Happy birthday Muhammad Ali - Il est soixante-neuf

This sunny morning as I was driving and listening to one Stefani Germanotta, I suddenly felt moved to intone "Happy Birthday" to a man not in the car, a man I may never meet.

It is plainly weird to come onto a boxing website to express admiration for the 3-time heavyweight champion from Louisville and run into quasi aggression, ridicule and nonsense. But time is teaching me that it is merely --like Aesop's foolishly aggrandized toad-- the detractors' way of attempting bigness, if only as transcendent as a pimple on the Man's behind.

Was he perfect? No. Is anyone?

Ali threatens to exhaust language's capacity for description. The books, the films, the documentaries, the articles, the on-line forums, are all a testament. Art has also tried its hand in depicting the champion: the poems, the songs, the portraits, the oratory, the sculptures, the cartoons, the action figures. It's all there.

And, yet, the stream of words and art keeps rolling forth, inexhaustible as the man himself.

In this day of mirages, contrivance can win fame and fortune...for a season, short or long. But contrivance is its own ceiling. We will gush over our heroes, but, by and large, their star fades as their ability to entertain us wanes. Ali the person became greater as his skills faded. As the dross and vanity of summer melted away, the world has embraced what was left, what had always been there, what the loquacious youth always was and through it all endeavored to work at: a human being who transcended the ordinary by seeing a divine calling in his work, and felt a kinship to his fellow man.
The human race, for all its shallowness and folly, can detect genuineness and Ali has passed the test, not only of time, but of humanity.

This is what I learn from Ali. He brought dazzling skill, showmanship, drama, faith, courage, perseverance, vision into the ring. Because, in the end, it was about more than just showing him the money. Sure, he was also controversial and deeply resented. Think what you may, but the man was taking an unprecedented, uncompromising stand for the black race and I respect that. And it was not a gimmick. For all his lack of sophistication, he understood and accepted the most important thing: in a turbulent time, his stand threatened to cost him his livelihood and perhaps his life. He never flinched.

As a boy who at 14 and 15 stood before adult congregations and was anointed to full-time ministry by his leader at 17, I can relate to Ali's words and actions as those of a man who, in his quest came upon poor pastoral direction, but understood the bottom line: man is nothing without God, and, when done for God, any vocation, even boxing, is great.

Some things are meant for each other. I guess some people too. I became aware of my world at the tail end of Ali's career and have hazy memories of watching his TV defenses from Lyle to Spinks. My parents were never fans of the Lip. My dad called him "the Yeller", and my mom fussed about the old men put up against him (she suffered through Dunn and Coopman.)

For some reason, I always related to him. I didn't know his story. But I wasn't even 10 when I was moved to tears and clapping in our living room as on television Howard Cosell extolled at the Superdome, "May you be forever young!"

Today, the more I learn about the man, the more I respect him. The ugly warts are for another time. I still dream of learning more about him in the best possible way: I would like to meet him and simply say "Thank you" for inspiring me throughout my own journey. I know, as certainly hundreds have personally over the decades, that I would also come away respecting Muhammad Ali as just another fellow man who dared to say "I am the Greatest!"

And in doing so, he brought many children along with him to glory.

Happy 69th Birthday, Ali, and may God bless you always!

 

HE IS IRREPLACEABLE
:good

 

How many films been made about him?

 

Happy Birthday Ali.

You provided us with 3 of my personal favourite top 10 Heavyweight fights; "Fight of the Century", "Thrilla in Manila" & "Rumble in the Jungle". :good

 

Happy birthday to Ali the eternal champion

 

For all that people try to detract from his accomplishments, the man provided us with some the most memorable performances, and took part in some of the best fights of all time. That, alone, is reason enough for me to celebrate his existence.

So I will.

Happy Birthday to Muhammad Ali.

 

Mine was same tour in Nottingham - dad let me bunk the afternoon off school to go and meet him!!! One of my favourite memories - me and my dad sneeking the afternoon off school and work and meeting certainly my dads all time sports hero - it's funny - one of my future work mates actually chaufferred Ali around on the tour (only found out 3 or 4 years after) - he was a former amateur heavyweight boxer and he's pictured with Ali during that tour in a book I have called Muhammad Ali: A Thirty Year Journey (by Howard Bingham) - his name was Tony James and he was a massive MASSIVE bear of a man - he sparred with Frank Bruno once too - really really nice bloke as well really friendly - might look him up on boxrec come to think of it

 

Thats because your a just a ***** thats stumbled into the wrong thread.

 

Im a bit late here obviously but happy birthday to the greatest of all time.

Muhammad Ali - The God of boxing !

 

btw in french you can't say "il est soixante-neuf"

just saying. Google translate doesn't work all the time.