Nigerians have poured encomiums on
iconic boxer Muhammad Ali, who died on Friday after over three decades
of battling with Parkinson’s disease, reports ’TANA AIYEJINA
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali died on Friday, just days after suddenly being hospitalised with respiratory issues.
The 74-year-old Louisville, Kentucky
native passed away among family and friends in a Phoenix-area hospital
where he was being treated after having difficulty breathing last week.
He had also suffered Parkinson’s for three decades.
“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.
Born as Cassius Clay, he won an Olympic
gold medal as a light-heavyweight in 1960. Four years later, he became
the World Heavyweight Champion after knocking out Sonny Liston in the
match’s seventh round.
During the same year, he converted and joined the Nation of Islam, changing his name to Muhammad Ali.
Along with his boxing mastery, the
famous fighter was also a social activist who lost the esteemed
championship title after he defied the U.S. Army draft during the
Vietnam War in 1967.
Ali in defying the army, said, “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.”
In 2005, President George W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Amazingly, the father-of-nine remained
active in advocating for social justices despite his longtime battle
with Parkinson’s disease.
Ali made many trips around the world
while he was alive, particularly to Africa in a bid to get reconnected
to his roots. His paternal grandmother was a native of Madagascar.
He visited Nigeria twice: the first
visit, a three-day tour of Lagos, took place from June 1 to 3, 1964
while he also paid another visit to the country in 1979 for the
inauguration of President Shehu Shagari.
Former World Boxing Federation titleholder, Bash Ali, said he never believed Ali could die.
He said, “I have been sad since 4am (on
Saturday) when I heard the news. I never thought Ali could die because
he was larger than life. He was a god, so I was shocked when death
killed him. Death is wicked. May his soul rest in peace. I am sad, very
sad.
“I met him severally. I used to train
with him in his gym in Dare Lake, Pennsylvania. He was a great guy. I
cannot find the right adjective to qualify him. He was good.”
Former African and Commonwealth
lightweight champion Obisia Nwankpa, who was among horde of youths who
struggled to get a glimpse of the fallen boxer in Lagos on his first
visit, described the American pugilist as a role model sportsman.
“I was very young when Ali came to
Nigeria but we had heard so much about him. His death shook everywhere
but he lived a wonderful life,” Nwankpa stated.
“When Ali was champion, it looked like
no other boxer existed. He was our hero, a role model for every young
man. We all believed in him. I tried everything to box like him but I
was never close. There was only one Ali and he was the greatest.”
Other Nigerians have also poured encomiums on the dead ex-world champion.
“It’s a great loss for the world. He was a tough personality not only in the ring but also off it.
“He would be remembered for turning down
the mandatory military service to fight in the US/Vietnamese war in the
late 60s claiming that America’s biggest enemies were within not
outside. He was indeed the greatest boxer on earth,” sports journalist
Ikenwa Nnabuogor said.
Another journalist, Sarah David stated,
“Ali was the greatest fighter of them all, the greatest black
sportsman. Ali came, he saw and conquered. He made boxing popular and
interesting. Ali will be missed by all. Ali left a vacuum that will be
difficult to fill. A legend has gone but again legends never die. Ali
lives on. RIP Ali.”
Football coach and sports analyst Ikpo
Moses added, “Ali has left a legacy that I think no man can match for
now. Above all, he left an exemplary life for young sportsmen and women
to follow; he wasn’t involved in drugs or sexual abuses, his love for
the black race and respect for religion made him stand out. I wished he
had stayed more on earth but we know he made great efforts as a champion
to fight that disease for 30 years. May his soul rest in peace. We
cannot question God, if not, many would have asked ‘why Ali?’”
Ali’s daughters Rasheda and Hana have described their father as a hero and “the greatest man that ever lived” on social media.
“Our father was a ‘Humble Mountain!’”
Hana wrote on Instagram. “And now he has gone home to God. Pray for the
peace of his beautiful soul and for the happiness of his further
journey. God bless you daddy. YOU ARE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!”
“The Greatest Man that ever lived. Daddy
my best friend & my Hero You R no longer suffering & now in a
better place,” Rasheda tweeted, alongside a photo of her and her dad.
US President Barack Obama also led
tributes to the incandescent athlete, activist, humanitarian, poet and
showman with a statement that caught the mood of many.
It said, “Muhammad Ali was the Greatest.
Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you. He’d tell you he was the
double greatest; that he’d ‘handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into
jail’. But what made the Champ the greatest – what truly separated him
from everyone else – is that everyone else would tell you pretty much
the same thing.”
The President continued, “Like everyone
else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing. But we’re also
grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him, if just for a
while; for how fortunate we all are that the Greatest chose to grace
our time.”
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