{"id":9158,"date":"2024-05-04T02:03:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T02:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/?p=9158"},"modified":"2024-05-04T02:03:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-04T02:03:45","slug":"low-blow-i-once-asked-my-dad-muhammad-ali-which-fight-was-his-toughest-and-his-answer-surprised-me-vu-thuy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/low-blow-i-once-asked-my-dad-muhammad-ali-which-fight-was-his-toughest-and-his-answer-surprised-me-vu-thuy\/","title":{"rendered":"LOW BLOW I on\u0441e \u0430\u0455ked my d\u0430d Muh\u0430mm\u0430d Al\u0456 wh\u0456\u0441h f\u0456ght w\u0430\u0455 h\u0456\u0455 toughe\u0455t \u0430nd h\u0456\u0455 \u0430n\u0455wer \u0455ur\u0440r\u0456\u0455ed me"},"content":{"rendered":"

FEW names carry as much weight as Muhammad Ali \u2013 so it\u2019s no surprise his son and heir faced an epic fight to live up to his legacy.<\/p>\n

Not only was the late legend considered to be \u201cThe Greatest\u201d\u00a0boxer\u00a0of all time, he had a \u00admagnetic personality and a moral purpose championing his anti-racism campaign in the US.<\/p>\n

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\"Boxing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali with son Muhammad Ali Jnr, who has struggled to live up to his legendary father’s nameCredit: Sports Illustrated – Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"Muhammad<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Muhammad Jnr practising his boxing skills in 2016, but he had previously been hooked on drugs, surviving on food stamp benefits and living in a leaky hovel \u2014 cut off from his famous father<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"Boxing<\/p>\n<\/div>

Boxing legend Ali aged 20 in 1962Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was therefore inevitable that his namesake,\u00a0Muhammad Ali\u00a0Jnr, had high expectations to meet.<\/p>\n

But the younger man had struggles of his own, ending up hooked on drugs, surviving on food stamp benefits and living in a leaky hovel \u2014 cut off from his famous father.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old American has now cleaned up his act and will be the subject of both a documentary and a dramatised movie.<\/p>\n

The films will delve into the trials of being the offspring of Muhammad Ali \u2014 born\u00a0Cassius Clay \u2014 probably the world\u2019s best-known athlete.<\/p>\n

While you might imagine that Ali Jnr would have been brought up in the lap of luxury, he was in fact raised by his grandparents, who struggled for cash.<\/p>\n

And while he could have chosen to adopt his dad\u2019s birth surname of Clay, he stuck proudly with Ali.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, he says: \u201cI was born with the name Muhammad Ali, so I had to be protected because, later in life, my father said, \u2018This is Muhammad Ali \u2014 when I\u2019m done, he\u2019ll take over\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m taking over the legacy. I\u2019m going to keep the legacy going. I am Muhammad Ali Jnr.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali Snr was 25 and already a divorcee when he married Jnr\u2019s actress mum,\u00a0Belinda Boyd, in 1967. She was aged just 17.<\/p>\n

\u2018My father was just a teddy bear\u2019<\/h2>\n

They had three daughters,\u00a0Maryum, Jamillah and Rasheda, before the boxer\u2019s male heir arrived.<\/p>\n

By this time, Ali was known the world over thanks to his quick feet, devastating glove work and his refusal on conscientious grounds to fight for the US military in\u00a0Vietnam.<\/p>\n

But with fame and fortune came the attention of numerous women \u2014 a temptation he could not resist.<\/p>\n

He cheated on Belinda, who changed her name to Khalilah Ali, before leaving her for his third wife, Veronica Porche, when Ali Jnr was four years old.<\/p>\n

Ali Jnr reveals that messing with his mum was a bold move \u2014 because she was one of the few people to ever floor the champion.<\/p>\n

He recalls: \u201cI once said to my father, \u2018Of all the fighting you did, what was the one fight you\u2019d never do again?\u2019 He thought for a minute and said to me, \u2018Your mother\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was because she had thrown him to the ground with a thump in a judo move when he\u2019d crept into the house behind her.<\/p>\n

After the divorce, Ali Jnr went to live with his maternal grandparents and would only stay with his dad during school holidays.<\/p>\n

But his dad, who had at least nine children, made sure those visits were very special.<\/p>\n

Ali Jnr says: \u201cHe would take us everywhere. It was all good back then. My father was basically a teddy bear.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved his kids and he\u2019d do anything for us. I never got spanked by him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was someone we called \u2018Daddy\u2019 \u2014 I don\u2019t know any other way to put it. He was a good father even though he wasn\u2019t always there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lack of contact with his children was something that the boxer came to regret. He warned Ali Jnr, \u201cDon\u2019t make the same mistake and same decision I made in my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

His son took the message to mean \u201chaving too many women and being with other women. And also the mistakes he made of not being there for his children\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite earning a fortune from bouts \u2014 including the $100million 1974\u00a0Rumble In The Jungle against George Foreman\u00a0\u2014 Ali Snr did not provide enough cash to support all his kids.<\/p>\n

Ali Jnr says: \u201cHe was away a lot, so our grandparents raised me when I was a child. My grandfather was going to retire, but he had to work to pay the bills, the mortgage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrying the name Muhammad Ali around the school playground also proved to be a curse for his son.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cI got bullied because the other children wanted to know if I could fight like my dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never showed my technique to anybody and I never will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali Jnr was more fearful about what might happen to his father as the older man stood up for the rights of black Americans, making him a target for right-wing groups.<\/p>\n

Ali Jnr states: \u201cI thought he was going to be martyred like\u00a0Martin Luther King\u00a0was.\u201d<\/p>\n

His dad also warned him about the dangers of a professional boxing career and Ali Jnr decided not to follow the same path. It was a wise decision in terms of health, because repeated blows to the head left the heavyweight king with\u00a0Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

The brain damage meant that Ali Snr was so forgetful he once abandoned his son at a roadside eatery when the boy was 14.<\/p>\n

\u2018I used to smoke weed, crack and cocaine\u2019<\/h2>\n

Ali Jnr says: \u201cOne time my father picked me up from where I was living in Chicago to go to his home in Michigan and we stopped at a place on the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me to go get something to eat and when I came back, he was gone. It was scary. I was crying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around this time, Ali had married his fourth and final wife, Yolanda Williams, who is better known as Lonnie. After that, the boxer and his eldest son drifted apart. Lacking purpose and unable to escape his father\u2019s shadow, Ali Jnr started taking illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

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\"Muhammad<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Muhammad Ali Junior pictured outside his former home in one of Chicago’s roughest areasCredit: www.thisischriswhite.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"Ali<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Ali Snr was 25 and already a divorcee when he married Jnr\u2019s actress mum, Belinda Boyd, in 1967. She was aged just 17Credit: AP:Associated Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

The boxing legend with third wife Veronica PorcheCredit: Getty – Contributor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He admits: \u201cI used to use weed and smoke crack and heroin.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2005 he married Shaakira and they have two children, Ameera, 14, and 13-year-old Shakera.<\/p>\n

Ali Jnr says: \u201cIt was hard financially. I actually had to sleep on the floor because from my bed every day, every night, you would hear gunshots going off.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeside the crime, the water wasn\u2019t right, the electricity wasn\u2019t right, the building wasn\u2019t right. When it rained it leaked into the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial worries only increased the tension with Lonnie, who was his dad\u2019s primary carer.<\/p>\n

His son claims: \u201cI asked him for some money. And she told me not to ask him for money. I really hated her for that.\u201d Eventually, Ali Jnr began taking positive steps and quit his drug habit. He says: \u201cI got off that and turned my life around. I stay away from drug addicts now.\u201d<\/p>\n

But marriage to Shaakira did not survive that turbulent existence and the couple are working out a divorce.<\/p>\n

For a long time he was either unemployed or doing odd jobs, such as painting and decorating.<\/p>\n

Recently, he helped set up The Muhammad Ali Legacy Continues, an organisation that aims to establish gyms in his father\u2019s name and to campaign against bullying.<\/p>\n

Much of his time at the moment is taken up with the movie projects. The documentary, My Father Muhammad Ali, is due out in here in March and there are plans to make a dramatised version of Ali Jnr\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

He reveals: \u201cA biopic is going to start filming on my life story later next year by the same producer who did The Irishman with De Niro.\u201d Ali Snr died aged 74 in 2016, but his son was left upset by the high-profile nature of the funeral, which was packed with celebrities. He says: \u201cIt was like a circus.\u201d<\/p>\n

There seems little point in Muhammad Ali Jnr trying to escape his father\u2019s name \u2014 because his legacy is all round.<\/p>\n

He concludes: \u201cEverywhere I go, somebody has heard of Muhammad Ali and everywhere I go I see a picture of my father somewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now like a dream. I never thought my father would die.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatness he had, I never thought he would literally die.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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