Muhammad Ali, boxing great and cultural symbol, dead at 74

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., (Reuters) – The death of Muhammad Ali, the former heavyweight champion known as much for his political activism as his boxing brilliance, triggered a worldwide outpouring of affection and admiration for one of the best-known figures of the 20th century.
Ali, who had long suffered from Parkinson’s syndrome which impaired his speech and made the once-graceful athlete almost a prisoner in his own body, died on Friday at age 74.
The cause of death was septic shock due to unspecified natural causes, a family spokesman said yesterday. Ali was admitted to a Phoenix-area hospital, Honor Health, with a respiratory ailment on Monday.

Muhammad Ali stands over a fallen Sonny Liston during their second fight May 25, 1965.“He’ll be remembered as a man of the world who spoke his mind and wasn’t afraid to take a chance and went out of his way to be a kind, benevolent individual that really changed the world,” the family spokesman, Bob Gunnell, said at a press conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Despite Ali’s failing health, his youthful proclamation that he was “the greatest” rang true until the end for millions of people around the world who respected him for his courage both inside and outside the ring.
Along with a fearsome reputation as a fighter, Ali spoke out against racism, war and religious intolerance, while projecting an unshakeable confidence that became a model for African-Americans at the height of the civil rights era and beyond.
Stripped of his world boxing crown for refusing to join the U.S. Army and fight in Vietnam, Ali returned in triumph by recapturing the title and starring in some of the sport’s most unforgettable bouts.
Bursting onto the boxing scene in the 1960s with a brashness that threatened many whites, Ali would come to be embraced by Americans of all races for his grace, integrity and disarming sense of humor.
“In the end, he went from being reviled to being revered,” civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson told CNN on Saturday.
Pam Dorrough, a tourist in New York’s Times Square, admired Ali’s refusal to apologize for what he believed.
“The confidence – and I know everybody thought it was an arrogance about him – he always projected a confidence,” she said. “And he stood by that.”
President Barack Obama, the first African-American to reach the White House, said Ali was “a man who fought for us” and placed him in the pantheon of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela.
“His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail,” Obama said in a statement. “But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.”
“I am happy my father no longer struggles,” his daughter Maryum said yesterday. “He is in a better place. God is the greatest.”
Few could argue with his athletic prowess at his peak in the 1960s. With his dancing feet and quick fists, he could – as he put it – “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”
But Ali became much more than a sportsman. He spoke boldly against racism in the ‘60s as well as against the Vietnam War.
During and after his championship reign, Ali met scores of world leaders, and for a time he was considered the most recognizable person on Earth, known even in remote villages in countries far from the United States.

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." - Muhammad Ali

(REUTERS)-For Bob Arum, the famed promoter who befriended Muhammad Ali some 50 years ago, the former heavyweight champion’s legacy in the boxing ring pales in comparison to his impact on America and the world.Arum told Reuters on Saturday, the day after Ali died in a Phoenix-area hospital at the age of 74, that his long-time friend should be remembered for standing up against racism and war at a time when doing so was risky and unpopular.
“I think when you talk about Muhammad Ali, as great an athlete, as great a boxer as he was, he was the greatest boxer of all time, he means so much more to the United States and the world,” Arum said.
“He was a transformative figure in our society.”
Arum, 84, recalled that Ali strode onto the world stage in the mid-1960s, at a time when African Americans were still fighting for basic civil rights.
“And while Martin Luther King was talking sense and talking about progress that could be made in his soft-spoken way, Ali, with his big mouth was thundering and demanding rights for African-American people and standing up for what was right,” Arum said.
“At first that didn’t sit well with the people in the United States. At fights he was booed because they felt that he was too outspoken,” he said.
Arum said he disagreed at the time with Ali’s refusal to be drafted into the U.S. Army and fight in Vietnam, a stand that cost the fighter his world boxing crown.
“And I said ‘hell no’, I advised him just the opposite,” Arum said. “But of course he wouldn’t listen. He did what he thought was right. And it turned out he was right, and I was wrong.”
The promoter said Ali gave up three years in the prime of his career to stand up for those convictions and was ultimately vindicated in the public eye. “So when I look back at his life, and I was blessed to call him a friend and spent a lot of time with him, it’s hard for me to talk about his exploits in boxing because as great as they were they paled in comparison to the impact that he had on the world,” Arum said.