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Palladino: Muhammad Ali Was No Saint In This Reporter's Book

By Ernie Palladino
» More Ernie Palladino Columns

I never liked Muhammad Ali.

There, I said it. I have spoken ill of the dead.

Let the vitriol flow. Begin the name calling. Start the exorcism to rid these demons from this diseased mind.

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The fact remains that I had no enduring love for Ali, who died Friday. That doesn't equal a lack of appreciation for all he did inside the boxing ring and out. He was truly the greatest boxer of all time, and the world's most transformative athlete of all time.

His civil rights work, his leadership in the fight against the Parkinson's disease that afflicted him since the 1980s knew no bounds. For that, we must all be grateful.

For me, though, he just wasn't my cup of tea. Somehow, the flood of years has never washed away the stench that some of his behavior created.

It started with his refusal to step forward at the draft induction center. Time has softened the initial feelings surrounding his arrest and the suspension of his boxing license. Today, he is remembered as a man who bravely stood up for his nonviolent religious beliefs and willingly paid the steep price.

But if one remembers, a lot of people were pretty angry at Ali, no less the parents of the kids who did answer when their names were called. Like Ali, they, too, had no quarrel with the Viet Cong. But they went because their country called them. A lot of them never came back to make even a cent in a boxing ring, or anywhere else for that matter.

Today, most regard him as a hero.

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I consider him a draft dodger.

It doesn't stop there. His bravado really used to get under my skin, and not because his sonnets of self-glorification offended me. They were actually clever, funny and little works of verbal genius. But in all the rhymes and all the "I am the greatest!" shouts, he showed not one ounce of respect for his opponents or his boxing ancestors.

He could have had all that and still shown a bit of deference toward Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and the others who paved the way for him.

His treatment of his contemporaries went far beyond that. Forget the taunting inside the ring. That's part of the mental game. But his denigration of the person for the sake of showmanship went far beyond that, especially in regards to his treatment of the great Joe Frazier.

What he did to "Smokin' Joe" before their legendary trilogy was and remains unforgivable. Ali took a proud, decent man and turned him into a racial caricature before the nation. Branding Frazier a "gorilla" and an "Uncle Tom" carried as much hurt and hatred coming from Ali's mouth as it would have from any white man's.

I never forgave him.

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That said, I can't deny the overall package. I found myself in his presence only twice -- the news conference for the second Leon Spinks fight where, at 36, Ali would win back his heavyweight title for an unprecedented third time, and a grandiose publicity gala for one of Don King's more mediocre fights in the late 1980s.

I managed to wade through the crowd and shake his trembling hand at that feast. Even asked him a softball question, to which he offered a short, muffled answer. Parkinson's had already started taking hold of his body. But it was obvious even then that the figure shuffling slowly across the hall's carpeting transcended sports. Even a hater had to give him that much.

And then there was his ability. God, could that man fight.

Whether working the Ali Shuffle to confuse, flicking his lightning-quick hands to eviscerate, or rope-a-doping to exhaust a younger, stronger foe such as George Foreman, Ali had it all.

I, of course, rooted against him at every turn. I reveled when Ken Norton busted his jaw. Was awed when Frazier knocked him down in the Garden en route to Ali's first-ever defeat. Fervently prayed for him to lose the "Thrilla In Manila" as Ali and Frazier so savaged each other that Frazier's 14th-round surrender came in second to human survival.

Ali did a lot of good in his 74 years. He brought unbelievable excitement to the ring. He helped people. He raised loads of money.

But he was no saint in my book.

And I make no apologies for that.

Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino

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