He was a boxer, but he was so much more than that! He was born Cassius Clay in Louisville KY, but converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. In Pakistan, when I was growing up, in the 60’s (after he’d won the Gold medal in the Olympics,) we were HUGE fans of his. Even our mothers and grandmothers followed him and cheered him on in “The Thrilla in Manila” and the “Rumble in the Jungle.”

He had razor sharp wit, he was a poet, he was a Pacifist and a Humanist.

Some of his best quotes are:

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can’t hit what the eyes can’t see.”

“I wrestled with an alligator, I tussled with a whale, I handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail, I’m bad man….Last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean I make medicine sick,”

“It will be a killer and a chiller and a thriller when I get the gorilla in Manila.”

Don’t count the days, make the days count.”