How we should remember the Black Superman, Muhammad Ali

"Ting, Muhammad, Muhammad Ali."

It's hard to forget the lyrics of the "Black Superman," a song sung by Johnny Wakelin in 1974 in appreciation of the legend.

Those were the days when there was no internet or YouTube. If you had to learn the song, you had to hear it carefully and repeatedly.

As the legendary champion left the world weeping, Black Superman is again the number for our ears.

And thanks to YouTube, you can get an insight into the life and times of a man who was so very special.

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Cassius Clay, or Muhammad Ali, did not connect with people just because of the way he ducked or danced on his feet, dodged blows from his opponents, and then landed a punch which was going to be decisive.

He could still connect with fans because of his sheer aura and arrogance, wherever he travelled around the world.

So, what was the common man's connect with the champion which made him so loveable, despite him being so merciless inside the ring?

Boxing is a raw sport. If you don't like the sight of an opponent being pulverised and pounded, you would probably hate Muhammad Ali as to why he was destroying his opponents.

Yet, for a man who had no qualms about declaring himself "The Greatest" even before the world officially declared him one, a champion like Ali is born once in a lifetime. I have always maintained there is a difference between a winner and a champion.

You may like a winner but if you fall in love with the champion, it can never change. Ali, or Cassius Clay, was a champion from the day he decided to take revenge for the theft of his bicycle.

That incident, early in his life, was a defining one. From there on, whatever he did was so different, though the last two decades of his life were so painful because of Parkinson's disease.

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So, was Ali a super champion or much more than that. He was a mix of everything, a man who did not fight just inside the ring but also in society at large for civil rights in the United States of America.

Today, we have the world shedding tears for the departed soul but in his own country he had his share of critics for the way he boxed.

At a time when the Rio Olympics has thrown open the doors for professional boxers; Ali would have been a happy man had he watched a few bouts on television.

Ali (then Cassius Clay) had clinched gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics but boxing writers in the USA were not too impressed with his style.

A leading critic then wrote: "He was good to watch but seemed to make only glancing contact." Well, such was the style of Clay, he would run circles around his opponent and then finish them with a short demolition job.

There was no big difference in his style even later when Clay turned pro and then competed as Muhammad Ali. His epic fight against Sonny Liston in 1964 and the hugely hyped Madison Square Garden challenge against Joe Frazier can be watched again and again even today.

At the same time, where Muhammad Ali may have erred in life is having been in the sport for too long. A champion has to know when his time is up. Ali didn't.

He was entering the ring and getting beaten, with Larry Holmes and company showing the way. If you watch these videos today on YouTube, you can clearly see the champagne stuff which Ali had produced had begun to dry up.

If I were to remember images of Ali, it has to be the good old ones in black and white where he takes time in doing the demolition job and then speaks to reporters so full of himself.

Call it arrogance or aura; even if you hated Ali's audacity, you had no choice but to watch him. When he came to India in the '80s, he was still a huge hit.

From Kishore Kumar to Amitabh Bachchan and MG Ramachandran in Madras to Indira Gandhi, Ali had an audience with all.

As one who identified himself so strongly with the black people in USA, Ali was a crusader. At the same time, when he took to meeting people post conversion from Christianity to Islam, Ali had become quite vocal.

He did not want to be called Cassius Clay as that he felt was a slave name. He felt more comfortable with the new name of Muhammad Ali and wanted to be described that way.

For people who heard about Cassius Clay's exploits and then saw Muhammad Ali conquer the heavyweight boxing world, there are many memories to cherish. I would want to remember Ali for the way he dominated the ring and not the ones in the last decade where his mobility and speech were affected.

RIP Muhammad Ali.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)