The Greatest: Muhammad Ali

Content Warning: This section discusses racism.

Sports in America have always been interwoven with politics and social power. The greatest athletes are heroes to many young people and help feed industries of journalism and marketing. There is often an insistence that such people must act as role models, adhering to prevailing social norms to minimize controversy and maximize profitability. Since the overwhelming bulk of political and economic power lay with white people in the 20th century, the potential for a Black athlete to outperform their white competitors was a threat to white supremacist ideology. Before Jackie Robinson started for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, nearly all major sports were strictly segregated. In boxing, however, efforts to maintain the so-called “Color Line” were more difficult due to its international structure. White America could not prevent African American boxer Jack Johnson from challenging white Canadian boxer Tommy Burns for the heavyweight title in Australia, as he did successfully in 1908.

Furthermore, boxing has long been a particularly potent source of ethnic pride. Its simple rules, strict focus on individuals, and brutality feed the impression that whoever wins is “the best” in a fundamental way. The heavyweight champion in particular stands out as the toughest man on earth. As galling as it was to have a Black champion, especially the brash Johnson who flouted his fancy cars and romances with white women, many racist white people accepted Johnson’s presence in the ring on the basis that a white boxer would emerge and validate white supremacy. When the greatest of all hopes, Jim Jeffries, fell to Johnson in 15 rounds in 1910, riots broke out across the country, in which 20 people died.

After Johnson lost the title in 1915, it would be over 20 years before another Black man challenged for the crown. Joseph Louis Barrow, who took the name Joe Louis as a young boy to hide his boxing career from his mother, had been ascending through the ranks before suffering a shocking knockout loss to Germany’s Max Schmeling in 1936. Adolf Hitler heralded the victory as proof of Aryan supremacy, and despite America’s own racist history, many looked to Louis to avenge American pride against the widely despised Nazi regime. Louis won the title in 1937 and defended it the following year in a rematch against Schmeling, battering the German into unconsciousness in just over two minutes. Louis became a national hero who, upon the outbreak of World War II, joined the army and engaged in exhibition bouts to entertain troops overseas. He even coined a catchphrase, “We’ll win, because we’re on God’s side” (“The Power of Propaganda, Persuasion, and Information Dissemination.” Vanderbilt University). Louis would hold the title for 12 years and 25 title defenses, normalizing the idea of a Black champion in the public imagination, and there were many more Black heavyweight champions between him and Ali (including Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, Floyd Patterson, and Sonny Liston). Yet none of them, even Jack Johnson, had been political figures themselves, either ignoring politics altogether or taking stances friendly to the establishment. Therefore, while Ali’s ability to fight for the title was due in part to the example of Johnson, Louis, and others, he would revolutionize the sport by using his platform to advance his political beliefs.