Muhammad Ali was known as much for the stances he took outside the ring as his success in it. And none of his statements was louder than the one he made on this date 53 years ago.
On April 28, 1967, Ali, a Muslim, refused induction into the United States Armed Forces on religious grounds as war raged in Vietnam, a decision that would have far reaching impact on his life and boxing career. He said famously, “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong.”
As a result, he lost the heavyweight championship he won when he stopped Sonny Liston in 1964 and was banned from boxing in all 50 states. And, in June, he was convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to five years in prison and stripped of his passport.
Ali wouldn’t box between March 1967 and December 1970, when he was 25 to 29. He spent those years speaking for Civil Rights and against the Vietnam War on college campuses while he waited for his case to play out in appellate courts.
He was granted a boxing license in Atlanta while his case was still pending, which allowed him to fight Jerry Quarry on Oct. 26, 1970. Ali won by third-round TKO.
And soon Ali was vindicated. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1971 overturned his conviction because the justice department had failed to explain adequately why his conscientious objector application was rejected.
He stood up for what he believed and won, a victory many believe was far more significant than anything he accomplished in the ring.
Ali would fight until 1981, when he finally walked away from the sport. And he would accomplish great things after his comeback against Quarry. That included two victories in three fights with arch rival Joe Frazier and a stunning knockout of George Foreman to regain the title in 1974.
Still, the fact he was unable to fight for more than 3½ of his prime years is a stain on boxing history. Angelo Dundee, his longtime trainer, once lamented to me with great pain in his voice that “we never saw Muhammad Ali at his best.”