menbcr of Ali'j cnlourage, recall
two moments thtfl stand out in their
minds.
Norton: "When ^counted most,
Ali was there for-me. In 1986, 1 was in
a bad car accident; real bad. I was
unconscious for I don't know how
long. My right side was paralyzed; my
skull was fractured; I had a broken leg,
a broken jaw. The doctors said I might
never walk again* For a while, they
thought I might not ever even be able
to talk. I don't remember much abour
my first few months in the hospital, but
one thing I do remember is, after I was
hurt, Ali was one of the first people to
visit me. At that point, I wasn't sure
whether I wanted to live or die; that's
how bad I was hurt. And like I said,
there's a lot I don't remember. But I
remember looking up and there was
this crazy man standing by my bed. It
was Ali, and he was doing magic tricks
for me. He made a handkerchief disap
pear, he levitated. And I said to myself,
if he does one more awful trick, I'm
gonna get well just so I can kill him.
But Ali was there, and his being there
helped me. So I don't want to be
remembered as the man who broke
Muhammad Ali's jaw. I just want to be
remembered as a man who fought
three close competitive fights with Ali,
and became his friend when the fight
ing was over."
Wells: "I'll never forget, one time
we were in Haiti. We were driving to
the airport, and all of a sudden, Ali
said, 'Stop the car, stop!' There was an
old Haitian lady sitting by the road;
just sitting, not doing nothing else.
And got out of the car, walked over
to her, reached into his pocket, and
gave her a handful of bills. The woman
looked at it, and started to cry, She
couldn't believe it. And Ali did things
like that all the time. Money and pos
sessions never mattered to Ali. He'd
spend on everybody but himself.. I can't
tell you how many times he'd get a
check for five or ten thousand dollars,
and say, 'Send this to my mother,' or
'Send this to my father.' And not only
did he give away the money; he'd pay
? the taxes on it. I'm telling you, if some
one cut Ali open, they'd find his heart
was made of pure gold."
Item: Antagonizing opponents
was always a part of Ali's game plan.
The champ*s apparent disdain was
often perceived as malice. Ali
responds.
Ali: "I never hated anyone I
fought. And some of the guys - Jimmy
Ellis, Buster Mathis, Zora Folley ? I
liked a lot. It's wrong to hate. Sonny
Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman;
we were all in it together. It was good;
we had our day." _ \
Item: Joe Frazier and Ali
engaged in three brutal confronta
tions. And while Ali has always been
well received by just about everyone,
"Smokin'" Joe has never been a fan
of the champ. Even today, he's still
ticked at Ali.
? Frazier: I hated Ali. God might
not like me talking that way, but it's in
my heart. I hated that man. First two
fights, he tried to make me a white
been so umch written and said about
Ali's physical condition. Some have
gone as far as saying that the champ
is punch-drunk. Dr. Stanley Fahn, of
the Columbia Presbyterian Medical
Center gives his prognosis of Ali's
condition. The champ underwent
" I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me, because I had a good
life before and Prifhav frig a good life now . It would be bad if I hah
disease that was contagious . TAin / couldn't play with children and
hug people all over the world. But my problem with speaking bothers
other people more than it bothers me. It doesn't stop me from doing
what I want to do and being what I want to be. Sometimes I think
that too many people put me on a pedestal before and made me into
an idol. And that's against Islam ; there are no idols in Islam. So
maybe this problem / have is God's way of reminding me and every
one else about what's important. I accept it as God's will. And I know
that God never gives anyone a burden that's too heavy for them to
carry."
- Muhammad Ali
man. Then he tried to make me a nig
ger. How would you like it if your kids
came home from school crying,
because everyone was calling their
daddy a gorilla? God made us all the
way we are. He made us the way we
talk and look. And the way I feel, I'd
like to fight Ali-Clay-whatever his
name is again tomorrow. Twenty years,
I've been fighting Ali, and I still want
to take him apart piece by piece and
send him back to Jesus.
"I know things would have been
different for me if Clay hadn't been
around. 1 would've gotten a lot more
respect. I would've had more apprecia
tion from my own kind. But the 6ood
Man planned it for us to come together
at the same time, and I'm sure he had a
plan.
"We were gladiators. I didn't ask
no favors of him, and he didn't ask
none of me. I don't like him but I got to
say, in the ring he was a man. In Mani-^
la, I hit him with punches, those^
punches, they'd knocked>a building
down. And he took 'em and he came
back, and I got to respect that part of
the man. He was a fighter. He shook
me in Manila; he won. But I sent him
home worse than he came. Look at him
now; he's damaged goods. I know it;
you know it. Everyone knows it; they
just don't want to say.
Item: In spjfte of Frazier's feel
ings, All makes It clear that each
fighter made the other. All points out
that his antics were never intended
to create ill-will and hostility^
Ali: I'm sorry Joe Frazier is mad at
me. I'm sorry I hurt him. Joe Frazier is
a good man. I couldn't have done what
I did without him, and he couldn't have
done what he did without me.And if
God ever calls me to a holy war, I want
Joe Frazier fighting beside me."
Item: In recent years, there has
extensive testing at Columbia Pres
byterian in *84. Fahn is the director
of CPMC's Parkinsonism and Move
ment Disorders Clinic. ??
Dr. Fahn: He's asked that I speak
freely and completely [for this book],
so I'll tell you my diagnosis that it was
post-traumatic Parkinsonism due to
injuries from fighting. Muhammad
himself told me he thinks that most of
the damage came from the third Frazier
fight, the one in Manila. That may be
where he started to get his damage, but
it's highly unlikely that it all came from
one fight. My assumption is that his
physical condition resulted from
repeated blows to the head overtime.
Item: It's ironic that Ali went on
rttbrd as saying that boxing has its
perils for those shouldn't be in a
ring. In -76, five years before he
retired, he made the following state
ment on CBS's Face The Nation .
Ali: "I think boxing is dangerous.
The brain's a delicate thing. If a fellow
is not qualified, he shouldn't be
allowed to fight. My jaw's been bro
ken, and one nerve is iust coming back
from where I couldn't feel for a year or
two. I got my eardrum busted in Mani
. la training for Joe Frazier, and I just
had it rebusted; the same one. I would
advise nobody to box if they get hit too
much."
Item: The champ isn't the same
man that the public has always
warmly embraced. Still, Ali's physi
cal problems doesn't mean that his
life is over. Dr. Fahn discusses the
prospects for Ali at this point in his
life.
Dr. Fahn: "As for the type of life
Muhammad can expect to lead in the
future, we rated him as being able to
perform all the activities of daily living
at 90 percent oFwhat would be normal
of him without his physical problem.
"-vn*y wjfiw
He's sligitfy slow, Hit certainly func
tioning. His condition is ilotIMP
way life-threatening. And I saw no
indication that he was suffering from
'puglistica dementia.' In other words,
the symptons were in his motor skills;
movement, speech, and facial express
sion. His condition did not affect his
level of intelligence or the quickness of
his mind. In fact, I was very much
impressed by his street smarts and his
^ability to handle people, particularly
the pres&
* "To the extent that people see
Muhammad today and he's moving
unusually slow or speaking particularly
poorly, that simply suggests to me that
he's not taking his medicine at that
time. Nothing will make him 100 per
cent again. But with proper medica
tion, exercise, and diet, the quality of
his life should be good."
Item: Given the champ's condi
tion, there has been a tendency to
feel sorry for him. Lonnie Ali,
Muhammad's current wife, explains
that there's really no need for people ,
to be overly concerned about her
husband's health.
Lonnie Ali: "The tendency people
now have is to feel protective of
Muhammad and treat him as though he
were fragile. But there's no need to do
that. Muhammad travels more than
anyone else I know on this earth. I'm a
healthy woman. I don't have any physi
cal frailties, and 1 can't keep up with
his traveling schedule. I've begged off
of trips that Muhammad went on
becaue I just couldn't do it, and I'm
fourteen years younger than he is. Peo
ple don't understand when they see
Muhammad what his previous days
might have been. People say, 'Muham
mad come here; Muhammad go there.'
And he'll get on a plane and do it with
out any concern for his health or how
tired he might be."
Item: Muhammad Ali has
accepted what has happened to him.
He isn't distraught, but reflective
and philosophical.
anyone to feel sorry for me, because I
had a good life before and I'm having
a good life now. It would be bad if I
had a disease that was contagious.
Then I couldn't play with children and
hug people all over the world. But my
problem with speaking bothers other
people more than it bothers me. It
doesn't stop me from doing what I
want to do and bein& what I want to
be. Sometimes I think that too many
people put me on a pedestal before
and made me into an idol. And that's
against Islam; there are no idols in
Islam. So maybe this problem I have
is God's way of reminding me and
everyone else about what's important
I accept it as God's will. And I know
that God never gives anyone a burden
that's too heavy for them to carry."