As Muhammad Ali celebrates his 70th birthday today, let us go back at some of the magic moments that made Ali a true legend.
New York / NationalTurk – That was an appropriate start to an extraordinary life. Muhammad Ali’s first sounds were “Gee-Gee, Gee-Gee.” His mother, Odessa Clay, called her son “G-G” for the rest of her life, and years later, Ali would say, “After I won the Golden Gloves, I told Mama that from the very beginning, I was trying to say, ‘Golden Gloves.’” So began the life and legend of Muhammad Ali, who celebrates his 70th birthday today.
Muhammad Ali Quotes, Muhammad Ali Greatest Quotes
“…now Clay lands with a right, what a beautiful swing; And raises the bear straight out of the ring; Liston is rising and the ref wears a frown; For he can’t start counting ’til Liston comes down; Now Liston disappears from view, the crowd is getting frantic; But our radar stations have picked him up somewhere over the Atlantic; Who would have thought when they came to the fight; That they’d witness the launching of a human satellite? Yes the crowd did not dream when they laid down their money; That they would see a total eclipse of the Sonny.”
Cassius Clay recites a pre-fight poem predicting the defeat of world champion Sonny Liston in 1964
“Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name – it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me and of me.”
Clay changes his name to Muhammad Ali and announces his conversion to the Muslim faith after defeating Liston in 1964
“Get up sucker and fight. Get up and fight.”
Ali taunts Liston during their second fight in 1965
“What’s my name, fool? What’s my name?”
Ali taunts Ernie Terrell, who had refused to acknowledge Ali’s change of name before their bout in 1967
“I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.”
Ali explains why he refused to be inducted into the US armed forces in 1967 during the Vietnam War
“Float like a butterfly sting like a bee – his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”
Ali reveals his plan ahead of the George Foreman fight in The Rumble in the Jungle, 1974
“I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale;
Handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail;
Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick;
I’m so mean I make medicine sick.”
Ali entertains the press with a poem in the leadup to The Rumble in the Jungle, 1974
“I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and got into bed before the room was dark.”
Ali explains to the press how fast he feels ahead of The Rumble in the Jungle, 1974
“That all you got, George? That all you got?”
Ali mocks Foreman’s punch power mid-fight during The Rumble in the Jungle, 1974
“It will be a killer and a chiller and a thriller when I get the gorilla in Manila.”
Ali reveals his plan ahead of the George Foreman fight in The Rumble in the Jungle, 1974
Muhammad Ali Tribute Video feat. Renegades of Funk, Rage Against the Machine
[media id=486 width=610 height=340]As Muhammad Ali, the greatest fighter ever, turns 70 today, and to celebrate the life of the sophisticated Louisville Lip, we have compiled his greatest quotes.
Take 37 of Ali’s most vicious, funny and profound sayings – one for each knock-out of his professional career. Don’t forget Muhammed Ali carved his legacy in a country where morons like Rick Perry roam and twaddle now.
Muhammad Ali on Boxing
1 – ‘I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale, only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean I make medicine sick.’
2 – ‘There’s not a man alive who can whup me. I’m too fast. I’m too smart. I’m too pretty. I should be a postage stamp. That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.’
3 – ‘I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.’
4 – ‘I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.’
5 – ‘If you dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologise.’
6 – ‘There are two things that are hard to hit and see. That’s a spooky ghost and Muhammad Ali.’
7 – ‘I’m not the greatest; I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ’em out, I pick the round.’
8 – ‘Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.’
9 – ‘People don’t realize what they had till it’s gone. Like President Kennedy – nobody like him. Like The Beatles, there will never be anything like them. Like my man, Elvis Presley – I was the Elvis of boxing.’
Muhammad Ali on great JOE FRAZIER, his worthiest oponnent
10 – ‘Frazier is so ugly he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wildlife.’
11 – ‘Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.’
12 – ‘It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila.’
13- ‘I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God bless him.’
Muhammad Ali on Life, profoundly
14 – ‘When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.’
15 – ‘Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name – it means beloved of God – and I insist people use it when people speak to me and of me.’
16 – ‘What’s my name, fool? What’s my name?’ (Ali to Ernie Terrell who refused to call him Muhammad Ali)
17 – ‘I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin’ hell, but as long as they ain’t free, I ain’t free.’
18 – ‘Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?’
19 – ‘I got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a ‘nigger’.’
20 – ‘A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.’
21 – ‘Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.’
22 – ‘One of these days, they’re liable to make the house I grew up in a national shrine.’
23 – ‘A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.’
24 – ‘It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am.’
