Wednesday April 28, 2021
Fine, jail, title gone
When Muhammad Ali refused to go to war
Muhammad Ali has long been a great boxing champion in 1967 – and from one moment to the next he degenerates into a great figure of hatred for the white establishment in the USA. The devout Muslim refuses to do military service – an affront that is extremely severely punished.
Muhammad Ali didn’t just have an athletic life. Ali had one before and one after. The dividing line is April 28, 1967. On that day, the world suddenly changed for the greatest.
In Houston, Texas, the then 25-year-old Ali was supposed to go to the draft that day and then board the bus to the barracks. The world champion appeared at the official appointment in a fine black suit with a white shirt and black tie.
Ali lined up with the other recruits. When the lieutenant finally called out to him with the words: “Cassius Clay – Army”, he stopped. Out of conviction that the devout Muslim Ali did not want to serve, he did not want to be drawn into the Vietnam War, “did not want to fight against my brothers”. Cassius Clay was Ali’s maiden name, which he had given up in 1964.
New hate figure for the white establishment
And so it came as it had to come. Ali was sentenced to five years in prison and a $ 10,000 fine in June for refusing to do so. The white establishment in the US had a new hatred figure. His title as champ was revoked and his boxing license revoked for three years.
But Ali would not have been Ali if he had just accepted this judgment. He went to court, went through the courts. He never had to go to prison, on October 26, 1970 he was finally allowed back into the ring, and in June 1971 he was acquitted. However, he had lost good years as a boxer.
Outstanding ones were yet to come. Ali celebrated legendary ring battles against Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Ken Norton and Leon Spinks. He became world champion again, becoming the second boxer after Floyd Patterson to break the “They never come back” law and even later to become champion for the third time.
Muhammad Ali, who for many of the greatest athletes in history, boxed until the end of 1981, already marked by Parkinson’s disease. He also fought for a long time against this insidious disease, carrying his message of peace through the world.
The moment will not be forgotten when Ali lit the Olympic flame with a trembling body at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Ali was 74 years old. When he died on June 3, 2016, the world lost a great one. But heaven was looking forward to a legend.
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