A LOOK BACK AT HOW ALI LOST HIS TITLE
Posted on | September 24, 2007 | No Comments
BOXING PRESS EXCLUSIVE
Why Muhammad Ali Is A Reigning Champion
To Lose His Title Because Of Incarceration
By Greg Goodrich, Boxing Press Editor in Chief
Clarification is needing concerning Muhammad Ali’s incarceration and stripping by the NYSAC and his abdication of his NBA title. For the reasons set forth below, Boxing Press recognizes Cassius Clay as
one of six reigning boxing champions to lose his title because of his incarceration (because of action and reaction, or cause and effect).
Cassius Clay defeated Charles ‘Sonny’ Liston for the World NYSAC, NBA Heavyweight title on February 25, 1964. Shortly thereafter, he announced his new name as being Cassius X. After Clay’s initiation as a Black Muslim (accepted member of the Nation of Islam), Malcom X confirmed upon his X surname on March 6, 1964. Later that night, Elijah Muhammad (the Prophet of the Nation of Islam) bestowed upon
Cassius X the new name Muhammad Ali. The name means ‘one who is rightly praised as the fourth rightly guided caliph’.
The exact reasons for Clay’s conversion (having been born and raised devote Christian in the Southern Baptist tradition of faith) has always been a disputed issue. Ali was a self-avowed Black Muslim from March 25, 1964 until March 24, 1975 (again announcing his conversion to Sunni Islam just after his successful title defense against Chuck Wepner).
The actual significance of Clay’s renaming is stooped in Arabic folklore and polytheistic tradition. The disambiguation of the original etymology of the name Muhammad Ali, traces back to the viceroy of Egypt,
Mohammad Ali who was born in 1769, and died 1849. That Ali was generally considered the founder of modern Egypt.
The name Muhammad is an English transliteration (Anglicized spelling) of Mohammad, which is culturally an adopted epithet of bestowed honor and blessing; and philologically the etymologically derived name of the founding prophet of Islam (appearing by name four times in the Quran). The surname Ali is a toponym of a town in Tibet, and serves as the primary male theophoric Arabic name in both ritual rites and predominant culture.
What led to Ali’s indictment, conviction, incarceration, and subsequent abdication of his World Heavyweight title is a fairly straight forward matter steeped in myopic phenomena.
On August 23, 1966, Clay petitioned the Selective Service seeking military exemption and signed it Cassius Clay, Jr. a/k/a Muhammad Ali, Special Field Minister, the Lost Nation of Islam. His request was
denied. On March 6, 1967, his A-1 draft classification was upheld.
On April 28 1967, Clay/Ali refused induction in to the United States Army, Since this act was considered to be illegal and treason, the NYSAC revoked his license to box professionally under its public policy provisions for conduct unbecoming of a champion. Other State Commissions followed suit, honoring the suspension.
On May 8, 1967, Clay/Ali was indicted for draft evasion by an empaneled Federal Grand Jury. On June 20, 1967, the jury for the US District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division returned a guilty verdict against Clay/Ali. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment by Judge Joe Ingraham for two counts of violating the Universal Military Training and Service Act. Clay/Ali was also fined $10,000.
After being jailed, Clay/Ali filed an appeal and was released on bond. Most agree he was incarcerated one to three days. As a result of his crime, conviction and incarceration, the NYSAC officially withdrew
recognition of Clay/Ali as Heavyweight Champion and declared the title vacant. The NBA continued to recognize Clay/Ali as champion until he formally announced his retirement on February 1, 1970.
That allowed the winner between NYSAC Heavyweight Titlist Joe Frazier and the newly crowned NBA/WBA inaugural belt holder Jimmy Ellis to be universally recognized as Heavyweight Champion
of the World. [Though Frazier won the February 16, 1970 unification bout, he was not recognized as the World Heavyweight Champion (5th lineal line) until he beat Clay/Ali on March 8, 1971.]
On September 11, 1970, Ali announced via press conference that he would be fighting leading contender Jerry Quarry in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia did not have a state athletic commission at the time. Ali had
filed a two-pronged appeal of his conviction by to the United States Supreme Court and Federal Court of Appeals. Ali was granted leave for arguing that the NYSAC had made an arbitrary and capricious ruling
by depriving him of a boxing license, as it was contrary to law to deny due process (as his conviction was under appeal). Since the NYSAC did not respond in a timely fashion, Ali was allowed to box.
As a result of Ali’s indictment and incarceration, he was stripped of his NYSAC Heavyweight title (in 1967); vacated his NBA title (in 1970): and eventually lost his World, lineal Heavyweight title to Joe Frazier (in 1971). Though the United States Supreme Court overturned Ali’s conviction on June 28, 1971, he had for all practical purposes been stripped of his title; vacated his title: and been defeated for his title, and was no longer considered champion by any organization in the world.
Under that rational, Boxing Press recognizes Clay/Ali as one of six reigning champions to have lost his title due to incarceration. It is unlikely that Clay/Ali would have lost his titles to any boxer during his prime (in 1964 though 1974). Though he did not fight for the better part of four years, he beat everyone he faced, except for Joe Frazier. Had he not refused military service, he logically would have been afforded the same status as Gene Tunney and Joe Louis, and been considered a champion in recess. Consequently, he would not have been stripped of his title or vacated his title or lost his title to Frazier.
Clay/Ali most likely would have continued to defend his World title and beaten Frazier in 1971 (a point that is further corroborated by the fact that Clay/Ali when active, beat Frazier two out of three times, in 1974 and in 1975, two bouts which were consecutive in the trilogy). That point is best left open for debate by the experts and pundits. What is incontrovertible is that Clay/Ali lost his boxing license due to charges
which led to his incarceration which resulted in the loss of his titles.
Greg Goodrich
Boxing Press Editor in Chief