Memorable Images: Muhammad Ali

Boxing promoter Harry Leverne (background left), match maker Mickey Duff (background middle) and trainer Angelo Dundee (background right) listen as world heavyweight champion Mohammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay) is interviewed by television reporters upon his arrival at London Airport. Ali is in London for a fight against Henry Cooper. England, 1966. Location: London Airport, London, England. Date: May 09, 1966. Image: Hulton Deutsch

Mohammad Ali remains the greatest ever in boxing; when boxing was dying a natural death and he popped up, everybody got paid till today which also signaled the sport's commercial success.

Memorable Images And Time

African American Athletes at News Conference
Nation's top Negro athletes gathered for a meeting at the Negro Industrial and Economic Union to hear Cassius Clay's view for rejecting Army induction. News conference shows (front row) Bill Russell, Boston Celtics; Cassius Clay; Jim Brown and Lew Alcindor. Back row (left to right): Carl Stokes, Democratic State Rep.; Walter Beach, Cleveland Browns; Bobby Mitchell, Washington Redskins; Sid Williams, Cleveland Browns; Curtis McClinton, Kansas City Chiefs; Willie Davis, Green Bay Packers; Jim Shorter, former Brown and John Wooten, Cleveland Browns. Date: June 04, June 04,1967. Location: Cleveland, Ohio. Image: Bettmann Collection


Former track star Jesse Owens (C) and Cleveland Indians' pitcher Satche Paige (R) are congratulated by Illinois States Attorney John Boyle after they received Ebony Magazine Awards as two of the nation's outstanding African American athletes in 1949. Date: August 20, 1949. Location: Chicago, Illinois. Image: Bettmann Collection


Flanked by athletes who are supporting a boycott of the 1968 Olympic Games, George M. Houser, (3rd left), executive director of the American Committee on Africa, calls for a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in order to reverse its decision readmitting South Africa to the games. Attending press conference here are (left to right): Heyward Dotson, Staten Island, N.Y., Columbia University basketball team; Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, Ghana, Yale University track team; Houser; Steve Mokone, South African soccer player and student at University of Rochester; New York Yankee infielder Ruben Amaro; and New York Yankee pitcher Jim Bouton. Date: April 11, 1968. Location: New York, New York. Image: Bettmann Collection.

Memorable Images and Time: The Big Fights

Joe Frazier (right) crouch's and lands a right to the stomach of Muhammad Ali in bout here January 28. Ali won unanimous decision in the 12-rounder. Both fighters wear white trunks; the ropes are blue and their gloves are wine-red. January 28, 1974




Boxer James "Bonecrusher" Smith reels from the force of a right from Mike Tyson in a heavyweight title fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. March 7, 1987.


Roberto Duran (facing camera) and WBC Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard battle at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec. Challenger Roberto Duran dethroned Leonard with a unanimous 15-round decision to take the WBC Welterweight title. June 20, 1980. Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada



Heavyweight champion Larry Holmes defends his title against challenger Gerry Cooney here at the Caesars Palace. Holmes wins the fight by a TKO. September 1982. Location: Las Vegas, Nevada



Boxer Muhammad Ali Defeating Boxer Sonny Liston:
Referee Joe Wolcott guides heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali to a neutral corner after Ali downed challenger Sonny Liston in the first round of their championship fight on May 25th, 1965. Clay retained his crown by scoring a one-minute knockout victory over Liston in the controversial fight.

Memorable Images and Time

23 Oct 1962, San Francisco, California, USA --- 10/23/1962-San Francisco, CaliforniaNew middleweight champion Dick Tiger is hoisted on the shoulders of his Nigerian countrymen after he won a 15-round title bout against former champ Gene Fullmer at Candlestick Park. --- Image by Bettmann/CORBIS



05 Oct 1954, Mackinac Island, Michigan, USA --- George Daneel, prominent South African and Springbok rugby player, is shown chatting with Adolphus Mbah (left) and Chief Yakubu Tali at the Moral Rearmament Assembly on Mackinac Island. Mbah is vice president of the Nigerian Federation of Trade Unions. Chief Tali is a member of the Gold Coast Parliament and president of the Northern Territories Council. At an interracial meeting in Capetown Daneel recently made a public apology for his attitude of superiority towards the other races in Africa. Segregation is rigidly enforced in South Africa. --- Image by Bettmann/CORBIS




14 Jun 1962 --- Nigerian parliamentarians pose for a photograph while on a visit with President John F. Kennedy



12/10/1974-Washington, D.C.- World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and his brother Herbert Clay (L) meet with President Ford at the White House. Ali said he liked the White House, and just might go after the job. Ford said there were times he'd be happy to let him have it.

Memorable Images and Time

The enigmatic and a man of unstated charisma, Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Congo Republic, leaves the Idlewild Airport in New York, July 24, 1960, and escorted by United States Federal agents. Six months later, he will be toppled in a coup and murdered in the most brutal way. Photo: AFP/Getty Images


Osagefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana and his wife, Fatima, pays homage to WEB Dubois. The pan Africanist was overthrown by a group of youngish military juntas led by Emmanuel Kotoka in an alleged CIA plot.


The greatest Muhammed Ali faces off against George Foreman, twice his size, for the heavyweight title belt in "Rumble in the Jungle" October 30, 1974. Ali floored Foreman in the eight round as he predicted.


From left: Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello and Obafemi Awolowo, founding fathers of the Nigerian republic as fabricated by the British Empire.

Memorable Images and Time

Muhammad Ali sightseeing downtown Kinshasha, Zaire on September 17, 1974 greets fans before fighting opponent George Foreman, twice his size in Kinshasha on October 30, 1974. Ali gave Foreman a stunning defeat in "Rumble in the Jungle." (Associated Press Photo)

Nelson Mandela, center, sings with supporters and fellow accused during his first treason trial in Johannesburg. Mandela and the other 150 people accused were acquitted after a four and a half year trial. Photo taken in 1956 by Peter Megubane/Associated Press.

1961: Nelson Mandela and his then wife, Winnie, show off their firstborn daughter, Zindzi, at their home in Soweto. Mandela fled into exile overseas as the political situation in South Africa worsened, returning only to be arrested and sentenced to life improsonment in what became known as the Rivonia Trial. Alf Khumalo/Associated Press.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. presents his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963. (AP Photo)

The release of "Yellow Fever" was composed, arranged and produced at the Chief Priest, Fela Anikulapo Kuti's communal compound called Kalakuta Republik, located on Agege Motor Road. Who steal my bleaching...I buy am for shopping...your mustache go show...your nyash go black...I go die o...

The Showdown: Undisputed World Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas "Hitman/Motor City Cobra" Hearns battle it out in 1981 during the golden era of boxing when the sport was for pride and passion not for profit and commercial success. I had a bet with my brother, then, but Sugar Ray came from behind and knocked out Hearns in the 14th Round on a TKO.