Boxing legend Muhammad Ali passes away

[vgane]

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A legend indeed! He mesmerized a generation!

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali passes away

• Agencies

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who was hospitalised following respiratory problems on Thursday, passed away on Saturday.
"After a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74," his spokesman Bob Gunnell said.
Ali, whose fame transcended sport during a remarkable heavyweight boxing career that spanned three decades, had been hospitalised in the Phoenix, Arizona, area with a respiratory ailment this week.
Ali had been hospitalised several times in recent years, most recently in early 2015 when he was treated for a severe urinary tract infection initially diagnosed as pneumonia.
His last formal public appearance before that was in October when he appeared at the Sports Illustrated Tribute to Muhammad Ali at The Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, along with former opponents George Foreman and Larry Holmes.
Ali has suffered from Parkinson’s for three decades, most famously trembling badly while lighting the Olympic torch in 1996 in Atlanta.
Despite the disease, he kept up a busy appearance schedule until recently, though he has not communicated verbally in public for years.
An iconic figure who was at one point arguably the most recognised person in the world, Ali lived quietly in the Phoenix area with his fourth wife, Lonnie, who he married in 1986.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/boxing-legend-muhammad-ali-passes-away/article8690239.ece

 

[GANESH65]

R.I.P....Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

When Muhammad Ali came to Madras and held hands with MGR

Crowds thronged Chennai’s Nehru stadium to witness the legend in action in 1980.

As the entire globe mourns the death of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, we take you back 36 years to January 1980, when the world-class boxer came to Chennai to fight a bout with Jimmy Ellis. What’s more, we got to see Ali and MGR, hold hands on the stage, an electrifying sight to see the star-politician and inspirational boxer together.

According to a report on The Hindu, crowds thronged Chennai’s Nehru stadium to witness the legend in action in 1980.
Organised by Tamil Nadu State Amateur Boxing Association and Apeejay, the exhibition bout that saw Ali taking on former heavy weight champion Jimmy Ellis, reported The Hindu.

The run-up to the match itself saw The Hindu ’s pages splashed with advertisements enticing spectators to the match. The tickets were priced at Rs. 100, 70, 50, 20, and 10. Connemara Hotel, which hosted the boxer in one of its luxury suites, also issued an advertisement with an accompanying sketch of the sportsman in deep sleep.

The News Minute spoke to Rabu Manohar, a senior lawyer now based in Chennai. He attended the match in 1980 and was 17 years old then.

"We actually went to see MGR, MGR was our hero then. But it was amazing to see Muhammad Ali. I remember that he went around the stadium in a jeep, and all throughout they were playing the song "Muhammad Ali the black superman song."

He also narrates a funny incident. "I remember that when MGR was trying to get into the podium, his dhoti got stuck between the ropes. So he jumped in! He was more youthful than Ali then! I still remember." says Manohar.

According to another lawyer based in Chennai, who was 10-years-old in 1980, an elephant was aso brought to the show when Ali fought Ellis.

Ali is reported to have been inspired by the crowds which thronged the airport to meet him, and told his wife the same.

According to The Hindu ’s report dated Februrary 1, 1980, “The swift movements, cat-like reflexes, the shuffles and the lethal left jab were all there but were all too brief to savour in fullness.”
The newspaper further reports,

Read more at: http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/when-muhammad-ali-came-madras-and-held-hands-mgr-44338

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Muhammad Ali, the three-time heavyweight champion, who became one of the most well-known – and loved – sportsmen in history has died.

One of his speeches which depict how great he was not only as a sportsperson but also as a human being.

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.

This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here.

I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.” ~ Muhammad Ali


Source: #RestInPower

 

[vgane]

Muhammad Ali. the greatest boxer has won 56 of the 61 fights! An amazing record!

@buzzfeed

 

[vgane]

 

[V.Balasubramani]

[h=1]'India is a special country': A brief encounter with boxer Muhammad Ali in Chennai, 1990[/h][h=2]A cold call, a short interview, a photograph to remember[/h]

Chennai, circa 1990. Excitement in the air. Muhammad Ali, the legendary boxer was splashed across the pages of most city newspapers. It even overshadowed the political news. I wanted to interview him. As a freelancer for a national sports weekly, I had a good case.

I telephoned the five-star hotel where the legend was staying and waited to be connected to his manager. He asked me to come by. I grabbed my cousin, Ravi, to double up as the photographer, and we rushed off on my motorcycle.

As we waited in the lobby, I began to frame my questions. Twenty minutes later, we were summoned to the fourth floor. I was so excited that I ran up the stairs, instead of taking the elevator.

Ali’s manager ushered us into the very large suite. The great man walked in slowly. The tell-tale signs of Parkinson’s disease were clear. But though his large, powerful hands trembled a wee bit, the handshake was very firm. Still, his speech was a bit slurred and he spoke softly, forcing me to strain my ears to catch all his words.

Read more at: http://scroll.in/article/809348/ind...unter-with-boxer-muhammad-ali-in-chennai-1980

 

[vgane]

 

[V.Balasubramani]

[h=1]Muhammad Ali: The 'Greatest' punches out[/h]He floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee. The three-time world heavyweight champion was not just the greatest boxer, but perhaps also the greatest sportsman of all time. He was an anti-war activist who lost his title and three years of his prime for refusing to fight in Vietnam. A proud warrior in the battle against racism, he rejected his 'slave name' Cassius Clay and embraced Islam. Blessed with a razor-sharp wit, he was as good with words as he was with his fists. Of his 61 fights, he lost just five but his most dogged battle was with Parkinson's, the disease that slowed down his dancing feet and his silver tongue but not his spirit. As for how he should be remembered, Ali said it best himself: 'As a man who never sold out his people. But if that's too much, then just a good boxer. I won't even mind if you don't mention how pretty I was'

Pay you tributes to Muhammad Ali

Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...Greatest-punches-out/articleshow/52597838.cms

 

[Janaki Jambunathan]

When Muhammad Ali came to Madras and held hands with MGR

Read more at: http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/when-muhammad-ali-came-madras-and-held-hands-mgr-44338

Is this Shadow Boxing? பாேட்டா பாேட்டி - காட்டா குஸ்தி!

"He visited my house with his wife and we had very warm discussions. Later he went around Anna Arivalayam (DMK headquarters),"

Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/sports/karunanidhi-expresses-grief-over-muhammad-ali-s-death-2119161.html

 

[vgane]

Now his heart beat wont stop! It will be alive & kicking in his millions of fans!

Ali's heart beat on even as his body shut down: daughter

June 05, 2016 19:18

---

Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali's heart kept beating for a full 30 minutes even after the rest of his body shut down, his daughter has said.

The incredible details of three-time heavyweight champion Ali's final moments were made public by his daughter Hana in an emotional post on Twitter. "Our hearts are literally hurting. But we are so happy daddy is free now. We all tried to stay strong and whispered in his ear, you can go now. We will be OK. We love you," said Hana Ali, an author and a freelance writer.


"All of his organs failed but his HEART wouldn't stop beating. For 30 minutes ... his heart just kept beating. No-one had ever seen anything like it. A true testament to the strength of his Spirit and Will!" Hena wrote.


http://news.rediff.com/commentary/2...own-daughter/5de5b25881b9ac0baba7043b702787ca

 

[Lalit]

Gotta share this!

[h=1]The Time Muhammad Ali Stopped a Man From Leaping to His Death[/h] 2k

[h=2]In January 1981, the champ talked a man down from a ninth-floor ledge.[/h] By Josh Levin

On Oct. 2, 1980, Larry Holmes humiliated Muhammad Ali in a matchup billed as “The Last Hurrah.” Though the 38-year-old Ali had flunked a pre-fight neurological exam, the Nevada State Athletic Commission licensed him anyway. Ali’s corner stopped the fight after 10 rounds; Holmes cried in an interview afterwards, seeming to regret the beatdown. “All the people involved in this fight should've been arrested. This fight was an abomination, a crime,” said Ferdie Pacheco, Ali’s former ring doctor. “Tired, punched, and punchless, Muhammad Ali ran out of miracles last night,” said ABC’s Dick Schaap.

Josh Levin Josh Levin is Slate’s executive editor.

Three months later, with his boxing glory long since past, Ali found another miracle. “Former heavyweight champions slip out of the news as easily as ex-presidents, but Muhammad Ali was never your garden-variety champion of all the world,” said Walter Cronkite on the Jan. 20, 1981, edition of the CBS Evening News. “Yesterday in Los Angeles, he responded like a superhero when a distraught man threatened suicide.”

The CBS segment is amazing to watch. It shows Ali, dressed in a suit and tie, dangling out of a ninth-story window, talking to a man who was perched on a ledge and threatening to jump.



A United Press International story published on Jan. 20, 1981, has more details on how Ali came to the scene.

Police negotiators tried for hours to persuade the man to come inside the building. Ali, who was told of the suicide threat by his public relations manager, talked to the depressed man for about 20 minutes.​

…​

Howard Bingham. All’s public relations manager, said he first saw the man on the ledge and when he asked police if Ali could help, they told him no.​

“I went back to my car and called Ali anyway,” Bingham said. “I told Ali there was a guy up here on a building about a mile from his house and maybe he could get through.​

“About four minutes later, Ali comes driving up the wrong side of the street in his Rolls-Royce with his lights blinking,” Bingham said.​

An Associated Press piece claims that “[p]eople on the ground urged the distraught 21-year-old man to jump. But Muhammad Ali, the former heavyweight boxing champion, promised to help him find a job and talked the man down from a ninth-floor fire escape.” When the man saw Ali, he reportedly shouted, "It's really you!"

Policemen, a psychologist and a police chaplain tried unsuccessfully to talk to him, said Sgt. Bruce Hagerty, who described the man as “a very distraught, mixed-up young man.”​

The man, who was too young to have served in Vietnam, “was talking Army jargon … He said the Viet Cong were out there,” Hagerty said.​

…​

Ali told the man: “You’re my brother. I love you and I wouldn’t lie to you. You got to listen. I want you to come home with me, meet some friends of mine.”​

After half an hour, Ali put his arm around the shoulders of the man and led him back to safety, witnesses said.​

The two emerged from the building, ignoring cheering onlookers and drove away in Ali’s Rolls-Royce limousine to a police station.​

Ali accompanied the man to a Veterans Administration Hospital, where police said the man would undergo a 72-hour mental examination.​

Los Angeles police gave Ali all the credit for talking the man down. "No doubt about it, Ali saved that man's life," a police spokesman told the AP.

Top Comment
I hope everyone of them that were egging-on the guy to jump, fell into an open man-hole, or slipped on a banana peel, or had a bird shat on 'em. Ali; definitely The Greatest. More...

28 Comments Join In

The AP story quotes Ali as saying that the man, who was never identified, “was just depressed. He couldn’t find work. His father and mother don’t like him. He don’t get along with his family. He wants to be somebody.”

The CBS footage shows a bunch of onlookers chanting as Ali and the man he rescued walk away from the scene. They're chanting, “USA! Digs Ali! USA! Digs Ali!”

http://www.slate.com/articles/sport..._stopped_a_man_from_leaping_to_his_death.html

 

[Lalit]

This song is so catchy! My family just loved this song!
"Catch me if you can!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGhXaBLIBso