Top News Today –
Muhammad Ali – The Greatest!

There aren’t many living legends, but there was only one known as “The Greatest.”

Top News Today
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali — arguably the “greatest of all time” — is being remembered and eulogized worldwide following his death Friday night at a Phoenix area hospital. A severe respiratory ailment, combined with his 32 year battle with Parkinson’s disease is the cause of death.

Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. He learned to box after his bicycle was stolen when he was 12 years old. When young Clay vowed to “whoop the behind” of the thief, a local police officer encouraged him to learn to box to channel his energy — and so he did.

Ali won boxing gold at the 1960 Olympic games. Then in 1964, he became heavyweight champion of the world following a knockout of Sonny Liston. That year he joined the Nation of Islam and legally changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

Ali’s illustrious career was interrupted for 3½ years in the 1960s when, during the Vietnam War, he refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army as a Conscientious Objector. He was convicted of draft evasion, however the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction, which allowed him to return to the sport he loved.

Boasting that he was “pretty” and could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee…your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see,” Ali became a world-renowned figure — not only for his boxing talents but also his entertaining gift of gab.  His matches soon took on colorful titles, including the “Rumble In The Jungle” against George Foreman.  That fight set the stage for the “Thrilla In Manila” against Joe Frazier, which was perhaps the pinnacle of his boxing career. Ali went on to win the heavyweight title twice more and become known as “The Greatest.” At his peak in the 1970s, he was among the most recognizable faces on Earth.

Ali retired for good in 1981 and his public appearances dwindled due to his greatest opponent: Parkinson’s Disease. However, the champ did appear for the lighting of the Olympic torch at the 1996 Atlanta games, then again leading opening ceremonies during the 2012 London games. Even as his health declined, Ali did not shy away from speaking his mind. He released a statement in December criticizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s plan to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. “We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda,” he said.

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“I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. “I’m free to be what I want.”
– Muhammad Ali

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Reaction was swift to the passing of Ali. Boxing promoter Don King said Ali’s gift to motivate people, to stand his ground and do what he felt was right is the reason “he will never die.”  Former boxing champ Mike Tyson tweeted “God came for his champion. So long, great one.” Boxer George Foreman tweeted “Ralph, Ali, Frazier & Foreman we were 1 guy. A part of me slipped away, ‘The greatest piece'”

President Obama also offered his condolences.

“Like everyone else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “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.”

Funeral services are set for Friday, June 10th in Ali’s boyhood hometown of Louisville.

Muhammad Ali is survived by his wife, Lonnie and 9 children. He was 74.

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OK WASSUP! covers top news today, including
the death of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.