One of the most iconic photographs in sports history is of Muhammad Ali, the 23-year-old heavyweight champion of the world, roaring down at the sprawled out and defeated Sonny Liston, right arm cocked and ready to pulverize him if he gets up. That image has hung on the wall of my office forever, a great curio to my 10-year-old grandson, Eli, who asked why I called that roaring giant "The Greatest."
In fact, news outlets from the Times of India to the Borneo Post Online; even the New York Times called him a "Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century." From winning the Olympics to his historic fights with Frazier and Foreman, Ali, in his prime, was one of the best at any weight class in the history of boxing. But for so many, he was far more than a sports hero. For the Vietnam generation, he was a hero because he stood by his beliefs against the war and put his career and life on the line as a result.
My father was a boxing manager in Los Angeles, and we closely followed his career when he was a rising star named Cassius Clay, not yet "the man." I saw him fight up close and personal twice at the L.A. Sports Arena — once against the aging but cagey Archie Moore.