Muhammad Ali hits 70 today: tributes to The Greatest

IT IS many years since Muhammad Ali danced like a butterfly and stung like a bee. But as the boxer turns 70 today, he remains in most sports fans' eyes The Greatest. Today he is battling Parkinson's disease yet he has outlived many of his opponents – Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and Henry Cooper among them – and his wife, Lonnie, says he's just glad he's still around to mark the event. Here are some of the birthday tributes and reminiscences that have come from across the world of sport...
 
Angelo Dundee, Ali's long-serving trainer, now 90 years old: "I can't tell you what a great time I've had with this kid. We've had a relationship that was as perfect as any relationship two men have ever had. He taught me how to be tough. He taught me how to be patient. He taught me how to be strong. All he ever wanted to be was the best there ever was. And you know what? He did it."

Jeff Powell, the Daily Mail sportswriter who was among those invited to a 70th birthday party on Saturday at Louisville's Muhammad Ali Center: "Not even The Greatest can see Parkinson's disease, but he gives it a clobbering just the same. With every year that goes by. With every entrance he makes like this one into the building which is a monument to the most phenomenal athlete of all time, the heavyweight champion for the ages, the most electrifying personality ever to illuminate our lives."
 
Alan Hubbard of the Independent on Sunday: "Being a sportswriter around him was bliss. We were never short of a storyline. Once, back in the 1970s, on arriving to interview him in Dublin, we discovered that Ali was flu-stricken and being attended by a doctor in his hotel bedroom. We explained to [Angelo] Dundee that all we wanted was to talk to Ali for 10 minutes. 'No chance,' came the reply, 'He never talks to anyone for less than an hour.' He phoned Ali's room and winked, 'Hey guys, the champ says go on up.' We emerged, two hours later, notebooks overflowing."
 
Lennox Lewis, former heavyweight champion, speaking at Ali's birthday party in Louisville, Kentucky, recalled sitting in front of the TV with his mother to watch Ali fight: "I always got mad if I didn't see the Ali shuffle. It always inspires me... What he's done outside the ring — just the bravery, the poise, the feeling, the sacrifice... He's truly a great man."

Neil Leifer, the photographer who took one of the iconic pictures of Ali in 1965, standing over Sonny Liston after dropping him with a right to the jaw: "The thing about Muhammad that was so special; you didn't have to be Howard Cosell or me working for Sports Illustrated. He treated the kid who came from a high school newspaper the same as he would treat Life mag or Sports Illustrated."

Tim Dahlberg, writing in The Washington Post: "[George] Foreman tells how he tenderly helped Ali button his shirt as they prepared for a dinner honouring them in London. It was early in the progression of his disease, and Ali didn't appreciate his old foe having to help him get ready, challenging Foreman to another fight."

Maryum 'May May' Ali, his oldest daughter, talking about her father's reputation for having the most recognisable face on earth: "It's the same face, the Parkinson's hasn't affected that... He would always just say to his family, 'These are the cards I was dealt, so don't be sad'. He never played the victim. There was never any 'Woe is me'."
 
Patrick Collins, the Daily Mail sportswriter: "Muhammad Ali's Wikipedia entry describes him as; 'An American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist.' All true, of course. Just as Mozart could knock out a decent tune and Michelangelo was a handy chap with a chisel. Ali's stature transcends easy labels."

The Louisville Lip: the lasting quotes

Muhammad Ali became so well known for sharp one-liners, they called him 'The Louisville Lip'. Here are five of the best...

• 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see.'
• 'Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wildlife.'
• 'If you sign to fight me, you need speed and endurance but what you need most is to increase your insurance.'
• 'Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.'
• 'I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and got into bed before the room was dark.'

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