Muhammad Ali, the iconic boxer who was jailed for refusing to serve as a soldier, turns 70 on Tuesday and will return home to Louisville, Kentucky, to celebrate his birthday at a gala dinner on Saturday.
Friends and family will pay tribute to the former world heavyweight champion at the Muhammad Ali Center, a museum and cultural gathering place that opened in November of 2005 and immortalizes Ali’s life and career. Long-time trainer Angelo Dundee and Ali’s wife, Lonnie, will be among the guests at the dinner, which launches a week of activities in homage to Ali at the center, “Seven Days for Seven Decades”.
“For such a global icon who has literally touched the lives of millions of people, it’s a momentous event to celebrate,” Ali Center spokeswoman Jeanie Kahnke said. While Ali has not fought in more than 30 years, his courage in and out of the ring and humanitarian efforts have made him an enduring legend despite struggles with Parkinson’s disease that diminishes his physical capabilities.
Ali has helped deliver food and medical supplies to the needy around the world, ignoring political convention. His work was hailed in 2005 with the US Medal of Freedom, the highest award that can be given to an American citizen. Ali’s goodwill missions include trips to North Korea and Afghanistan, taking medical supplies to Cuba, visiting Iraq to help secure the release of hostages and visiting Nelson Mandela after his release from a South African prison.
“Muhammad involves people as stakeholders in his success,” Lonnie Ali said. "He makes people feel important, worthy and good about themselves.”
Health struggles continue for Ali, who last November was hospitalized for dehydration after losing consciousness at his Phoenix, Arizona, home. The incident came a few days after he attended the funeral for epic rival Joe Frazier, who died of liver cancer on November 8.
A poet with punching power, Ali weaved magical rhymes long before modern rap music existed, infusing a culture and a generation with confidence and often defiance at a time when black Americans were fighting for their basic rights. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see,” Ali said before fighting George Foreman in 1974.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville on January 17, 1942, Ali turned to boxing at age eight after a prized bicycle was stolen. Ali won the 1960 Rome Olympics light heavyweight gold medal to complete a 100-5 amateur record.
He went on to post a 56-5 professional record with 37 knockouts and become the first man to claim the heavyweight throne three times. As civil rights issues came to the forefront in 1960s America, along came an outspoken, bold black man to instill pride in black culture, respect for black beauty and hope for racial equality.
After defeating Sonny Liston on February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach to claim the world heavyweight title, the new champion announced he was a Muslim and was changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. After rejecting induction into the US Army to fight in Vietnam in 1967, Ali was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison, although he remained free while appealing.
Ali was stripped of his crown and barred from boxing, keeping him out of the ring in 1968 and 1969 at what should have been peak years in his career. The US Supreme Court later overturned his conviction and Ali returned to the ring in 1970. Ali suffered his first loss when Frazier won a unanimous 15-round decision in 1971.
In 1974, Ali avenged the loss to Frazier and knocked out Foreman in the eighth round of the famed “Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa, Zaire, to reclaim the heavyweight crown.
“Muhammad actually whipped the devil out of me,” Foreman said. Ali stopped Frazier in the 14th round of the “Thrilla in Manila” in 1975 to win their legendary trilogy and retired in 1979.
Ali was stopped by Larry Holmes in the 11th round in a 1980 comeback bid and fought for the final time on December 11, 1981, losing a 10-round decision to Jamaican Trevor Berbick at Nassau, Bahamas. Ali’s legend grew over the years, inspiring his selection as the person to ignite the cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
“My left hand was shaking because of Parkinson’s. My right hand was shaking from fear. Somehow, between the two of them, I got the thing lit,” Ali said.
