Muhammad Ali
The passing of Muhammad Ali at age 74 marks the end of an era. Ali was possibly the greatest sports celebrity ever. Handsome, and quick witted which was unusual for a boxer, Ali under his birth name Cassius Clay won the gold medal as the light heavyweight champion in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. On February 24, 1964, just three months after the Kennedy assassination Ali scored one of the great upsets in sports history when he won the Heavyweight Boxing Championship with a seventh round TKO of Sonny Liston. His cocky demeanor and confrontational attitude turned off many white boxing fans but he became a hero to young black men. His conversion to the Nation of Islam and renaming himself Muhammad Ali further added to his controversial reputation. When he refused induction into The United States Army claiming he held no hatred for any Viet Cong he was stripped of all his boxing titles and his license to box and he was eventually sentenced to five years in prison.
In 1970 his conviction was overturned and his boxing license was renewed. He regained the heavyweight title in 1974 with his defeat of George Foreman, but it is his bouts with Joe Frazier that were the stuff of sports legend. His first fight with Frazier led to his first defeat in 1971. His second meeting in defense of his title, resulted in a win for Ali. The third fight, the “Thrilla in Manila,” was described by some experts as the greatest heavyweight boxing match ever fought. Ali won but he described the fight as the closest thing to death he had ever experienced. In 1978 he lost the title to Leon Spinks in a split decision. Several months later he was re-matched with Spinks. He won a unanimous decision but the fight was described as “uninspiring.” Ali announced his retirement in July of 1979. However, he came back to meet Larry Holmes in October of 1980. Holmes, the reigning champ, pummeled Ali and the fight was stopped in the 11th round with a TKO. In December of 1981 he lost a ten round decision to Trevor Berbick and afterwards retired for good.
His diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease came in 1984. It probably came about from all the head shots he had taken as a boxer. He used his celebrity status to become an advocate for the ill. He worked to encourage physical fitness for children. He became an advocate for racial tolerance. He left the National of Islam because of their stance that all non-blacks were devils and became a Sunni Muslim. He was involved in the Olympics as spokesman and activist. He was supporter of Ronald Reagan. Reagan presented him with the Medal of Freedom for his humanitarian work. He was a citizen of the world, welcomed everywhere. He did not hide from his health issues but instead became a truly great man — one the world will never forget.
The IndyCar Dual in Detroit
Last weekend saw the Indy Cars meet on the Belle Isle street course on the Detroit River for two 70 lap races on Saturday and Sunday. In race 1 on Saturday, Simon Pagenaud led the field green flag, but it was KVC driver Sebastian Bourdais in his Dallara Chevy who took the checkered flag, due in no small part to some very smart pit strategy from his team. Bourdais had to hold off a strong late charge by series rookie Connor Daly in a Dallara Honda Daly and finished second.
Race 2 on Sunday saw Pagenaud start on the pole again. Charlie Kimball squeezed Carlos Munoz into James Hinchcliffe into the retaining wall, causing a pileup. Rookie Max Chilton spun to avoid the mess and banged the wall. Both Hinchcliffe and Chilton were eliminated.
Pagenaud led much of the race but in the late going he was passed by his hard-charging teammate Will Power. Power went on to win for Team Penske with Pagenaud collecting his third second place finish of the year and added to his pole- led for the series championship. Ryan Hunter Reay was third for top Honda honors.
Power has had a hard way to go in the first six races of the season. Win this win the Australian driver hopes that his luck in the 2016 series will start to turn around.