Me. We.
Muhammad Ali is well known as the greatest of all time. He is revered by not just boxing fans and sports fans but colored people all around the world. It was not his ego or his pride that resulted in this, but rather his empathy and his commitment to his cause.
He was a flamboyant black man; recognized around the world for his stance against the Vietnam war. We see his empathy shine through in the film; during the match itself, he raises the slogan Ali Bomaye, and the crowd follows; we can see him gaining strength from the crowd, we see the shift in his energy. His struggle as a black man cannot be denied, and it is just another thing that empowers him. He is a hero for the same reason Vivian Richards is, he is a hero for the same reason Malcolm X is. Not for his showmanship, but for his embrace of his identity, for his embrace of his blackness. He fought another black boxer in the middle of Africa, yet the crowd cheered for Ali while they thought Foreman was a white man because he was world champion. They could not fathom a colored person having that title. Sport may see no race, but sports associations certainly do, and that Ali could conquer despite his blackness has set a precedent in sport for many more decades.
He was a flamboyant black man; recognized around the world for his stance against the Vietnam war. We see his empathy shine through in the film; during the match itself, he raises the slogan Ali Bomaye, and the crowd follows; we can see him gaining strength from the crowd, we see the shift in his energy. His struggle as a black man cannot be denied, and it is just another thing that empowers him. He is a hero for the same reason Vivian Richards is, he is a hero for the same reason Malcolm X is. Not for his showmanship, but for his embrace of his identity, for his embrace of his blackness. He fought another black boxer in the middle of Africa, yet the crowd cheered for Ali while they thought Foreman was a white man because he was world champion. They could not fathom a colored person having that title. Sport may see no race, but sports associations certainly do, and that Ali could conquer despite his blackness has set a precedent in sport for many more decades.
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