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Muhammad Ali, ‘The Greatest Of All Time’, Dies At 74

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Muhammad Ali, the silver-tongued boxer and civil rights champion who famously proclaimed himself “The Greatest” and then spent a lifetime living up to the billing, is dead.

Ali died Friday at a Phoenix-area hospital, where he had spent the past few days being treated for respiratory complications, a family spokesman confirmed to NBC News. He was 74.

“After a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening,” Bob Gunnell, a family spokesman, told NBC News.

Ali had suffered for three decades from Parkinson’s, a progressive neurological condition that slowly robbed him of both his legendary verbal grace and his physical dexterity. A funeral service is planned in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

FILE--Spray flies from the head of challenger Joe Frazier as heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali connects with a right in the ninth round of their title fight in Manila, Philippines, October 1, 1975. Ali won the fight on a decision to retain the title. | AP Photo/Mitsunori Chigita
FILE–Spray flies from the head of challenger Joe Frazier as heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali connects with a right in the ninth round of their title fight in Manila, Philippines, October 1, 1975. Ali won the fight on a decision to retain the title. | AP Photo/Mitsunori Chigita

Even as his health declined, Ali did not shy from politics or controversy, releasing a statement in December criticizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda,” he said.

The remark bookended the life of a man who burst into the national consciousness in the early 1960s, when as a young heavyweight champion he converted to Islam and refused to serve in the Vietnam War, and became an emblem of strength, eloquence, conscience and courage. Ali was an anti-establishment showman who transcended borders and barriers, race and religion. His fights against other men became spectacles, but he embodied much greater battles.

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on Jan. 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky, to middle-class parents, Ali started boxing when he was 12, winning Golden Gloves titles before heading to the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he won a gold medal as a light heavyweight.

A rare photo of Muhammad Ali, the man who dubbed himself,
A rare photo of Muhammad Ali, the man who dubbed himself, “The Greatest of All Time”.

He turned professional shortly afterward, supported at first by Louisville business owners who guaranteed him an unprecedented 50-50 split in earnings. His knack for talking up his own talents — often in verse — earned him the dismissive nickname “the Louisville Lip,” but he backed up his talk with action, relocating to Miami to train with the legendary trainer Angelo Dundee and build a case for getting a shot at the heavyweight title.

As his profile rose, Ali acted out against American racism. After he was refused services at a soda fountain counter, he said, he threw his Olympic gold medal into a river.

Recoiling from the sport’s tightly knit community of agents and promoters, Ali found guidance instead from the Nation of Islam, an American Muslim sect that advocated racial separation and rejected the pacifism of most civil rights activism. Inspired by Malcolm X, one of the group’s leaders, he converted in 1963. But he kept his new faith a secret until the crown was safely in hand.

Click on any image below to enlarge

13325728_10154919904524616_4943910546349100898_n 160602-muhammad-ali-alex-mitoff-yh-0327p_d9233f379ca957fee223c6bb4d5b390d.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000 FILE -  In this May 25, 1965, file photo, heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali stands over fallen challenger Sonny Liston, after dropping Liston with a short hard right to the jaw in Lewiston, Maine.  Ali turns 70 on Jan. 17, 2012.(AP Photo/John Rooney, File) Muhammad Ali Speed Practice Muhammad_Ali-30 Former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali displays his signature boxing pose after honoring outstanding surgeons and physicians at St. Joseph's Hospital Barrow Neurological Institute, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) muhammad-ali (1) Muhammad-Ali Muhammad-Ali-Boxer-Wallpapers A rare photo of Muhammad Ali, the man who dubbed himself, "The Greatest of All Time". Muhammad Ali in his prime FILE--Spray flies from the head of challenger Joe Frazier as heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali connects with a right in the ninth round of their title fight in Manila, Philippines, October 1, 1975.  Ali won the fight on a decision to retain the title. | AP Photo/Mitsunori Chigita Muhammad Ali

via NBC News

The post Muhammad Ali, ‘The Greatest Of All Time’, Dies At 74 appeared first on The Trent.


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