Originally published at: On This Day: Muhammad Ali Stripped of His Title After Refusing Draft (1967) – Boxing News
On April 28, 1967, Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title and banned from boxing after refusing induction into the U.S. Army at the height of his career.
I know a lot of people at the time hated Ali for that. Even today, I’ve heard negative opinions about Ali’s decision.
But honestly? To begin with, the Vietnam War was never a very popular war. It was in no way comparable to WW2, at least in many people’s eyes.
But beyond that, you gotta consider the state of affairs in the U.S. during those times. Racial segregation was still very much a part of life. The civil rights struggle was still going on. Racism in many parts of the country was open and blatant.
So you gotta put yourself in the mind of a young, black man. A boxing champion who was cheered in the ring (not by everybody), as long as he didn’t bother anybody with his beliefs and convictions.
I’m not saying he was right or wrong. I’m just putting myself in his shoes and thinking what would I have done. Agree or disagree, he was brave enough to risk his career (at his peak), and be jailed for his convictions. He lost years from his peak and countless income because of those very convictions.
Who knows how his career would’ve gone had he not been absent from the boxing scene during those years.
Ali was very outspoken about social justice. Something not everybody with a platform to do so is willing to do.
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For sure mate, I always class Ali’s exact prime was the night of the Cleveland Williams fight, that version of Ali was something special. I can only imagine the kind of amazing bouts history has been robbed of becasue of them lost year.
As for Vietnam, it’s hard to say it any better than this…"Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. No Viet Cong ever called me nigger.”
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Ali was proven to have made the right decision. Very few people would have done the same including me. Amazing man.
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