Tolling of the Bell – For all the boxing fans who have attended a boxing match, and heard the bell toll ten times for a boxer who has passed, the forlorn sound is forever imprinted on one’s heart. Muhammad Ali’s death has reminded us all of the simple solace that sad sound makes, but it is not enough.
THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME was truly a champ for his bravado and his bragging, his dangerous and damaging fists and his fancy footwork, and his courage through it all: winning the Olympic medal, losing his medal, beating the best, becoming world champ and then stripped of that honor, losing to the best, beating the best, again, and grace under the pressure of Parkinson’s.
Unfortunately, stripping Muhammad Ali of his title came at the hand of Boxing Commissions in 1967, but that was before the creation of the Muhammad Ali Act and such an action would never happen again without a vote of the entire Association of Boxing Commissions in an open meeting. The Association of Boxing Commissions feels honored to have our name forever tied to the name of the ‘The Champ’ through the Muhammad Ali Act (the federal professional boxing act that offers safety and anti-exploitation measures).
The tolling of the bell is not enough to comfort us for the loss of Ali. So let us suffer now, and attempt to “live the rest of our lives as a champion.”