The champ passed away but his legacy remains

As a teenager going through a rebellious phase I started boxing. When I first started all my knowledge about the sport could have been summarized in the stories that I was told about Mohamed Ali's Parkinson disease and the story when Mike Tyson bit the ear of Evander Hollifield.

As I started taking the sport more seriously, I remember my coach advising me to start learning by watching those two phenomenal fighters.

One of the amazing documentaries that I watched over and over again was called Mohamed Ali, more than just a boxer.

The hours and hours that I watched of Ali's recorded fights and that documentary made me understand a lot about the sport and how Ali challenged all the norms not just in the boxing ring but also outside.

One of the most important things that I learned from this great man is to be brave enough and to put your guard down. For those who are not familiar about the sport, the traditional boxing fighting style before Ali was the peekaboo style meaning putting your hands up to protect your face. Ali challenged that and used to put his guard down to encourage his opponents to come and attack and he would be on the counter attack using his phenomenal speed and strength.

Ali's fighting technique wasn't just limited to his boxing, it was how he managed his life, his political stances whether when he refused to get drafted to fight in Vietnam or his declaration of Islam right after he became the champion of the world or his clear stance on the civil rights movement.

This man fought the right fight all his life. He stood for the ideals he believed in with his guard down. Every time he was cornered he took the beating and came back stronger, and he came back a champion.

اللهم اغفر له و ارحمه و تقبله مع عبادك الصالحين و انزله منزلة النبيين و الصديقين و الشهداء.