Monday Milestone: The Toughest Fight
“I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong… No Viet Cong ever called me nigger”
– Muhammad Ali on the Vietnam War (1966)
This Week in History:
1967, March 6
Muhammad Ali is notified by order for national service. He would ultimately reject it and fight the US government for years.
It’s well documented that Muhammad Ali was the greatest heavyweight boxer of his generation, who fought some of the most celebrated bouts in boxing history.
From amateur Olympic gold as Cassius Clay through his bouts against Foreman and Frazier, Muhammad Ali held an aura with his power and movement that deservedly placed him among the greatest.
But it wasn’t just his gloves that did the talking. His penchant to politically speak his mind, as an African-American, and take the necessary steps to entrench his position cemented his place in the American counter culture during the tumultuous 1960s.
It was a time in America, highlighted by both a growing Civil Rights movement and an equally growing anti-governmental sentiment, and punctuated by one of the most controversial of world conflicts – Vietnam.
Yet here was Muhammad Ali, an American sporting idol symbolically speaking out against governmental repression with the courage to steadfastly stand by his assertions.
It was a political tinderbox.
Ali would always claim that he was not a draft dodger. He just always intimated, like many Americans, that the conflict in Vietnamwas none of his business. But conscientious objector or not, American law required his participation. So when in this week in 1967, Muhammad Ali was ordered into national service it set off a chain of events that would become among the most famous fights of his career.
After his order, Ali fronted his scheduled induction into the US Army with an eye to send him to Vietnam. He refused three times to step forward when his name was called. Politically, his objection was that any US involvement in Vietnam was a continuation of white global dominance. He was arrested.
Now to give perspective of the stakes of Ali’s stance against the war in Vietnam, consider this: The heavyweight champion of the world stripped of all his titles, his license was suspended, and two months later, he was found guilty of avoiding service.
Against the ropes, his fight went on. Ali went to the Court of Appeals. The conviction was upheld. Undeterred, the champ promptly took the US Government to the Supreme Court.
This would take four years. By which time there had been an ideological shift across America. Fresh-faced gung-ho American soldiers were returning in body bags. Public sentiment was turning against the war. Ali’s stance against the war became admirable, and grass-roots support swelled against his conviction, culminating finally in 1971, when his ruling was ultimately overturned on a legal technicality. He had won.
Who knows why Muhammad Ali took such a strong stand against being drafted into the US Armed Forces? I suspect he drew plenty of parallels with repression associated with the Civil Rights movement, and took a man-against-the-system view.
But for the champ who would have a boxing career resulting in 56 wins, 37 by knockout, and only five losses, this fight against the US Government would arguably prove to be his greatest victory of all.
The Milestone Five: Greatest Fights of Muhammad Ali’s career
5. Muhammed Ali v Ken Norton 1973, San Diego, California
Norton broke Ali’s jaw over twelve hard fought rounds and ultimately won the bout by split decision. The rematch five months later would see the roles reversed, paving the way for a shot at Foreman in Zaire the next year.
4. Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier 1975, Quezon City, Phillipines
The Thrilla in Manilla was the third and final Ali/Frazier bout. Ali was typically full of trash talk, and then let his gloves do the talking, defeating Frazier in fifteen rounds, in 38 degree heat.
3. Cassius Clay v Sonny Liston 1965, Lewiston, Maine
In their second bout, Ali produced his most stunning career victory, knocking down Sonny Liston in just forty-eight seconds. The photograph of Ali staring down Liston on the canvas is among the most famous sporting pictures.
2. Muhammad Ali v George Foreman 1974, Kinshasa, Zaire
One of boxing’s all time greatest upsets – the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ gave Ali no chance of winning, yet using the ‘rope-a-dope’ strategy, dancing around the ring, Ali exhausted Foreman by the seventh round, and floored him in the eighth.
1. Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier 1971 – Madison Square Garden, New York.
Dubbed ‘the Fight of the Century’ with two undefeated fighters having legitimate claims to the heavyweight crown. Frazier would send Ali to the canvas in the final round giving the champ his first heavyweight career loss.
With thanks to PacificCoastNews.com for the photo
