#dnaEdit: Muhammad Ali was the greatest, almost

For those growing up in the 1960s anywhere in the world and with an interest in professional heavyweight boxing, the match where Cassius Clay prevailed over Sonny Liston remains memorable. It was the arrival of a new hero, black and colourful. He had attitude aplenty decades before the word was invented to connote confidence and arrogance. His one-liners as much as his never-stay-in-one-place unorthodox nimble movements in the ring that appeared like a dance of a man with his boxing gloves on captured the imagination of the young. His later fights against toughies like Joe Frazier, George Foreman showed his heroic fortitude in the ring, which went beyond technique though it had become more sophisticated as he went along  and broke records. He had of course won 56 times against five losses, which is an awe-inspiring record by any standards. But what he showed himself to be in the ring was the stature of the hero and the warrior in the classical mould — physical endurance, fortitude and forbearance. The champion is not one who beats the opponents as though they did not matter but fights them with due respect. That is the lasting lesson of Ali in the ring.

It was not an easy thing to be famous in the 1960s when there were so many celebrities around, especially in the entertainment world, and there was rebellion in the air and all the rebels were celebrated. Clay, who converted to Islam and re-christened himself Muhammad Ali, rebelled in his own way, which was against the populist tide of the day. He refused to fight in the Vietnam war as a conscientious protester. That he did so as a Muslim and not a hippie riled many in the American liberal establishment as much as it angered stodgy conservatives. He stood up to them as a Black and a Muslim. More importantly, he stood up as an individual, the underdog, who would not sacrifice his personal dignity and freedom. Ali also showed himself to be a man concerned with society and values, something which made him unpopular with the usual ‘60s rebels. So when he hung his gloves after losing his last bout to a not-so-formidable opponent, and he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he stood out there to lend his celebrity status to the cause of those affected by the ailment.

Ali was a hero because he showed humaneness and also because he was human, the man who retained his perverse humour, who never shied away from laughing at the Black without slipping into self-loathing. It should be remembered that he did not join the Civil Rights movement, and though many in the movement did not much like him, Martin Luther King Jr recognised his iconic status and endorsed his role as an athletic hero of the people. Ali, to use the jargon word of the last quarter century, was never politically correct. But the man won respect from all over and remained a simple and sincere Black. To fall back on the platitudinous, he remained true to himself.

Perhaps he is a better role model for the youngsters, especially for those who are at the bottom end of the social pyramid with all its disadvantages, because he showed that you should never give up the fight for the things you believe in, and that you can be decent and amiable. At the end of the day that was what Ali was — a decent bloke, and a great one at that.