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Muhammad Ali raises his arms in celebrations after putting down Sonny Liston in the canvas as referee Jersey Joe Walcott gives count in the first round of the World Heavyweight Title bout at St. Dominic's Hall on May 25, 1965 in Lewiston, Maine. This was Cassius Clay first fight after changing his name to Muhammad Ali. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
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President Obama is a long-time sports fan who roots hard for many of his Chicago area teams, notably the White Sox and the Bears.
But Obama also is a boxing fan and, more specifically, a Muhammad Ali fan. In a joint statment with First Lady Michelle Obama released by the White House, Obama noted that he has a pair of Ali's boxing gloves on display beneath the famous photo of Ali standing over Sonny Liston after knocking him out in their second bout in Lewiston, Maine, in 1965.
In my private study, just off the Oval Office, I keep a pair of his gloves on display, just under that iconic photograph of him – the young champ, just 22 years old, roaring like a lion over a fallen Sonny Liston. I was too young when it was taken to understand who he was – still Cassius Clay, already an Olympic Gold Medal winner, yet to set out on a spiritual journey that would lead him to his Muslim faith, exile him at the peak of his power, and set the stage for his return to greatness with a name as familiar to the downtrodden in the slums of Southeast Asia and the villages of Africa as it was to cheering crowds in Madison Square Garden.
Obama's statement is not entirely correct. The photo he refers to was of the Ali-Liston rematch on May 25, 1965. Ali had changed his name after his first fight with Liston in 1964. On Feb. 26, 1964, the day after Cassius Clay knocked out Liston to win the title as a 22-year-old in Miami, Fla., the new champion held a press conference.
He announced he was joining the Nation of Islam and renounced his birth name as a slave name. With Malcolm X at his side, he initially said that he would be known as Cassius X until Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, gave him what he referred to as a holy name. Elijah Muhammad gave him the name Muhammad Ali in the first week of March 1964.
There is a picture of Obama from 2004 when he was running for a seat in the Senate from Illinois in which the Ali-Liston photo is above his desk.
Obama said he was a fan as a child but respected the man Ali proved to be.
That’s the Ali I came to know as I came of age – not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right. A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.
He wasn’t perfect, of course. For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved. But his wonderful, infectious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than foes – maybe because in him, we hoped to see something of ourselves. Later, as his physical powers ebbed, he became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world. We saw a man who said he was so mean he’d make medicine sick reveal a soft spot, visiting children with illness and disability around the world, telling them they, too, could become the greatest. We watched a hero light a torch, and fight his greatest fight of all on the world stage once again; a battle against the disease that ravaged his body, but couldn’t take the spark from his eyes.
Obama also invoked the line the 22-year-old Clay used after he knocked out Liston to win the title in praising his impact upon the world.
Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it. We are all better for it. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family, and we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rests in peace.
Former President Bill Clinton also released a statement mourning Ali's passing. He tweeted about it and included a link to his statement.
Clinton said in his statement he became friends with Ali in the champion's later years.
Hillary and I are saddened by the passing of Muhammad Ali. From the day he claimed the Olympic gold medal in 1960, boxing fans across the world knew they were seeing a blend of beauty and grace, speed and strength that may never be matched again. We watched him grow from the brash self-confidence of youth and success into a manhood full of religious and political convictions that led him to make tough choices and live with the consequences. Along the way we saw him courageous in the ring, inspiring to the young, compassionate to those in need, and strong and good-humored in bearing the burden of his own health challenges.
I was honored to award him the Presidential Citizens Medal at the White House, to watch him light the Olympic flame, and to forge a friendship with a man who, through triumph and trials, became even greater than his legend. Our hearts go out to Lonnie, his children, and his entire family.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has been involved in boxing and hosted title fights at his casinos.
Trump put out a tweet in which he called Ali "a wonderful guy."
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