has easily changed possession and publishers (a combine of times), so I fancy that none of the population who did the rankings 25-40 years ago were the same ones who did the rankings in 1998. I also fancy that, unlike now, the population doing the rankings (all the rankings I saw -- not just Ring's) were All middle-aged or, more likely, older white guys. These so-called boxing experts were not going to give a brash, loudmouth, flamboyant, anti-establishment black male his due and rate him higher than their childhood heroes, whether they were white boxers or a toe-the-line black boxer like Joe Louis. (Ironically, Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion (1908-1915), has all the time been underrated for the same reason.) My father, a very liberal, intriguing man, was apparently able to look past Ali's skin color and in-your-face personality and just evaluate only what he saw in the ring; these so-called boxers apparently could not. There is just no other explanation for the disparities in the rankings. Sometimes sports can teach you an foremost chapter in life. I know I learned one from all of this.

But, this only tells half the story. As mentioned in the beginning of this article, lots of people, sports fans or otherwise, just did not like Ali's personality; other population loved it. I mentioned many "negative" parts to his personality, however, I have yet to mentioned any likable parts to Ali's personality (pretty good restraint for an Ali fan). Ali was funny, quick-witted, intelligent, an intriguing poet, charismatic, and at times, classy and kind-hearted. So, why do population now see his inevitable qualities and overlook the negative qualities and actions of Ali? You practically never hear whatever negative about Ali anymore. When he was the final Olympic Torchbearer in Atlanta in the 1996 Olympics, in listening to the announcers and the fans' reception, you would have idea he had been elevated to a God-like status.

How did this part of Ali's magical transformation take place? Well, first, population have changed. While easily a slow process, each generation of population is less prejudiced than the one before. Second, soon after Ali refused induction into the U.S. Army, the Vietnam War started to come to be very unpopular. Instead of being seen as a draft dodger, Ali was now being seen as a hero for standing up to an unjust war and draft. Plus, he did this at a great personal, sacrifice, losing 3 and half of his prime years, with very little complaint. Third, he lost. An individual's popularity, sports or otherwise, goes up whenever they have a setback and bounce back from it. Fourth, in his three fights with Frazier, Ali showed he had lots of heart (so did Frazier). Fifth, redemption. Ali gained his "rightful" title back 7 years after it was unjustly taken away. Plus, he did it with a feat that can only be described as sheer athletic brilliance, while intriguing great punishment against what appeared to be an unbeatable Goliath. Sixth, sympathy. The punishment that Ali took in the ring resulted in his now having Parkinson's syndrome. It is sad to see such a quick-witted, fast-talking, brilliant athlete, struggle to talk and control the shaking of his hands. As a result, population do feel sorry for him.

It would be intriguing to see how Ali is viewed 100 years from now. I am sure, thanks to his magical transformation that has taken place over the last 40 years, it will be good than it was in 1967. And as a life-long Ali fan, this makes the little boy inside of me happy. It is also nice to know that my father did not steer me wrong in all of this and that the so-called boxing experts were flat-out wrong (which is only fitting since they underrated Ali for the wrong reasons). In addition, this taught me an foremost lesson: Never let your personal bias or views about man work on how you rate someone's abilities, in sports or in other areas of life. I told you in the beginning -- this one is personal.

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