Hana Ali - Ali on Ali:Why He Said What He Said When He Said It

CONTENTS

This book is dedicated to all of my fathers fans. He loved you as much as you love him. You were the wind beneath his wings.

Dad and me, 2004

Introduction

T here are many reasons my father, Muhammad Ali, had the most recognized face in the world, was the athlete most written about, and is arguably the greatest athlete of all time.

Dad would have told you that it was because he lived the life of a hundred men. He was an Olympic gold medalist, a three-time world heavyweight champion, a conscientious objector, a Messenger of Peace, a hostage negotiator, and a loving father. He ignited the Olympic cauldron and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Now loved and admired for the same reasons he was once despised and scorned, Muhammad Ali was a living legend.

My father once said, Ive been an actor my entire life. I wrote my own lines. I directed my own scenes. I starred in my own plays. I sold my own legend. Another wise man once said, Life itself is a quotation. Within these pages is a colorful mix of my fathers humorous, poignant, inspirational, political, and philosophical quotes. I have given the explanations behind each of them, but this book would not be what it is without the hard work and dedication of sportswriter Danny Peary, who helped me gather the quotes herein and research their origins.

Together we give you Ali on Ali.

While my father is no longer of this world, the echo of his most famous ringside shout, I am the greatest! will live on, reminding us and generations to come what he hoped it would: Impossible is nothing when we love and believe in ourselves. I hope that you will be both moved and amused by what you read, and that this collection of my fathers enduring words, thoughts, and ideas will give new insight to those who knew him and followed his remarkable boxing career. And that it will inspire generations learning about him for the first time to further study his incredible legacy.

In my eyes, he was and always will be the Eighth Wonder of the World.

HANA YASMEEN ALI

When will they ever have another fighter who writes poems, predicts rounds, beats everybody, makes people laugh, makes people cry, and is as tall and extra-pretty as me? IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME, THERES NEVER BEEN ANOTHER FIGHTER LIKE ME.

M y father reflected on his impact on boxing history to Thomas Hauser for his 1991 biography, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times. Whatever the future holds, hes already been proven correct.

Its a funny feeling to look down on the world and know that EVERY PERSON KNOWS ME.

M y father spoke about being the most famous person on the planet to Chicago journalist Bob Greene as he looked out the window during a flight from the Windy City to Washington, DC. Greene would use this quote in the profile he was writing for the December 1983 issue of Esquire magazine, which was titled Muhammad Ali Is the Most Famous Man in the World. My father was always amazed at how famous he had become. He used his fame for good and always enjoyed being Muhammad Ali.

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE A BEE

is how my father identified his style of boxing. Its often thought that he came up with those eight famous words himself, but they were actually brought to him by his longtime cornerman and friend Drew Bundini Brown. The year before the ClayListon championship fight on February 25, 1964, Bundini walked into Dads hotel room and started reciting it. Dad liked that Bundini used to work with his childhood idol Sugar Ray Robinson and hired him on the spot. In front of a packed room of reporters and cameras at the weigh-in before my fathers bout against the powerful but lumbering Liston, Dad and Bundini chanted the rhyme together, and it would stay in my fathers permanent repertoire: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! Your hands cant hit what your eyes cant see! (Aaahhh!) Rumble, young man, rumble! (Aaahhh!)

Every man wants to believe in himself. And every man wants to be fearless. WE BECOME HEROES WHEN WE STAND UP FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE IN.

T hese are powerful words from my father. The familiar final sentence has been cited as a stand-alone quote for decades, but these three sentences werent strung together until we coauthored The Soul of a Butterfly in 2004. Looking back to a time before he proved himself to be a hero in the public eye, he wrote a fourth line that deserves to be just as well-known:

I was just a kid from Kentucky who had the faith to believe in himself and the courage TO FOLLOW HIS HEART.

Dad with the twins Jamillah and Rasheda, Maryum, Mohammad Jr., and me on his lap, 1976

O ne day I asked my father how he found the strength to do all that he did. His reply was enlightening to me and the world:

Service to others is the rent we pay for our room in heaven.

These words are attributed to Wilfred Grenfell, a nineteenth-century British medical missionary, but my father made them his own.

M oments after Dad beat the 71 favorite Sonny Liston with a seventh-round TKO in Miami on February 25, 1964, the new heavyweight champion correctly exclaimed to those interviewing him in the ringand to those who had doubted and criticized him

I shook up the world!

I AM THE GREATEST!

A t 19, when my father was still known as Cassius Clay, he went on a local radio show in Las Vegas to promote his June 26, 1961, fight with Hawaiian boxer Duke Sabedong. Another guest was 46-year-old superstar wrestler George Wagner, aka Gorgeous George, who became wrestlings best-known villain by constantly bragging about his good looks. My father went to one of his wrestling matches and saw an arena full of fans whod paid good money just to see the loudmouth Gorgeous George lose. Dad had been insisting he was The Greatest boxer at post-Olympics parades, but now his boasts had a new purposeto attract hordes of fans who wanted his opponents to shut him up. Over his career, he never stopped bragging and being outrageous. Whether he was seen as a villain or hero to boxing fans, The Greatest became his permanent sobriquet and his ultimate expression of Black Pride.