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The life of Muhammad Ali, the World’s greatest heavyweight boxer, is being celebrated this year with a brand new exhibition put together with the help of the Ali family. The exhibition, now open at The O2 in London, provides an incredible insight into his fascinating life.
I Am The Greatest: Muhammad Ali at The O2 explores Muhammad Ali’s incredible rise from humble beginnings in Kentucky where he was known as The Louisville Lip, to becoming the three times heavyweight champion of the World and known as The Greatest. The exhibition will also show the human side of Ali through unseen footage and photographs, rare personal artefacts and the words of some of his closest friends.
For the first time outside of USA, people can discover the true story behind one of the most recognizable sports figures of 20th Century, experiencing a taste of the ‘Muhammad Ali Center’, the museum in Louisville dedicated to the six core principles of Ali’s life and be inspired by a story that transcends boxing glory with its humanity and diversity.
The exhibition allows visitors to experience the thrill of the fights, be mesmerized by the grace and power of Ali the boxer and also the incredible amount of hard work, dedication and personal sacrifice that went into each fight. Visitors can experience a taste of the gym, the pre-fight rituals and feel something of the excitement the fighter feels before a match.
The exhibition features personal artefacts belonging to Muhammad Ali, including his ‘Two Time World Champion’ ring from 1974 and ‘Three Times World Champion’ ring from 1978 (both presented to Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown), 1980 Muhammad Ali’s worn headgear inscribed to Sylvester Stallone, Torches and Participation Medals from the 1960 Rome Olympics, where Ali won the gold medal in boxing’s Light Heavyweight class in his last group of amateur fights as well as a pair of boxing shorts and a pair of boxing gloves, signed in 2007 as ‘Cassius Clay’.
Muhammad Ali is far more than just a boxer though and the exhibition also reveals the stories behind his refusal to join the American military fighting in the Vietnam war and subsequent struggle to be accepted back into the boxing world. His religious conversion and his incredible interactions with some of the world’s most powerful and influential leaders including Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and even Saddam Hussein and Leonid Brezhnev during the height of the Cold War.
Muhammad Ali was named ‘Fighter Of The Year’ by Ring Magazine more times than any other boxer, and he dominated his sport like no one else ever has. In 1999, Ali was awarded both the BBC Sports Personality Of The Century and Sports Illustrated magazine’s Athlete of the Century awards. In 2005, at the White House, he was presented with both the Presidential Citizens Medal and the Presidential Medal Of Freedom. In 2007, for his humanitarian work, he received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Princeton University. In 2015, he was awarded the W. E. B. Dubois Medal from Harvard University, which is Harvard’s highest honour in the areas of African and African-American culture.
Ali’s is a story that resonates with our current world situation, his mantra of peace and understanding of his fellow man, be they rich or poor, black or white, regardless of their religion is a powerful message that ‘I Am The Greatest’ will help visitors understand through the words pictures and possessions of this warm, loveable and ultimately incredible man.