Remembering Muhammad Ali, the Greatest of All Time

Muhammad Ali, the fleet-footed, trash-talking, butterfly-floating, bee-stinging heavyweight boxing champion of the world, died Friday evening. He was 74.

The cause of death was a respiratory illness aggravated by Parkinson’s disease, the debilitating affliction from which he suffered in the latter decades of his life.

Provocative, polarizing, and passionate, Ali rose to the upper strata of the boxing world in the turbulence of the 1960s, claiming the heavyweight title in 1964. But his conscientious refusal to serve in the Vietnam War led to his criminal conviction on draft-evasion charges and the stripping of his title.

In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed his conviction, and Ali returned to the ring. He reclaimed the title in 1974 against Big George Foreman in the legendary Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire, then went on to defend it against Smokin’ Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manila in 1976. As age and illness steadily took their toll, Ali retired for the fourth and final time in 1981.

A full obituary will follow.