Muhammad Ali was fighting: Parkinson’s syndrome even when champion

Geoff Wijesinghe

This week I viewed two very memorabile films, poignant and nostalgic. One was on the life of Muhammad Ali, as a great personality as he was a boxer. The other was a two hour documentary of the Indian Cricketer of the Century awards. The film on the life of Muhammad Ali covered all aspects of his life, times of happiness and of sadness. The inner Ali.

There was the former light heavyweight champion Jose Torres, a friend, speaking from his sick bed, making the shocking revelation that Muhammad Ali had been receiving treatment for Parkinson's syndrome, even before the successful fight with Larry Holmes.

By then, the undisputed champion had slowed down considerably, but hardly anyone knew that he was taking thyroid pills.

Torres said that he knew that his friend was suffering from Parkinson's syndrome when he heard that he was taking the thyroid treatment, as his father too, had suffered from the same debilitating sickness.

Heavy punches

Parkison's Syndrome, we were told, is a result of the brain stem being damaged due to the thousands of heavy punches Ali had taken unflinchingly, giving his opponents as good or more than he received.

Another close friend talked of how the icon had been exploited financially by 'hustlers' who ingratiated themselves with Ali obtaining large sums of money under false pretenses. In addition, there were around 40 individuals whom Ali had to finance. And for these reasons he had to continue fighting even after he became sick.

Although he gave other reasons, it was due largely to the fact he had a heavy draw on his funds that Ali had to continue fighting, despite his illness.

His lawyer, with tears welling in his eyes, described to viewers how after losing his title to former fellow Olympic gold medallist Leon Spinks, heavily battered and bruised, the ex-champ sat on his table in the dressing room consoling him and wiping away the lawyer's tears, said, "Don't cry, I am still Ali".

One of his daughters said Ali was a very dutiful father and loved his children.

Boxing career

Even when he was busy preparing for a fight, he would always find the time to bring them their lunch to school. He has had four wives and the fourth is a friend from his childhood to whom he has been married for the past 17 years.

Muhammad Ali, who began his boxing career as Casius Clay, fought at a time when the heavyweight crown was the toughest over to win. Among his opponents who were themselves great in their own right, were Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes and Ken Norton.

To my mind, his greatest victories were over Joe Frazier in the second fight and the "Thrilla" in Manila against George Foreman.

The other film, a documentary of the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century awards in London was full of nostalgia.

For, there before us were several of the all time greats of Indian cricket. Among the older ones was Mushtaq Ali that sweet timer of the ball at 88, standing straight as a pike staff, whose wristy elegance I always identify with that of our own Mahadevan Sathasivam. His delicate late cuts and delectable leg glances were a connoisseur's delight.

Indian cricketers

Mushtaq Ali, a former captain in the Indian Army, opened batting with the equally famous Vijaya Merchant in the years that followed the Second World War. I saw him playing on two occasions at the Colombo Oval. A leg glance he made when batting at the tennis court end is as yet etched in my memory.

Among the Indian cricketers of rich vintage who graced the occasion were Kapil Dev, Bhagavat, Chandrasekar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Dilip Vengaskar, Farookh Engineer, Bishen Bedi, Ajith Wadekhar, Polly Umrigar, Eknath Solkar, Sunil Gaveskar, Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar to receive their awards.

Kapil Dev was filled with emotion, as he received his award. The epitome of humility, he thanked his former captains Sunil Gaveskar, Ajith Wadekar, Gundappa Vishwanath and Bishen Bedi for the encouragement given him, and from whom he had learnt so much.

Kapil who led India to a famous World Cup win, also scored a whirlwind 175 against Zimbabwe to snatch a victory for his country from the jaws of defeat. One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of an award to Gundappa Vishwanath, now a Test match referee, for the most sporting gesture by an Indian cricketer.

England were 70 for five wickets when an appeal for a catch behind off the bowling of Kipil Dev was allowed by the umpire.

However, Vishwanath, who was captaining India, had asked the batsman, Bob Taylor, who had begun his walk back to the pavilion, to wait a moment until he had a word with the umpire, after consulting the bowler and the wicketkeeper.

Sporting gesture

After speaking to the umpire, much to Taylor's astonishment, the Indian captain informed him that the umpire had agreed to his continuing batting, as he was not out. England went on to win the match, with Taylor not out in his 70s. Vishwanath's sporting gesture was held up as an example of how the game should be played. Taylor, who was present at the awards ceremony, described the incident and was full of praise for the former Indian captain.

Gaveskar, as always modest, said that although his team which toured Australia was adjudged the best in the last century, he was of the view that the World Cup winning team led by Kapil Dev was the greatest.

Sachin Tendulkar, who won the award for the best batsman, said that his first pair of pads in Test cricket was presented to him by his guru. These pads, worn by Gaveskar, were lightweight ones.

The Indian doyen quipped, "the pads I gave Sachin were lightweight so as to make running between the wickets easier. But, Sachin doesn't really need them as unlike me, he scores most of his runs in boundaries.