'I Am The Greatest'- a review of Muhammad Ali's exhibition at the O2

As I woke up this past Saturday Morning I did so with the enthusiasm of an 8 year old attending Disneyland for the very first time. This wasn't a trip to Paris though, I drove to the O2 arena in London in anticipation of attending the exhibition of one of the most inspirational people to grace the earth known as 'the greatest' who sadly is no longer with us.......... Muhammad Ali.

The Journey of 'The Greatest'

Cassius Marcellus Clay was born on the 17th of January 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. It was his father Cassius Clay senior that unexpectedly lit the fuel of his sons boxing career, and it all started with the purchase of a red and white Schwin bicycle.

A gift from father to son but 12 year old Cassius had his bike promptly stolen causing an aggressive reaction which led to local policeman and boxing coach Joe Martin calming the youngster down and advising Clay to learn how to fight before challenging anyone. After 6 months of training with Martin and fellow coach Fred Stoner the first fight of young Cassius's career started with a debut win.

This was the start of an incredible amateur career which saw the young talented Louisville boxer win six Kentucky golden glove tournaments and two national golden gloves titles and then reach the pinnacle achievement an amateur boxer can accomplish in becoming a gold medallist at the 1960 Rome Olympics.


After turning professional and amassing an immaculate 19 victories in the paid ranks of boxing, Clay faced the dangerous hard hitting heavyweight world champion Sonny Liston shocking the world as a huge underdog defeating the champion winning his first world title at the age of 22.

The newly crowned king would later tell the world that he is a black Muslim and would change his name to Muhammad Ali refusing to be known by his "slave" name of Cassius Clay. It would be three years later though where Ali would cause such huge controversy that created his legacy and made him not just a champion of boxing but a champion of the people.

In April of 1967 Ali refused induction into the U.S army for their war with Vietnam famously saying "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong" due to the anger of many Americans the champion was fined $10,000 by court, stripped of his heavyweight crown and had his boxing license taken away from him.

Muhammad Ali would return to the ring three years later to win the heavyweight championship two more times and have classic battles with Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Ken Norton but as he announced his retirement in 1981 with a professional record of 56 wins with only 5 losses, unfortunately another battle was starting to take place with Ali being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease just three years after retiring from the gruelling sport of boxing.

Living with Parkinson's for 32 years didn't stop Muhammad Ali from travelling to African countries raising charity helping people living in poverty, also opening a center in his hometown to help promote the six key principles that Ali has always stood by

• Confidence
• Conviction
• Dedication
• Giving
• Spirituality
• Respect 

The charm, handsome looks, poetic flowing voice and beautiful mind will always be remembered, an incredible athlete, outstanding boxer but so much more than that, Muhammad Ali was an icon, he made people happy and showed the world through his own actions that you should always stand for what you believe in, a hero, an inspirational figure rightly called 'The Greatest'.

 

          

My experience at the O2


As soon as I went up the escalators, wall montages of Muhammad Ali swarmed above me like a high tide, many of which posters from his fights all brightly coloured and presented beautifully. Entering the exhibition I was given an audio guide with 25 sound clips located to each room to tell the life journey of Ali. All the memorabilia was breath-taking, they had so much on display from Ali's stolen red and white bike to some of his boxing gloves, robes and world title belts.

One of Ali's famous boxing poems embroided on a fight robe

They set the beginning of his boxing career around each differing room from the first involvement as a young Cassius Clay to his world title reigns and globally publicised fights with Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

The gloves Ali used in his fight with Henry Cooper

One of Ali's world titles

The story of Clay changing to Ali is told and his refusal to go to war as well as rooms with videos about the path the champion faced. Towards the end of the exhibition you enter a cinema room which is designed like a boxing ring, you sit down to a 15 minute film of the life of this inspirational man which left many viewers a bit emotional and as you walk out you leave to one of the many beautiful quotes that Muhammad Ali said during his life, although this one a message of how to remember him.        

The exhibition was fantastic but I must say the many videos that were shown had poor audio which was a shame as each film showed a different chapter of Ali's life, overall I would give the tour an impressive 4 out of 5.



Matt Hemmings