Muhammad Ali: Transcended Boxing and Went on to Become One of the Most Famous People on Planet Earth

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By Donny Lalonde

Imagine a twelve-year-old walking from door- to- door, telling everyone who answered to watch him on television. He would be featured on Saturday and boldly predicted that one day he was going to be the “greatest of all time”.

I was twelve years old when I first heard of this loud mouth from down south. His braggadocios manner and belittling of his opponents offended me. I was looking forward to watching him crawl across the ring after their first fight with Joe Frazier, and proclaim Joe as the greatest, as he promised to do if Frazier won the fight.
As time passed, his personality and experiences endeared me, as they did millions of others. By the end of his career, he was a God to me. I read everything about him; I imitated his style; I copied him in my media interactions.

I imitated this when I fought Carlos “The Force” Tite of Hammond, Indiana. Ali had written a book, called “The Greatest” whereby he shared Gorgeous George the Wrestler’s mantra. They both said that boxing/wrestling “was a dangerous business. If you’re going to do it, you may as well get paid as much as possible and be as colorful as possible so that the fans never forget you.” I took those words seriously. When I went to the press conference to announce the Tite fight, I went to his hometown, dressed in a white tuxedo, with witty words written on paper. In true Ali fashion, I said “you call him the Force; I say he is a farce! I will have fun for one; he will be through in two.”

My colorful banter proved true that night, prompting Bob Arum to jump into the ring after the demolition and announce that he would get me a fight with Chong Pal Park, the reigning Super middleweight Champion at the time, and the first one ever in that weight class. I achieved my goal, and I credit Ali for giving me the ability to know what to do outside of the ring to capture the fan base. That recollection is emotional, because visualizing something and working hard enough to be able to make it a reality is a very powerful combination.
Ali himself did this when, at twelve years of age, he visualized himself as Heavyweight Champion of the World. With that visual clear in his head, he overcame many obstacles to become the most famous person on earth. His belief in himself was so strong, that he could predict the particular round that he would knock someone out, and actually create that reality. It was prophetic, if not outright brilliant.

Ali redefined so many aspects of life and sport that to compare him to any other fighter is a waste of time to me. Was he the greatest fighter of all time? In my opinion, yes. Before being banned from boxing by the United States Government, I think he was better than anyone ever and maybe could have beaten anyone. Sadly, we will never know. I think he was smarter, faster, and in impeccable condition as a fighter, both in a mental sense and in a physical sense.

Even in the latter part of his career, he was a great fighter with an unmatched will to win. His rock-solid chin, heart, guts, balls, and other critical, but unmeasurable factors were in a league of their own. However, after the three and a half year layoff from boxing, I am not sure that he would have held up against Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, a young Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis, or even Evander Holyfield. That being said, a young Ali would have danced circles around them, made most of them look foolish and would have been too much for anyone.
What Ali represents, even today, 40 years after his prime time, is a level of character and relevance in sport or life in general to match up to which no athlete has been able to do.
As a fighter, his willingness to fight formidable challengers like the United States Government as a black man in the 60’s, Liston, Foreman, Norton, after being beaten by him, Frazier after being beaten by him, Shavers late in life, (are you reading this Floyd), his smarts, speed, power, movement, creativity, guts, heart, legs, etc. make him the GREATEST OF ALL TIME, he proclaimed as a twelve year old youngster going from door-to-door, until now.