The book is a biographical book in verse written amazingly with hard-hitting words which presented exactly what the characters would have felt during the times of struggle, all the pain and efforts, the wins and the joy of overcoming all the ruthless discrimination and racism Cassius Clay had to face ever since he was a kid. Ali is aware of what colour people are, and at times he knows their religion. But it doesn’t affect how he feels about them. A couple of weeks after he beat Joe Frazier in Manilla, we were in New York for a reception at the United Nations. Ali was watching the news on the television, and a story came on about a Jewish community center that was closing because it didn’t have enough money. It was a place for old people. They were handicapped and a lot of them had been persecuted by the Nazis in Germany. The next morning [December 2, 1975], we went up to the building where the center was. Ali looked around, talked to some of the people, and gave them a cheque for a hundred thousand dollars. That’s the way he is. And when someone asked why he did it, all he said was he had a soft spot for old people.”

I bought the book in an attempt to understand Ali's influence on the Nation of Islam movement in the US. His role as a Muslim hero among the Muslim population outside US was never in question. Most non-US Muslims are not aware that Nation of Islam has its own prophets which is blasphemous notion among traditional Muslims. Near the end of the book I was, at times, confused about just what fight he was talking about as he seemed to shift between one fight and another but just keep reading and it all comes together.

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Et avec l'arrivée de Donald Trump au pouvoir, les Américains voient ressurgir le Ku Klux Klan et tous ces groupuscules blancs et racistes. Sure, there are flaws - it definitely goes soft on Ali on a few things: his strict adherence to Elijah Muhammad, at a time where the Nation of Islam was preaching strict segregation (Ali converted to Sunni Islam in the 70s and now practices Sufism); his philandering; his attitude to Ernie Terrell and especially Joe Frazier. That said, I don't believe we'd have the range of voices in this book, without the overall positive approach and tone that the author has brought to the project, which has clearly encouraged just about all the major figures in this story to give first-hand accounts. It's also not as if the author doesn't allow negative views - there are people in this story who genuinely don't like Ali, albeit that just about everyone here finds something positive to say about him and it's clear that just about everyone considers him a remarkable figure, in the way he conducted his life in the public eye. The strategy is echoed once more later on in the book, in exploring Ali’s current diagnosis of Parkinsonism. The medical records are very detailed and unnecessary. Again, it feels as if the author erred on the side of TMI. This bit of info the modern reader is more likely to know about anyway.

The writing style of the writer is super natural and easy to read. The style is further embellished with numerous quotes and statements of Muhammad Ali. Each scenario in the book is presented Here are some quotes of note that I feel illustrate why Ali is at the top of my tree of inspiration: We’re presented with a man who entered the public spectrum as a boxer, a gold medal Olympian, someone who has grown into a myth, an icon, an important historical figure. The narrative is thorough in filling in the details left out of this mythic story, such as the politics behind the stripping of his world championship title after his draft dodging conviction and what he did in the three year interim. Who knew that he traveled the college lecture circuit and that he surrounded himself with mooches that took advantage of him every chance they got? I had no idea how deep and true the rivalry between Joe Frazier and Ali was, nor how in financial strait’s the champ was, despite good-hearted and competent intervention. Kids idolize athletes because they follow their dreams and men idolize them because they get to sleep with models'Julian Bond (a speaker on the college lecture circuit. During his exile from boxing, public speaking was the only way Muhammad Ali could make money: I applaud Eig for calling out the inconsistencies in Ali's life and speech. The fact that the same man who for years thought of whites as blue-eyed devils also got his start from a group of well-meaning white men and received most of his genuine help and assistance from white men along the way. The fact that Ali's 'friends' never stood in the way of his next payday, even when they could see that The Champ's mind and body were struggling, because they stood to get paid too. "With friends like these..." one could say. Muhammad Ali was, by far, the greatest sports figure of the 20th century. His is a personality that no one will ever be able to "figure out" entirely. He was simultaneously thrilling, charming, disappointing, and malicious. But he was the greatest pugilist of all time(s), and his accomplishments speak for themselves. The book depicts beautifully compiled and greatly investigated series of events of life of Muhammad Ali from the beginning of his career to its end. Moreover, it uniquely engulfs his personal life as well revealing the minute details of him as person besides a professional boxer. From this book the readers get the details of the life of Ali from his very childhood to the times when he discovered himself and his talents leading towards his extraordinary and highly successful career. His frame of life where he embraced Islam and represented a beautiful relation of a human with Allah Almighty. His believes, generosity, thirst towards freedom, bold statements for basic human rights and dynamic personality all this is summed up in a few words through this book. Personnellement, j'ai beaucoup aimé ce livre sans être une grande fan de boxe mais la personnalité de Mohamed Ali m'a toujours fascinée.

Mohammad Alis betydelse för sporten var enorm. Varhelst han drog fram blev det en massiv medial genomlysning av det mesta som han sa och gjorde.There was one chapter that was not so great IMO and that was the one where he was talking about his ex wife but as the champ might say, ya can't win 'em all. Other than that chapter the book was fantastic even down to the last chapter and the last sentence in particular. What sets this biography apart from others, is that it dives deeply into Ali’s entire life, from growing up in the ’40s and ’50s in Louisville, to retirement in Michigan and Arizona. It’s a profile of the character and human self of Muhammad Ali, not a book about boxing, not a book about a boxer, not a book about the boxer Muhammad Ali, but a book about Muhammad Ali, and his life leading into the fame of a world-class boxer and the prettiness and pain that came with it. Niinpä ei olekaan yllättävää, että jo vuonna 1991 ilmestynyt Thomas Hauserin "Muhammad Ali: Suurin ja kaunein" (Minerva, 2017) päätyi lukulistalleni. Lukukokemus olikin mielenkiintoinen, eikä ihme, sillä kyllähän maailmanhistorian kuuluisimman nyrkkeilijän ja 1900-luvun värikkäimpien urheilupersoonien joukkoon lukeutuvan Alin eli syntyjään Cassius Clayn kiehtovissa elämänvaiheissa niin kehässä kuin kehän ulkopuolella riittää aineistoa vaikka useampaan teokseen. En ole suuri kamppailulajien ystävä, mutta nyrkkeilyssä on ripaus jotakin sellaista, mikä vetoaa minun alkukantaisempaan puoleeni. Lisäksi olen ollut perinteisesti kiinnostunut 1960-luvun yhteiskunnallisesta liikehdinnästä, joka ilmeni muun muassa Vietnamin sodan vastustamisena ja mustien kansalaisoikeustaisteluna. I was obsessed with Ali as a kid. I had his fights on videotape. I played them over and over. I listened to him talk constantly.