Having showed and exhibited superior boxing skills, guts, tremendous speed, unfathomable confidence and never ending boasts and poetries of being "The Greatest" throughout his boxing career, Muhammad Ali is one boxer never ignored and forgotten by boxing fans worldwide no matter how he fared to them. Coached by world famous trainer Angelo Dundee, Ali is probably the only one fighter gifted with an immeasurable stamina and "staying power" never seen in boxing. Compared by many to have strong similarities with the great and legendary multi-titled champion Sugar Ray Robinson, Ali early in his career acknowledged his likeness but distanced himself in greatness. Expressing himself in poetic lines included in his 16-line poem he composed and dedicated to his coming fight with former and great light heavyweight champion 'Old Man' Archie Moore in 1962, Ali described it this way:

He was trying to remain the great Mr. Moore
For he knew Clay had predicted four.
I swept that old man clear out of the ring
For a good new broom sweeps up anything.
Some say the greatest was Sugar Ray
But they haven't seen Cassius Clay!

If Ali had such a quick talking, a loud and a big mouth to boast every time, he was also one with the fastest fists and feet in the history of boxing. Never in the sport had there been a fighter or boxer like Ali. From flyweight to heavyweight, there's not one who can execute excellent boxing moves in the ring the way Ali did in his entire career. Such that if only boxing can be likened to a ballet, Ali would be the most graceful performer of them all. His unique and immortal stance "… float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!" and his execution of the Ali shuffle, a fast shuffling of his feet synchronized with a quick barrage of punches are so fast and unique executions he alone can perform them. Larry Holmes, a future and a post-Ali world heavyweight champion tried once to imitate the Ali shuffle during his under card fight in the Ali-Frazier championship fight or better known as the Thrilla in Manila in 1975, but it was a very far cry from Ali's as only Ali can do an "Ali".

Ali is not only a famous and a controversial world sport figure but also a multi-talented human being, a boxing genius, very intelligent, funny and likable man but hated by many, simply for his big mouth. And one of his most watched assets as a talker is in the way he talks fast. To show just how fast his mouth is, a movie released in the early 70s titled a.k.a. Cassius Clay showed how they found it out. With his mouth talking fast shown on one side of the screen and his fists hitting the speedball on the other and ran on the same speed, any viewer would surely conclude that his mouth can spew out words faster than his fists can hit the speedball. And the reactions were unanimous as everybody inside the theater is amused and delighted by the scene while many howled their approval.

During his prime years prior to the time he was banned from boxing, Ali had relied mostly on his speed, strong stamina and superior footwork and boxing skills to win fights that were mostly by knockouts. While still active and looked up to as a great fighter, Ali realized that he is not getting any younger that he will soon slow down he has to devise other tactics to stay ahead of contemporaries. Thus, this brought the genius out of him. Making a comeback after more three and a half years in exile, Ali, to the surprise of many fans, did not fight the way he used to. In his first epic battle with then world champion Joe Frazier in 1971 called "The Fight of the Century", Ali fought Frazier on even terms without utilizing his fast footwork to offset Frazier's powerful left hooks and strong punches. By resting most of the time on the ropes and be pummeled by Frazier, Ali expected Frazier to tire out and win the fight easily. However, Frazier stayed on and won the fight via a 15-round decision scoring the only knockdown of the fight in the final round. On analyzing the fight later, Ali tried to employ a tactical fight only to fall short of innovations in his tactics. Somehow, defeated but unbowed, Ali never lost hope of someday avenging and reclaiming his rightful claim to the title knowing well that he still have something up his sleeves to prove.

Challenging newly crowned heavyweight champion George Foreman in the so-called "Rumble in the Jungle" fight held in Zaire, Africa in 1974, Ali believed from the very beginning that "he alone" knew how to fight and beat Foreman. As can be recalled, Foreman was the 1968 Mexico Olympics gold medallist and won his title easily from Joe Frazier by a 2nd round kayo. Feared and considered as "invincible" by sport writers owing to his string of early KO wins and still undefeated, Foreman, then just 25, was expected to score a "walk-over" win over an ageing 32-year old Ali. Installed as an 8 to 1 underdog and given up as a "washed up" fighter, a phony and everything unfavorable, so-called boxing "experts" simply did not give Ali a chance against the hard hitting champion. However, the genius that he was, Ali was defiant knowing they are all in for a big surprise. And they really were. It's because deep inside his mind, Ali knew too well that "he alone" knows how to fight and what Foreman lacks in his arsenal – stamina.

Continuing the tactics he used when he fought Joe Frazier in 1971 but with new innovations, Ali set up Foreman from the 2nd round on to execute to perfection his long kept secret weapon – the rope-a-dope. Resting most of the time on the ropes and inviting the champion to hit him hard with gloves covering his head, Foreman dumbly obliged to his invitation unmindful he was just being drained of his energies. What even drove Foreman to hit harder and harder, just the sides and belly of Ali in order to exhaust his energies were the taunts and ridicules Ali whispered to him while they were engaged in in-fighting. "Let me see what you got, Chomp!", "…You sure fight like a sissy, Chomp!…" Ali kept taunting Foreman until he started to grasp for air late in the 8th round to be set up by Ali for a decisive and conclusive finish to the fight for an 8th rd. KO win. Once again, Ali was at the top of the world and just like in 1964 when he humiliated Sonny Liston in 7 rounds, Ali have all the news media and everybody listening to his lectures. "I told you so… the guy (Foreman) had no skill…. , the guy had no class…, he fights like a sissy….blah… blah…", Ali kept saying. And this marks Ali's second reign as world heavyweight champion.

(to be continued...)