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Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali Dies At The Age Of 74

Mohamed Ali, who has been battling Parkinson’s disease for the past 32-years, passed away Friday night after being placed on life support. Ali was 74 years of age at the time of his passing. The news was originally broke by Jon Schuppe of NBC. ESPN’s Adam Scheffer Tweeted out an official statement from a family

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ESPN’s Adam Scheffer Tweeted out an official statement from a family spokesman:

The Greatest is gone. What a life and legacy.
RIP. pic.twitter.com/ccn72GO9na

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 4, 2016

Ali was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky to his father Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. and his mother Odessa O’Grady Clay.

Ali’s initial name at birth was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., after his father, however he decided to change his name in 1961 to Muhammad Ali after converting to Islam. Muhammad stood for ‘one who is worthy of praise’ while Ali meant ‘fourth rightly guided caliph’.

120117065443-muhammad-ali-1963-horizontal-large-gallery As a child at the age of twelve Ali was upset over an incident that took place in which a bully had stolen his bike. Young Ali was approached by local police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin who the then twelve year-old Ali told he was going to ‘whup’ the thief. Martin responded by telling Ali he would need to learn to fight first.

Ali would then go on to be coached by former boxing cutman Chuck Bodak, and would undergo a successful ammeter boxing career that included honors such as a light heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics, six Kentucky Golden Gloves championships, and two national Golden Gloves championships.

On October 29, 1960 Ali made his professional boxing debut with a unanimous decision win over Tunney Hunsaker. Ali amassed an impressive undefeated record of 19-0 before going on to step inside of the ring against Sonny Liston in 1964 for his first title opportunity.

Liston was coming off of two first round knockouts of former champion Floyd Patterson who was the reigning heavyweight champion before him, making history as becoming the first man in history to win the title via first round knockout.

Ali successfully defeated Liston to win his first heavyweight title after the former champ called it quits at his stool following the sixth round due to a shoulder injury. The pair would meet up once again on May 25, 1965, however the result was a first round KO win by Ali to successfully retain his title.

The heavyweight phenom amassed a record of 31-0 as champion before suffering his first professional defeat to Joe Frazier, at the age of 29 in 1971 via unanimous decision. Ali would follow his loss up with a ten fight win-streak before suffering a split decision loss to Ken Norton in 1973, the second loss of his professional career.

Ali and Norton would rematch six months later, that resulted in Ali taking home the split decision win this time. Ali would then embark on another win streak, this time however amassing fourteen consecutive wins that included two victories over the man who handed him his first professional defeat in Joe Frazier.

Towards the end of Ali’s legendary career, his fourteen fight win streak was snapped when he suffered a split decision loss to Leon Spikes at the age of 36 in 1978. Ali would rematch Spikes and take home a unanimous decision win, however his career would come to an abrupt end after suffering two consecutive losses to both Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick.

Holmes would be the first and only man to finish Ali in his 21-year career, when he TKO’d Ali in the tenth round of their meeting in 1980 after Ali’s trainer Angelo Dundee stopped the fight. Ali was plead by friends and family to hang it up after the TKO defeat, however the all consensus G.O.A.T decided to have one last bout in his unanimous decision loss to Berbick in 1981.

Ali offically retired with a record of 56-5 in 1981, regarded my many as the greatest heavyweight of all time. Sadly Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Syndrome in 1984 due to the years of trauma on the former heavyweight champion’s brain.

On June 2nd, just two days ago, Ali was hospitalized after what was said to be a respiratory issue and placed on life support. His condition later worsened, and on June 4th 2016 the world lost one of it’s greatest champions to ever lace up a pair of gloves.

Ali was a once in a lifetime combatant, a true pioneer of the sport of boxing, and a hero to millions across the world. We at LowKickMMA would like to send our prayers and thoughts to Ali’s family and friends during this difficult time.

R.I.P. Muhammed Ali

January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016

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Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali Dies At The Age Of 74

The post Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali Dies At The Age Of 74 appeared first on LowKick MMA.

ESPN’s Adam Scheffer Tweeted out an official statement from a family spokesman:

The Greatest is gone. What a life and legacy.
RIP. pic.twitter.com/ccn72GO9na

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 4, 2016

Ali was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky to his father Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. and his mother Odessa O’Grady Clay.

As a child at the age of twelve Ali was upset over an incident that took place in which a bully had stolen his bike. Young Ali was approached by local police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin who the then twelve year-old Ali told he was going to ‘whup’ the thief. Martin responded by telling Ali he would need to learn to fight first.

R.I.P. Muhammed Ali

January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016

The post Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali Dies At The Age Of 74 appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Muhammad Ali Passes Away At Age 74

https://youtu.be/t3vOssizwW4

Muhammad Ali, arguably the greatest professional heavyweight boxer of all-time, passed away at age 74 late Friday evening in a hospital near Phoenix, Arizona, according to multiple reports.

Ali was in what is widely c…

https://youtu.be/t3vOssizwW4

Muhammad Ali, arguably the greatest professional heavyweight boxer of all-time, passed away at age 74 late Friday evening in a hospital near Phoenix, Arizona, according to multiple reports.

Ali was in what is widely considered the first “mixed-martial-arts” fight on an international level with his match against Japanese pro wrestling legend Antonio Inoki, which aired via closed circuit television, the early version of pay-per-view television, back on March 8, 1971.

Ali was hospitalized recently due to what is being reported as a respiratory issue after battling severe Parkinson’s Disease for much of his life.

MMANews.com offers its’ condolences to the family and friends of the man who is, without question, The Greatest Of All Time.

R.I.P. Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad Ali Reportedly Hospitalized, On Life Support

The combat sports universe could unfortunately be close to losing one of its most recognized and influential figures, as legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali is reportedly hospitalized and on life support according to a piece posted by Fightland today (Fri., June 3, 2016). Ali was reportedly hospitalized for a respiratory issue on Thursday, and a spokesman

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Ali was reportedly hospitalized for a respiratory issue on Thursday, and a spokesman revealed that his condition was supposedly “fair” with the following brief statement that Ali would only be in the hospital for a short while:

“A brief hospital stay is expected. At this time, the Muhammad Ali family respectfully requests privacy.”

However, Ali supposedly took a turn for the worst, with the report stating his ex-wife Veronica Porche flew to Phoenix with their daughters, including Laila Ali, to be with the all-time legend:

“My daughters have both flown there and I will be hearing from them when they arrive at the hospital,” Porche, who was married to Ali from 1977 to 1986, said.

“I can’t comment more than that but I will say it is not so great, I’ll just say that much. He’s a real hero. It’s a sad situation.”

Ali contracted Parkinson’s disease in 1984, and that has apparently caused some complications with his recovery from the respiratory issue. Sources close to the situation elaborated on the serious matter in a report to The Mirror, which also declared four of his nine children were in Arizona with their father:

“Like in the ring, Ali is a fighter on the ward,” said a source. “Doctors are working to regulate his breathing put it is being hampered by his Parkinson’s.

“His children are all extremely concerned and dropped everything to be with him.”

The 74-year-old Ali is boxing’s most recognized figure and perhaps the greatest of all-time as he often referred to himself, with his highly-publicized feuds opposite Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, and George Foreman the stuff of legends. His infamous “Rope-A-Dope” fighting style was a timeless, one-of-a-kind maneuver that both gained him legions of fans and endless detractors.

He was also a highly polarizing social figure whose strong beliefs inspired countless individuals to fight for civil rights and lead to great social change during his prime, and he continues to influence combat sports personalities to this day.

Ali also at least helped the creation of mixed martial arts when he took on famed Japanese pro wrestler Antonio Inoki in a bizzare ‘special rules’ fight in Japan on June 26, 1976, a bout that was refereed by “Judo” Gene Lebell and is still viewed as the precursor to modern MMA.

All of us here at LowKick MMA wish Ali and his family the best in this trying time. We’ll of course keep you updated on any relevant developments in the situation.

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Jon Jones Could Be The Next Muhammad Ali – Or Mike Tyson

This weekend (Sat., April 23, 2016), all-time great former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will finally make his awaited return to the Octagon when he faces Ovince St. Preux in the main event of UFC 197 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jones has been out of action since he beat

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Jones has been out of action since he beat arch rival Daniel Cormier via unanimous decision at January 2015’s UFC 183 in a bout that feels like it took place ages ago. Unlike many other MMA stars of the current era, however, Jones’ absence was not due to injury.

No, “Bones” was infamously stripped of his belt in the aftermath of an incredibly tumultuous early part of 2015 that saw him fail an out-of-competition drug test for cocaine, spend one day in rehab for it, and ultimately succumb to much more serious charges when he broke the arm of a 25-year-old pregnant woman in a highly publicized early morning hit-and-run accident in his adopted home of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Jones paid the price for those acts in the form of 18 months probation and 72 public appearances to warn children of the consequences of mistakes like his, yet even those circumstances apparently couldn’t keep him out of trouble, as he was jailed for violating probation after receiving a slew of tickets during a traffic stop for alleged drag racing.

While those offenses are currently under examination when allegations of racial profiling and other misuse of the law was alleged against the officer in question by Jones’ legal team, there’s is more than obviously a much bigger issue in play, and that’s Jones’ seeming inability to stay out of trouble despite having the mixed martial arts (MMA) world as his proverbial fingertips when it comes to pure fighting talent and skill.

At this point in his triumphant yet troubling tale, it’s lead to a pair of stark contrasts for Jones; ones that have him compared in many ways to decorated, legendary boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

On one hand, Jones’ performances in the cage can easily tie him to the body of work of the the aptly-named “Greatest” Ali, who not only transcended the sport of boxing with his amazing 56-5 record, not only with his historic rivalries with Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, and Sonny Liston, but also for his outspoken and trail-blazing accomplishments in the field of civil rights when he refused to fight in the Vietnam War and gave up a portion of his prime years to stand up for his religious and political beliefs.

No, Jones has not done anything remotely close to what Ali did in terms of truly influencing and vitalizing an entire race to stand up for themselves in the face of oppression, and it’s doubtful that he ever will. However, he does have the chance to turn his career around and be remembered as the greatest mixed martial artist of all-time, a title he may already be deserving of based on his in-cage accomplishments alone.

And a lot of that starts with the appearances he’s been forced to make due to his court-levied punishments. If Jones truly practices what he preaches and serves as an example of how troubled children can turn their lives around, then he’ll be remembered as one of the greats and most likely even the greatest as Ali was. Despite his popularity and unique progress in a torn world, Ali was far from perfect, and Jones need not be either.

He simply has to tow the line and stay out of trouble.

But there’s a far more dark and disappointing contrast to the boxing world that is a definite possibility for the one they call “Bones,” and that’s ending up being compared to the ultra-talented but perhaps even more troubled former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.

Like Jones, Tyson won the title at an extremely young age, and also like Jones, the results of stardom that early obviously had their adverse effects on what could have been an all-time great career. Like Jones, Tyson was stripped of a significant part of his prime based on his own mistakes when he was also incarcerated, although for far more nefarious reasons.

After shockingly losing his belt to James “Buster” Douglas in arguably the biggest upset of all-time in early 1990, Tyson was subsequently arrested for the rape of Miss Black Rhode Island winner Desiree Washington in July 1991 while awaiting his highly looked forward-to fight with new champion Evander Holyfield, who had won the belt from Douglas in his next fight.

“Iron Mike” was convicted as a jury found him brutish and arrogant, and an appeal from his legal counsel Alan Dershowitz fell upon deaf ears. Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison and four years probation, and even he was released after three and went on to contend for the heavyweight crown following his release, he was clearly never the same after his sad legal troubles.

Tyson is still regarded as one of the most fearsome boxers of his era and even all-time, but it’s clear that he could have been so, so much more.

That brings to the more cautionary comparison of Jones to Tyson, because while it’s clear that “Bones’s” legal troubles, while most certainly egregious and disappointing in their own right, are not quite as serious as Tyson’s more violent offense, and could probably be corrected if the UFC legend would only so choose to avoid foolish carrying on late at night.

The dynamic means that Jones is without a doubt at a career crossroads, one that will almost assuredly define the rest of his days as a fighter and will also most likely be based on his behavior outside of the cage more so than his performances inside of it.

He may not transcend nor define an era like Ali did, but he can certainly takes steps in that direction. Tyson, on the other hand, was more fraught with drug addiction, bankruptcy troubles, and a string of disappointing losses after a sub-prime version of himself emerged from the Indiana Youth Center in 1995. Jones could most certainly go down that dark road himself, as he was warned by a New Mexico judge that he ‘wouldn’t like it’ if he were to appear in front of him again.

Jones has gotten off comparatively easy for his offenses by most accounts, but there’s little doubt that repeat offenses will yield far more damaging results, and that’s simply something his otherwise stellar MMA career can’t handle at this point.

It’s up to him to prove to the entire MMA community, his friends, his family, his peers, and his employers that he is motivated to stay sober and continue building the legacy of the best MMA fighter that ever lived. He has the golden opportunity to have more than a second or even third chance, and he can use it to be considered a legend like a Ali.

Or, he can let his own demons dominate his behavior and end a cautionary footnote in combat sports history like Tyson is. The burden is on his shoulders, and just where this rollercoaster ride is headed next is wholly unknown.

Will it be a fun ride? Only “Bones” can decide that for himself, and in doing so, he will define a legacy that even he may not know the lasting ramifications of.

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So You Think You Can Spot Sloppy Footwork?

I’m going to talk briefly today about something which you will see over and over again. A fighter wins or loses and the forums are flooded with posts about how he has bad footwork. Simultaneously, I see fighters praised for having good footwork who dis…

Here’s the problem: There isn’t just one method of footwork for everyone.

There are certain things which everyone should be doing. For instance, crossing the feet should be avoided at all costs. But to say that a fighter has horrible footwork just because his doesn’t look like another fighter’s—whom you decree to have good footwork—is just not a great way to go about things.

Where does this come from? Well, when Muhammad Ali hit the boxing scene he was something to behold. He moved like no-one had ever moved at heavyweight and it attracted a great deal of attention. In talking himself up, Ali also talked down the likes of Joe Louis for what he perceived to be slow, shoddy footwork.

Check out this charming scene between Muhammad Ali and the late, great Cus D’amato (trainer of Mike Tyson, Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres).

Hold on a minute though. Freddie Roach and many others consider Joe Louis to be one of the finest technical boxers of all time. Yet he had terrible footwork? Well, no. He didn’t.

Louis’ footwork suited Louis’ needs and Louis’ style. He was a heavy hitter who liked to stay in range for counters. He stayed in his stance with his head off line, and shuffled towards his opponent. Sometimes he would take a slight step back to see if he could bait his opponent in, and eventually they would fall for it and he would hammer them with the big shots. I talk often about creating collisions and Louis is a beautiful case study.

Ali’s footwork, meanwhile, was a means to his end. He too wanted his opponents walking into his punches, but he accomplished this by being elusive and providing a great deal of hyper active movement, punctuated by flicking jabs. When he had his opponent annoyed enough to be reaching at him, he’d lower the boom with his favorite right hand counter, commonly called the Anchor Punch (something which I shall discuss more in my upcoming print book, which is a technical biography of Ali).

Another fighter who was excellent at creating the chase was Willie Pep. It was the same move over and over and over again. He would step his foot back and begin circling with his feet level. As his opponent either turned to face him or moved to cut him off, Pep would step in with his right foot and nail them with a southpaw left straight.

Count how many times Pep does it. It’s remarkable.

Sound familiar? Holly Holm does exactly the same thing. And there are plenty of fighters out there who have picked up on baiting the chase. Lyoto Machida is a master of a very karate-esque version of it.

So we have the shuffling footwork and the dancing footwork but there’s more.

A fighter whom Ali also mocked for his footwork was George Foreman. Here’s the thing, Foreman (at his best) was considered one of the best ring cutters in the sport. He had bad performances where he got wild, but against Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali, his feet were looking brilliant. To recall that massively overused phrase in any English football broadcast: Foreman had “neat feet for a big man”.

Here’s Ali’s usual eloquent salesmanship, spliced in with George Plimpton and Norman Mailer’s more sobering assessment of Foreman, from the film When We Were Kings. If you have an hour and a half, watch the whole movie because it’s easily the best fight film ever made.

Remember the Rumble in the Jungle? Why do you think Ali went to the ropes? He didn’t have a choice. Foreman could take a shot with the best of them, his hands were always all over his opponent’s hands and checking punches preemptively—something we saw a little of in Lawler versus Hendricks)—and when he got near enough the ropes he would often just push his opponent into them.

The aforementioned Willie Pep had the exact same trouble in his incredible quartet of bouts with Sandy Saddler. Saddler also adopted the hands out in front “mummy” style of fighting, and cut off the ring with the best of them. He also butted, elbowed and generally fought dirtier than Foreman. A couple of decades later, he taught a young George Foreman the same style.

Let’s not forget the greatest of ring cutters, Julio Cesar Chavez. He too squared up to his opponents, offering more of a target, but moved them to the ropes anyway.

Louis wanted to waltz his opponent into punches, Ali wanted to peck and bait the chase, and Foreman wanted to push his way to the ropes and then get to work. So which one had the bad footwork?

None of them. Refusal to dance is not bad footwork. Shuffling is not bad footwork. Squaring up and plodding in is not bad footwork—If you use that footwork to achieve your ends.

A quick example would be how the Diaz brothers and Fabio Maldonado love to fight against the fence, and are brilliant once they get there, but cannot follow an opponent who uses lateral movement. Their long, side on stance does not fit well with cutting off the cage. Even in a ring, with lovely 90 degree corners, it is necessary to square up a little in order to trap someone there.

My purpose in this short piece is not to point to examples of bad footwork, however. I intended to highlight that a fighter’s footwork is not about looking like another fighter’s. There were plenty of people who—before Muhammad Ali won his first world title—said that Ali’s footwork was horrible because it didn’t look like Louis’. And there are plenty today who think that dancing is the pinnacle of footwork.

The truth is that different strokes work for different folks. If a fighter’s footwork is conducive to their best fighting method, it is good. If it is letting a fighter escape as they try to cut off the ring, or it is running them onto the fence too often, or it is leaving them off balance so that they fall each time they are clipped, then it is problematic. But whether it’s beautiful or ugly, it is results that matter, not looks.

Pick up Jack’s eBooks Advanced Striking and Elementary Striking from his blog, Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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