Muhammad Ali Poem by Daniel Miltz

The odds were ten to one against my stand
Yet I could not wait to get my fist on
And punch the lights out of Sonny Liston
With my butterfly float and bee-sting hand

With sweat on my face, my black dignity
And proud triumph put doubters' fears away
I was 'The Greatest' no more Cassius Clay
From now on I was Muhammad Ali

I boasted as the best and took on all
The cameras and microphones got it
On record every threat explicit
That 'They all must fall in the round I call'

My celebration of my punch and pride
In defiant independence of all doubt
Having knocked the most promising lights out
Patterson among them, I glorified

This bravo show of boundless boast
Provoked resentment against my success
When I defied the draft the eager press
Aired my words 'I won't go' from coast to coast

The boxing commission found its excuse
To strip me of my heavy weight title
Yet I did not budge from my solid will
To fulfill the labor Allah set loose

I would not go to vietnam and lost
What I revered like life but I held on
To my pride and strong muslim conviction
Self-assured it was well worth the cost

I stood in my conviction and its glory
Unbowed before the U.S. Supreme Court
Whose ruling allowed my return to sport
Hearing it, I set my sights on Quarry

After three long years back in training camp
I guaranteed the press a comeback story
I already knew I'd beat Quarry
And so did he when I was re-crowned champ

Again the champ I was challenged to fight
Bonavena, I refused to decline
And told all concerned 'In nine, he'll be mine'
A boast the flunkey found out was right

Next came 'The Fight of the Century' cry
With Joe Frazier determined and smokin'
Why Joe, I thought you were only jokin'
When you strapped my lost belt above your thigh

So for once I lost but I proved more man
Than less man in Kinshasa, Zaire
The 'rumble in the jungle' keen to hear
Where my 'rope-a-dope' skill finished Foreman

After three sweet years it was time to call
Frazier for the 'Thrilla in Manilla'
Where I made him into a gorilla
So that all nations could watch old Joe fall

But my fame was attracting a jinx
In the face of a younger opponent
Who would compel 'the greatest' to repent
And name himself 'the latest' thanks to Spinks

The reason though I lost was from no lack
Of cunning, I had ambition to blame
For losing to win more money and fame
If I could take from Spinks my lost title back

I trained alone in mornings dark and damp
Prepared to accomplish and self-assured
I'd set a record to be remembered
That Ali first became a three-time champ

Back in the ring I shuffled and pounded
I dazzled like a fighter in his prime
To do what no one else had done a third time
Which left the fight world and Spinks astounded

With cameras a-flashin' I stood tall
To know that pride and self-belief had beat
The lowly slumped shoulders of self-defeat
That would have rather watched me dive and crawl

A triumph of self was what I had done
Against those who predicted my demise
But I made those chumps now think otherwise
To see what my bullheadedness had won

With my dream accomplished, I felt at ease
And soon retired though my appeal did stay
With my fans I continued to horseplay
Despite the pangs of Parkinson's Disease

Though I no longer boast or act surly,
I still have my pride and show my relics
I lit the flame at the 96 Olympics
Proclaimed 'The Athlete of the Century'

© daniel miltz