And then when Muhammad Ali was opposing the Vietnam War, he became this, like, counterculture hero.
People don't realize he was like the biggest guy in the ring.
He was a special person, and just culturally, like one of the most significant figures ever in the history of America.
Because at a time where the world was torn, like, why the fuck are we in Vietnam? And this one guy says, I'm not doing this. And then they're like, okay, we're going to strip your title away from you. And then for three years, he was, you know, persecuted, and the whole world was watching, and they eventually let him fight again.
Muhammad, he said, I don't need any security. I said, what do you mean you don't need security? I said, there's tons of people out there. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no. They'll take care of me. And he walks out the door. And everybody's going, get back, get back, get back. It's Muhammad. In other words, you neutralize the room.
The thing about Muhammad Ali, too, who's like one of the rare people that was loved by almost all humans. Absolutely. Especially after everyone realized he was right about the Vietnam War.
And this is the first guy in the heavyweight division to ever move like this. I mean, nobody moved like this back.
No evidence Muhammad Ali had his gloves changed mid-fight to get extra time to recover. Rather, it's an urban legend from his fight with Henry Cooper in 1963. Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee did bring Ali's torn glove to the referee's attention, but the controversy only extended the round break by a few seconds, and Ali went on to win the fight. Okay. So there was a torn glove, but they didn't let him change the gloves. He showed a torn glove and it just happened to be torn right after the knockdown. And this is an urban legend, respectfully. The myth is that he had intentionally cut the glove. Respectfully.
67 refuses to be inducted into the army. Immediately stripped of his title.
It would be dishonest for me to say that Muhammad Ali wasn't expressing in his view that the natural state in the world is races living separately. That is true. But his view is very influenced by the time and the circumstances of the early 70s in the United States. 1971 is only a few years removed from the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, as well as the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Fred Hampton, and Malcolm X. This context informs his position and where he was coming from.