Untitled (Muhammad Ali)

The boxer Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) captured gold at the 1960 Olympics, won epic fights against George Foreman and Joe Frazier, and consistently stood up for what he believed was right. Even after his career in sports ended, he never left the public eye. His conversion to Islam and his opposition to the Vietnam War made him a lightning rod for criticism. In 1967, he was stripped of his heavyweight title and suspended from boxing after refusing to serve in Vietnam. While Ali eventually regained his title and returned to the ring, he increasingly involved himself in global social and humanitarian causes.

Artist Robert McCurdy began this portrait as Ali was nearing the end of his decades-long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Physically, he had grown weak, but his wife, Lonnie Ali, noted: “I learn every day from this man: the courage, the strength and the grace that he lives with his illness.”

El boxeador Muhammad Ali (nacido Cassius Clay) obtuvo medalla de oro en las Olimpiadas de 1960, ganó épicas peleas contra George Foreman y Joe Frazier, y defendió con firmeza las causas que creía justas. Incluso después de su carrera deportiva, nunca se alejó del ojo público. Su conversión al islam y su oposición a la guerra de Vietnam lo hicieron objeto de numerosas críticas. En 1967, cuando se negó a combatir en Vietnam, fue despojado de su título de peso completo y suspendido del boxeo. Con el tiempo recuperó su título y volvió al cuadrilátero, pero siguió cada vez más comprometido con causas sociales y humanitarias en el mundo.

Cuando Robert McCurdy comenzó este retrato, Ali se acercaba al fin de décadas de batalla con el mal de Parkinson. Estaba débil físicamente, pero su esposa Lonnie Ali comentó: “Cada día aprendo de este hombre: la valentía, la fuerza y la gracia con que sobrelleva su enfermedad”.