Muhammad Ali - Magnum
From the world's foremost agency of independent photographers, Magnum Photos, comes a stunning photographic portrait of the Olympic gold medalist, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, and twentieth-century icon Muhammad Ali. Astonishingly intimate images by some of the world's best photographers reveal Ali's flamboyant style and extraordinary charisma.
Muhammad Ali captured the imagination of the world with his Olympic gold medal victory in Rome as Cassius Clay and his stunning upset victory over Sonny Liston to take the world heavyweight championship. He summed up his boxing strategy with the delicious phrase 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.' With his conversion to the Nation of Islam, his outspoken opposition to racism and the Vietnam War, Ali endured vilification and risked his career for his beliefs in the turbulent late 1960s. He was stripped of his title when he refused induction into the armed services in 1967 and was unable to fight until the U.S. Supreme Court upheld his draft appeal. Returning to the ring in 1970 Ali went on to compile a 56-5 record, wage furious ring battles with Joe Frazier and George Foreman that were among boxing's greatest events, and become the only man ever to win the heavyweight crown three times. Magnum photographers have produced major photographic essays on Ali over the course of his career: Thomas Hoepker's photographs of Ali spanning four decades; Danny Lyon's photographs of Ali preparing for his comeback in 1970; the photographs by Abbas of the extraordinary fight with George Foreman; as well as work by Elliott Erwitt, Bryn Campbell, Roger Malloch, Alex Webb, and Philippe Halsman. Dave Anderson, dean of sports columnists, introduces these unforgettable images, evoking the Ali he first met in 1963 and would cover for more than thirty of his fights.
Ali remains one of the world's most recognised and beloved figures, whose lighting of the flame at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta moved millions the world over. As a champion and a humanitarian, Ali is indeed the Greatest Of All Time.