A boxer’s legacy

Richard A. Sokerka

On learning of his death, most people remembered Muhammad Ali as a world champion boxer, but although his life was certainly not without controversy, it was what he did outside the boxing ring during his life that shaped his legacy worldwide.

Shortly after his boxing career ended, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at 42. The onset of the illness so early in life led some to conjecture that it was caused by the repeated blows he took as a heavyweight boxer. But rather than be a shrinking violet and stay out of the public’s eye, he did not let the diagnosis defeat him. Instead, he inspired hope in others and used his illness to raise awareness and funding for research on this progressive neurological disease. Many are the times he met with people, showing courage and hope in the face of his suffering, to let them know that he was there for them, understood their suffering and that they should keep the faith.

Faith in God was important to him. A devout Muslim, his trust in God helped his perspective after receiving what would be a devastating diagnosis for someone who had been so physically active and in tip-top shape. He often openly talked about his belief in God and the virtues contained in all the world’s religions. And he met with many religious leaders, including with St. John Paul II in 1982, who would also suffer from the same devastating illness.

Ali once said that he was “humbled by God allowing him to have a disease, to show him who was really the greatest, that God is the greatest.”

In stark contrast to today’s violent acts carried out by radical Islamic extremists against other faiths, Ali’s peaceful activism and his reaching out to religious leaders surely is a legacy that, if followed today, would make this world a better place for all people of faith.