“One Man’s Opinion” by Gordon Curvey

I am a tremendous sports fan. I have always mixed entertainment and sports with “Music Inner City TV” and “Music Inner City Radio” and now “Sports Inner City TV”. I have tried to bring you information others in my area are not bringing to the table. And LOVE the sport of boxing.

As you know the great icon Muhammad Ali has passed away at age 74. In my opinion and many others, he was the biggest sports star ever in sports history in America. Let’s tell the truth. Who is bigger than Ali? Babe Ruth or Micheal Jordan? No way! The biggest name in sports history has to be Muhammad Ali. He was great of course inside of the ring and outside of the ring.

He came on the scene as a very quick and agile young fighter out of Louisville and made a name for himself in the Olympics and was on his way to stardom. Becoming a very young heavyweight champion by beating a man no one thought he could beat, Sonny Liston.

And then Ali continued on as a undefeated fighter until he met the late Smokin Joe Frazier. Himself a great fighter. And Smokin Joe ended his winning ways. Muhammad Ali’s fights with Frazier were vicious bouts. All three of them. He took terrible blows to the head over and over and over. Some say Ali should have retired after the third fight. Of course he did not. We have to remember Ali sat out the three and a half years for not refusing to go into the Army when he was drafted, he lost his prime years as a athlete.

When he came back into the ring, he did not do all the dancing around the ring he used to do. H e did a lot of the “Rope-A-Dope” he made made famous. So as a result, his fights with Frazier and the late Ken Norton Sr. Ali took a lot of heavy shots. Even in his fight with big George Foreman, he took big punches.

Truth be told, Ali fought way way too. Former heavyweight champ and a person who really has not got his due, Larry Holmes did not want to fight his idol.But he had to. And the beating Ali took from Larry was really really sad. Go to You Tube and see for yourself. Larry asked the ref to end the fight over and over and the ref did not. But finally he had to stop the fight. It was sad. Also sad was the fight with Trevor Berbick. Ali’s last fight as a pro. People were very very happy that Ali ended his career.

But ladies and gentlemen the damage was done to Muhammad Ali. His speech continued to go downhill and in 1985 he announced he had Parkinson’s. We watched his condition get worse and worse over the years. But his popularity NEVER went downhill. Ali was and is loved all over the world. People in China, Russia, Australia, Japan, North Korea…everywhere the name Muhammad Ali is known.

I have been lucky enough though my TV show to get to know the eldest daughter of Ali (one of his nine children), Maryum “May May” Ali.  She has been on my program numerous times over the year. When ever she has a project going she is working on, we have her on “M.I.C-TV. She does a lot of work in the inner city down in L.A. She is a very nice and down to earth lady.

Well Ali was left us now and he is in the boxing ring in heaven with Smokin Joe, Norton Sr, and Ernie Shavers and Ernie Terrell. Guys Ali defeated in the ring. I am glad there is You Tube where we can go and watch just how great the icon was. He did so much for African Americans in speaking up about racism in America. Ali loved children too. He would do card tricks for kids all the time.

Guys on sports radio and elsewhere here in Seattle and nationwide CANNOT relate to what Ali fought for because many of them are not African American. But African Americans like myself want to say THANK YOU to Muhammad Ali, you will ALWAYS BE THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME IN AND OUT OF THE RING!!