My Brother, Muhammad Ali by Rahaman Ali & FIAZ RAFIQ

Author:Rahaman Ali & FIAZ RAFIQ [Ali, Rahaman & RAFIQ, FIAZ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2020-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

“I’LL FIGHT ANYONE”: THE MMA MISTAKE

At the age of thirty-four, after sixteen years of being a professional and boasting a record of fifty-two wins with only two losses, Muhammad was still the hottest name in sport. Before he fought Norton in their trilogy match in September 1976, my brother was presented with one of the most unusual offers of his career. Two years earlier, immediately after he dispatched George Foreman, there had been talk of throwing the heavyweight champ in the ring with a wrestler or martial arts champion. The kung fu boom was at its peak, and suddenly everyone was curious about what these men who knew how to kick and grapple could do. At one point, Muhammad’s management were in serious talks about him fighting a prominent karate fighter: The man, it was suggested, would wear gloves on his hands and the karate pads on his feet, while Muhammad would wear boxing gloves only, with no blows thrown below the belt to be allowed. This had caught Muhammad’s interest and he had agreed in principle. He even asked if he would be allowed to grab his opponent’s legs and take him down and punch him on the ground, which in today’s MMA arena is referred to as ground and pound. Anyway, on that occasion, nothing materialized.

Six months after that suggestion, my brother met the president of the Japanese Amateur Wrestling Association, Ichiro Hatta. Consequently the Japanese media ran headlines about Muhammad’s challenge in which he boasted he’d offer $1 million to any fighter from the Oriental arts to fight him. He bragged that he could beat anyone—be it a wrestler or any type of a fighter. In the end, it was Japan’s revered wrestler Antonio Inoki who accepted the challenge.

Unbeknownst to anyone, I think it was partly Belinda that prompted Muhammad to agree to the Inoki fight. Whenever Belinda came to Deer Lake camp, she would frequent a local dojo twice a week, taking karate lessons. In fact, she ended up taking lessons from Jimmy Kelly, a world karate champion who became an actor and had appeared in Enter the Dragon. Although my brother knew she had been taking karate lessons for years, he had no idea that she had developed to a high standard. There she was treated like anybody else, blending in with the other students. She was tough and would spar with everyone. Anyway, on one occasion Muhammad was visiting her in Chicago and had the key to the house, so let himself in. His wife wasn’t expecting him, so she thought there was an intruder in her home. She wasn’t going to let anyone burgle her and she ended up flipping him up using a martial arts move. Muhammad landed on the floor and Belinda got ready to smash him before realizing it was her husband. My brother was shocked, to say the least. Recovering from the fall, he sarcastically said to her, “Oh, you’re a karate person now? I’ll fix you up and your karate.

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