Muhammad Ali, the greatest sportsman of all time was 70 earlier this week. As a child growing up in the seventies, Ali was part of our lives, he was everywhere, even TV adverts for milk! I loved the man then and now, thirty years later, I love the man still. TV is quite rightly celebrating Ali's birthday by showing re-runs of some of his greatest fights. 'Rose tinted specs' do not come into it, watching these fights again only reinforces the FACTS that Ali was without a doubt the greatest heavyweight that ever entered a ring. The men he fought in a golden era; George Foreman, Sonny Liston, Floyd Paterson, Kenny Norton and the late, great Smokin' Joe Frazier would all crush any heavyweight currently fighting but Ali was better than all of them. Outside the ring Ali was equally brave, firstly when white America tried to dismantle him and later in his fight against illness. He has always stood up for his beliefs and has been an ambassador for his faith.
I have many heroes; musical, political, personal and sporting but one man stands head and shoulders above them all. Happy birthday Muhammad Ali, you really are the greatest of all time.
