on muhammad ali (aka the goat)

float like a butterfly, etc... and then in the final round sell out like a no-good cracker pop queen

it was reported late last week that muhammad ali has sold his name and image to CKX for $50m

and so it ends

CKX recently bought 19 Entertainment, the company who gave us the spice girls and s club 7, and also have a marketing deal with david and victoria beckham

fitting company for the Greatest Of All Time

while ali's demise has been long and painful to watch, this final capitulation is ugly and unexpected

and its effect on his legacy - which at this stage is all the poor bastard has - will long outlast $50m at the rate ali is known to spend, and will long outlive ali himself

an image, once sold to a machine like CKX, is lost forever

and this is a dangerous situation for anyone, especially a man like ali, to find themselves in

CKX claim, of course, that they won't use ali's name or image in any way that would either demean his legacy or offend his religious beliefs

dandy

ali claims that the deal will "help guarantee that, for generations to come, people of all nations will understand [his] beliefs purpose"

which are/is what, exactly?

ali is idealised as a cultural and political force, which in some respects is a cosy misrepresentation of the realities of his involvement in different movements throughout the years

while the strength of principle shown when ali flung his olympic medal in the ohio river in 1960 is admirable, (he was twice refused service in a louisville diner because of his race), this is also a man who went on record in support of racial segregation

ali taking this position was perhaps a backlash response to years of discrimination suffered at the hands of american society, and knowing what we do of him, was likely his way of stirring the debate

but a white boxer (or a white anything) couldn't possibly have voiced this opinion and subsequently been made a UN Messenger of Peace

his anti-war position has been dismissed in a biography by mark kram as "peripheral, a college-kid issue that he tolerated and used"

he also had (has?) a questionable attitude towards women

there's no denying ali's intelligence, because it takes great intelligence to manipulate the media and the public as brilliantly as he has done

but while this penchant for manipulation - when taken with some of his idealistic stances - aren't attractive characteristics, and like or loathe his political positions in general, you nonetheless have to respect his unwavering determination and purpose throughout the 60s and 70s to be remembered as the Greatest

his official biographer, thomas hauser, said of this:

Great men are considered great not only because of what they achieve, but also because of the road they travel to reach their final destination. Ali stood up for his convictions and sacrificed a great deal for them. So why hide the true nature of what his principles were?

which is largely my point - you don't have to like someone's principles, but don't sugar coat them for the easy sell

CKX, its safe to assume, won't be taking on the complete ali, with his many personal failings - there's will be the sanitised Champ, the hero of what's right, martin luther king with boxing gloves, ghandi on caffeine pills

and so not only has ali sold his image, he has also banished the true ideals once associated with that image - the things he stood for, for better or worse

only those willing to read biographies will know the real ali; the rest will see the dumbed-down, airbrushed version on whatever tack CKX want to flog next week

or next year

or the next 50years
___________________________________________________

I have seen the greatest fighters end up living in rooming houses, picking up cans to get the deposits. I have seen champions who are now indigent, depressed, deranged, emotionally troubled, in need of professional help.
(Jack Newfield - The Shame of Boxing - The Nation, October 25, 2001)

boxing is hopelessly corrupt and pugilists often take a more brutal beating outside the ring than in

their abuse at the hands of managers, promoters, et al, mean that many are often reduced to physical and financial ruin and are forced at a relatively young age in to menial circumstances that ill-reflect the athletic prowess they once had

this has been allowed to continue for decades, mainly because it plays to the interests of those that control boxing - promoters, big tv networks, the usual suspects

(i'd cite examples if i had time and thought anyone read this fucking thing)

in this regard it's probably no coincidence that the majority of boxers are either black or latino

a white boy wouldn't be expected to take a beating like this

nor would a black white or yellow dude playing, say, baseball, stand for it - there are safeguards in other sports, and rightly so, to protect the interests of the players

and sure, fella, the companies make money off of 'em, but the fans would be up in arms if their boys weren't bein' seen to proper

who knows, congress might even get involved

but boxing was and is the sport of the working class, and the working class has a tendency to open wide when Big Money undoes its zipper

fuck CKX and fuck ali's "beliefs and purpose"

if he wants to be remembered, in boxing circles or elsewhere, as something other than a man who was great, boxed longer than he should have and sold himself, literally and figuratively, to a marketing giant, he should be working for reforms in the sport that will spare this and subsequent generations of boxers the ignominious end he now faces

if you're gonna put your name to something, don't let it be a museum in your honour - which is due to open in louisville in the near future - or a video game, or runners, or whatever shit CKX has in mind

use your standing in the sporting world to lobby for greater protection for young boxers, inside and out of the ring

work to bring in stricter medical controls in fights at all levels to stop young athletes having their brains beaten to pulp in the name of entertainment

work to stop them being preyed upon by scumbag promoters who couldn't care less what happens to their fighters - fighters who'll stay on their feet for 15savage rounds rather than break the honour code, and then collapse with brain bleeding afterwards

or, now that the deal is done, use some of your $50m to set up a medical centre for the basket cases that your sport creates

or build support housing for the suckers that took the beatings but never made it, and now live in squalor

put your fucking name on that, if you like
___________________________________________________

when hunter thompson interviewed ali in 1978 he had just been defeated by leon spinks

in the context of that time, ali's defeat in vegas by this young, unknown brawler was tragic, and thompson's article captures the sense of anxiety that the Greatest was a spent force

ali had been around nearly two decades - spinks had never boxed beyond ten rounds and had only seven professional bouts to his name

reading now the report of what ali has done, i briefly found myself wishing a horrible wish - that leon spinks had beaten him to death the first time, that ali had died in the ring a two-time world champion, an imperfect but untarnished image of physical and idealistic strength

but who am i to wish that...

and besides, it probably wouldn't have saved ali

dying young works for some, but not all

it's done wonders for jim morrison, john lennon, jimmy dean, marilyn monroe, kurt cobain - and while they've each since been marketed to varying degrees, their premature exits have instilled a sense of mystery and wonder in their short, bright lives, and their images have been forever preserved in the common cultural psyche in shades of eternal youth

but elvis died young too, and although granted he wasn't in his prime and was never what you'd call a social or political force, his rape by cheap marketing still saddens the heart

oh, and CKX?

they own elvis, too

When I'm gone, boxing will be nothing again. The fans with the cigars and hats turned down'll be there, but no more housewives and little men in the street and foreign presidents. It's goin' to be back to the fighter who comes to town, smells a flower, visits a hospital, blows a horn and says he's in shape. Old hat. I was the onliest boxer in history people asked questions like a senator.
(Muhammad Ali, 1967)