In addition to his achievements in the ring, he was an important activist, standing for civil rights and against the Vietnam War - a stance that cost him some of the most important years of his career as a boxer. He also spent much of his life advocating for humanitarian causes and giving selflessly of his money and time and what precious little health he had after Parkinson's disease claimed him.
I would never have pegged you as a boxing fan. But I can appreciate that he left his mark on the world in many areas. It's sad that he spent so many years in ill health and left way too early.
I know. It shocks everyone, but I've been a boxing fan since childhood. If memory serves, my Grandfather introduced me to it and it remains the only sport that interests me in any way.
So many things...his refusal to be drafted in opposition to the war in Vietnam, which resulted in the denial of his boxing license and the loss of years of his career when he was in his athletic prime...the fact that he spoke out fearlessly against the establishment on behalf of African Americans...he was a man who demonstrated the courage of his convictions, time and time again.
I guess I had an awareness of that as sort of a background thing. But I never really zeroed in on him as the inspiration and agent of change that he obviously was.
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