Muhammad Ali has died

[StevieTNZ]

Boxing great Muhammad Ali has died after his health took a turn for the worse.

Ali, 74, one of the world's most celebrated athletes, was hospitalised this week for a respiratory ailment.

News before was that he only had hours to live.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/80754026/muhammad-ali-has-died

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11650743 [Broken]

RIP.

 

[Borg]

The last news that I heard was that he was expected to just be in the hospital for a short stay.
Ali was a true gentleman. Rest in peace.

 

[Nugso]

The guy never hesitated to stand up for what he thought was right. Was truly the greatest of all time. RIP.

 

[Kevin McHugh]

A true class act. And what a character. As a kid, I always enjoyed the interplay between Ali and Cosell.

 

[Evo]

I remember him as Cassius Clay before the draft for the Vietnam war. His daughter Laila Ali is on the Food Network and she comes across as delightful, he has stunningly beautiful children, may he rest in peace and best wishes for his family.

 

[Lisa!]

R.I.P Muhammad Ali!

 

[Dotini]

I and all the other males in my extended family were gathered around the radio when Cassius Clay fought heavily favored Sonny Liston for his first professional heavyweight title bout. The elders were all amazed when Clay scored his stunning first round knockout. Claims of a fix were widely made but never resolved. Whatever the truth of that match, I followed Clay, then later Ali, for the remainder of his career. He was the most important boxer I ever heard of, not just for his amazing speed, power and cunning in the ring, but also for his principled stand against the Vietnam war and draft which cost him years from his fighting prime.

It is ironic that the form of Islam he practiced, at least at the beginning, stood for separation of the races and religions. In later years, he is transformed into an almost universally admired and even unifying figure, despite the faux pas along the way.

I have also heard widely differing opinions on the effect of boxing on his subsequent Parkinson's disease.

Bottom line, Muhammad Ali's revolutionary effect upon professional sports, aided by media figures such as Howard Cosell, was such that there literally can never be another like him - a true legend