When did Ali's financial problems start?

The day he joined American Islam.

 

I figured when he became a true booty warrior, these problems started.

 

At birth.

 

Muhammad Ali's problems began when he made comments about his sentiments involving the Vietnam war. His refusal to enter the U. S. military when drafted, costs him more title defenses, loss of his title and license in 1967, his prime years. Also court costs to remain free on bond after convicted. Later on he had a lot of people around him who were Yes people, who were in it for the money, Freeloaders, so to speak, especially with Don King around towards the end of his career, urging more fights as he was displaying more physical issues as he was far from his prime.

 

I can only speak to his post career life.

Ali was a money mill. He spent an exuberant amount, but was always able to keep cash coming in through endorsements, partnerships, licensing and other business deals. He never cared about money, and never missed an opportunity to give it away. He never turned away people asking for money, or people tagging along as his entourage. Which, yes, would sometimes be upwards to 100 people using his name at hotels. My dad and Herbert Muhammad were the ones who would turn some of the extreme cases away. At times people who didn't even know Ali were buying fur coats under his name. He just wasn't the type of person to confront anyone about money. He was the opposite.

Countless nights he would bring a homeless person along for a 5 star dinner, seat them next to him, and leave $500 in their pockets. He would constantly visit impoverished areas handing out money to every person who walked up to him. As extensively documented his life was, they only captured about 5% of his good deeds. He was generous on or off camera, usually off. He definitely didn't do it for show, or to boost his image. He did it because he was genuine.

This lifestyle would leave most athletes bankrupt, but not when you're Ali. He would visit foreign countries, and leaders would offer his mansions at their expense to use whenever he wanted, which he always turned down. There was never a shortage of opportunities his management (who were really his close friends) could utilize to keep the money coming in. Which makes sense since for a big chunk of his life, he was the most famous man in the world.

Ali was completely selfless. He used every ounce of energy he had uplift people in small and large settings. He was a great great man. I would assume that he didn't continue boxing out of financial desperation, but rather because he enjoyed it, and wanted to uplift people with his performances.

 

Muhammad Ali was a great man and fighter, This was a really good post.

 

The only time Ali paid attention to his $ was when he was spending it. He knew many in his entourage were ripping him but he accepted it cause he needed people around him. He fed off the circus.

 

When he joined the NOI.

 

I've always wondered how Ali would be perceived if he came around today with the attitude he had back then. I'm not saying he was universally liked back then but in today's climate he would be detested by many beating his chest about Islam.

 

Any more than he was destested by the majority of white America when he was "beating his chest about [the Nation of] Islam?

 

If you don't mind my asking, who was your father?

 

You have to keep in mind the idea of athletes having financial planners or agents is a relatively new thing - new like in the last 40 years.

Athletes from the 1960s and 1970s (Ali's era) in all sports weren't well paid and often had regular jobs when their sports season ended. Even in the 1970s, you could count the number of athletes IN ALL SPORTS who had even earned a million dollars on a couple hands.

Ali lived from fight to fight like most fighters did throughout history to that point. If he made 10 times more for a fight than other guys did, then he spent 10 times more before the next fight.

Many around him have repeated that Ali fought so much his whole career because he spent so much his whole career. But that's just what basically every fighter did. That's why people didn't find it particularly odd or write a lot of stories about it until his career was wrapping up.

Only a couple of heavyweight champions had any money when they retired. Dempsey had money, but lost it all in the stock market crash. Tunney had money, but he married into a wealthy family who taught him how to manage it. Schmeling had money only because he signed up with Coca Cola after WWII and became a distributor in Europe.

But just about all the other top heavyweights lived hand to mouth. Because once the fight checks stopped, the money stopped coming in.

Frazier retired with money, but at the end he was living in his broken down gym. Walcott and Patterson got state commissioner jobs based on their names (Patterson couldn't do the work), and they were considered VERY successful at the time for getting them. But they were just government jobs. Foreman retired with money in the 1970s, but lost it all. He didn't have money again until he made his comeback and then sold the George Foreman Grill.

There weren't people around Ali who said you need to set money aside for retirement until his last couple fights.

There's a documentary on ESPN called BROKE. It basically shows how sports agents have tried to help athletes over the past 40 years try to save their money. But even with people there to help, many of them blow their money.

Long story short, Ali's case of not having much money as he ended his career (until others came in later and tried to help him market his image) was the NORM. It wasn't out of the ordinary for an athlete (even a highly paid one) at all.

Now, accountants specialize in handling sports stars because there are A LOT of them and they are all making millions. Back then, when fighters retired, they tried to get into show business or they opened a restaurant that tanked, and that was about it.

 

He’s not a known figure in the lore of Ali, although he and Herbert were the two closest people to Ali post-career. He always stayed away from the spotlight and the photographs.

After the Berbick fight, Ali’s team was looking for a translator for their overseas travels and a mutual friend put them in touch. My father is the greatest person I know, with the best set of morals and ethics I’ve seen a person live. Ali and the team grew to like him quickly, and soon he was in charge of all the business dealings. He and my father became very close friends. They both had a key to each other’s home in Hyde Park of Chicago. Ali loved spending time with our family because everyone treated him as a person rather than a celebrity. There are countless amazing untold stories I’ve heard from my father about their travels and the kind of person Ali was. A few weeks before he passed we FaceTimed him, and his eyes lit up when he saw my dad.

Ali was a mentor to my father, and according to him, Ali was the greatest person he ever met. After Ali became more ill he mostly spent time with family, and my father went on to do more great things in life.

 

Where is your father now if you don't mind me asking?