Muhammad Ali: Death can’t knock him down

We pushed our way into Ali’s crowded press conference. He was having fun demolishing the assembly with his verbal jabs, cuts and hooks. His gags rose up in the air: “I get paid to act crazy, what’s your excuse?”; “Okay, now let’s have the intelligent questions”; “I’m not as dumb as I look”; “I think this interview/deserves a higher IQ!”

The 40-minute presser went by in what felt like five. If the insults flowed freely, so did the laughter. He was everything he was made out to be: brassy, opinionated, narcissistic, yet very human. Before long, the performance was over and the star was whisked away. Ayesha and I looked at each other — that exclusive interview in our heads was appearing a very elusive one.

Ambition, however, burned brightly. Early next morning found us at the reception desk of the Taj hotel. In those days, it was easy to gain entry but details of where the prized guest was located were strictly withheld. By the dint of hanging around, we gathered Ali was in the hotel’s most exclusive suite: Sixth floor, old building. Minutes later, we were ensconced in a sofa outside the rose pink door of Suite No 640. A laundry man served as the door opener. His knock and, voila, Ali appeared. He showed no surprise on being asked for an interview, almost as if he expected us. “Come on in,” he said, in his low, lilting voice, while alerting wife Veronica that they had guests.

At last we were face-to-face with The Champ. At 38, he was still “pretty”. Traces of grey were touching the temples and the jaw line was losing its firmness but his eyes held a schoolboy glint. There was little of the braggadocio of yesterday. He had questions for us as well: Do you have problems in Bombay? How often do people die of hunger in Bombay? If a man had $1,00,000, would he be rich in India?

His India visit, he said, was tied to a desire to set up a “global non-profit organisation for charity”. Will charity solve the world’s problems, we asked. The response was quick: “No charity can solve the world’s problems. Jesus Christ couldn’t solve the world’s problems. Muhammad of Arabia couldn’t solve the world’ s problems. President Carter can’t solve them. Muhammad Ali can’t solve them. We’re doing what little we can to help.”

We teased him by suggesting he read Marx to address poverty. He looked interested: “Don’t know him. Was he a religious man?” For his part, he was driven by an idea: “Everybody in the world seems to know Muhammad Ali. I believe Allah did this for a reason. That’s why I feel I got to do something. We are hoping people give us ideas. If you’ve got ideas, any man from president to pauper got an idea, we’ll take it.”

His humaneness came through in the organisation’s motto: “The world is my home and every country has only a room. And all the people of all races, all religions, are my brothers and sisters.”

We asked many questions: Did his mother lose her front teeth because he swung his fist as a baby? “Yeh, my first knock-out.” Who was his toughest opponent? “Joe Frazier.” Has commercialism killed boxing? “Commercialism, what’s that? Money? Well, the idea that a man can make money encourages him to do better.” Did he know his quote, “I am the Greatest”, didn’t make it to the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations because it’s been said before? “It’s been said before?” (Incredulous). “Where’s the book from?” (Wary). From England. “Is there any page there that says somebody else said it?” (Suspicious). We didn’t know.

What about the rumour that he was paid $3,00,000 to retire? “No, Bob Arum didn’t pay me no money to retire. I was gonna retire anyway. He had this retirement party fixed. They put it up on national TV. So I said through my attorney, ‘If you put a retirement party on TV, you’re gonna make money. So Muhammad Ali wants $3,00,000 to have his name used.’ So they paid me.” He went on to say that the “whole white power structure” was after him. “The white man in America is the most powerful man on earth, militarily, wealth-wise, technologically.and when he is out to get you, he gets you. I challenged America with Allah, I challenged the draft, I challenged the system and came up victorious.”

Our last question was about growing old. Pensive now, he said, “Old age is something that I want to be one day. I want to live up to hundred. and twenty. if I can.” Then as an afterthought, “Know something? Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die!”

Death finally found Muhammad Ali at 74 but it doesn’t have the power in its right fist to knock The Legend down.

(This article first appeared in the print edition under the headline ‘Death can’t knock him down’.)