The Former Mrs. Muhammad Ali (Khalilah Ali) has been approached to write her tell all book, about working, living and supporting the most famous man on earth. The Sports Techie community appreciates the history of sports technology and these two certainly saw their share of technological advancements around the world over decades of boxing, sports business and family travel.
Ali Background
A true woman of the 21st century Khalilah is mostly known as the wife of Muhammad Ali the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Khalilah, the former Belinda Boyd, gave birth to the first four of Muhammad Ali’s children, (Maryum, Rasheda, Jamillah and his only son born Muhammad Ali), and lived with him during the most turbulent times in their lives.
Khalilah was the wife who guided and gave Muhammad Ali great support mental and spiritual support through his good and hard times with his exile from boxing. This is when she began her career supporting the former Cassius Clay who was fighting in the Courts with the United States Government, instead of fighting in the ring with other boxing opponents, by refusing to serve in the United States military. Ali lost his boxing license, in turn losing his only means to earn a decent living for his wife, Khalilah and their children together.
During the height of the Vietnam War, teenager Belinda Boyd married the man who would become Muhammad Ali, standing beside him as their faith and anti-war stance lead to controversy and derailed the fighter’s legendary career. As Ali was banned from the ring, Belinda worked tirelessly to keep their dreams alive in the face of personal struggle, financial hardship, and increasing pressure from all sides.
Sports Techie Pioneers
While traveling the world with her husband Muhammad, she visited over 100 countries. Khalilah has met over 50 heads of state. Among them the late King Faisal, King Fahd an Islamic scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Ali of Saudi Arabia; Anwar Sadat of Egypt; Mobutu SeSe Seko of Zaire; Queen Elizabeth of England; Jean Claude Duvalier of Haiti; Michael Manley of Kingston Jamaica and Muhammad Zia Al-Haq of Pakistan and many more.
In the United States of America, she has met and worked with top celebrities in the music and film industry. She is also a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Equity and AFTRA agencies. She has worked with Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, Miles Davis and other luminaries of stage, screen and culture. Through her many appearances on stage and television Khalilah has been very influential with teaching and sharing her knowledge on old fashion family values and good manners.
Tell All Book
And now, the former Mrs. Muhammad Ali finally tells all. She wants to share how a chance encounter allowed young Belinda Boyd to make an impression on rising star Muhammad Ali at the beginning of a career that would turn him into a sports legend. Pulled into both his sportsbiz and religious worlds, Belinda met her match in the brash young fighter, but the future was rockier than they can foresee.
Influenced by the Nation of Islam and his self-serving entourage protecting their gravy train, Ali decided that he cannot in good conscience enter the draft. My Father was a believer; other citizens felt he was simply dodging the military draft. The nation and the world become shocked and outraged, and Belinda’s fairytale beginning of bright lights and celebrity treatment turns nightmarish as Ali is stripped of his title and his boxing license.
Belinda finds herself caught between her faith and her husband’s dreams of glory, struggling to keep the family going as the “faithful” that influenced Ali’s decision abandon the champ to face this fight alone. Despite financial hardships, court battles, struggles at home, and Ali’s own depression, Khalilah helps navigate Ali back into the boxing fold and to his destiny as the greatest fighter the world has ever known.
Link here for theater showings: http://kartemquin.com/films/the-trials-of-muhammad-ali.
Sports Techie, I loved watching Mohammad Ali box as a kid and teenager as did many of his global fans. “Now you see it, now you don’t,” was one of many poetic quotes that his that fans, media and advertisers loved to repeat.
Ali’s legendary fights shadowed the rapid advancement of sports tech history. His career began when boxing matches were televised on black & white TV. He won an Olympic Gold medal for Team USA in 1960 fighting overseas in Rome. The “Thrilla in Manila” heavyweight championship of the world title bout versus Smokin’ Joe Frazier in 1975 was the equivalent of a modern day pay-per-view fight in terms of National and International exposure.
To put it in perspective, according to ESPN: “Showtime, which broadcast the fight on pay-per-view, announced Thursday, along with promoters Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions, that Mayweather’s dominant decision victory shattered the all-time record for highest-grossing pay-per-view fight of all time, generating $150 million in revenue from 2.2 million pay-per-view buys.”
This makes me wonder what an epic pay-per-view fight like Ali vs. Frazier would command today, perhaps half a billion dollars and close to 50 million purchasers.
Ali was also a sports business savvy entrepreneur who endorsed many products for sponsors as the “King of the World.” The former champion boxer Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1984 at the age of 42. The Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s center at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix is one of his legacies that will endure to help cure and treat those afflicted with this crippling disease. His appearance at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games was a testament to the human spirit.
U.S. Olympic Team Tribute To Muhammad Ali via YouTube
Ali quotes such as, “Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” and, “You can’t hit what you don’t see,” and, the “Ali shuffle,” are forever seared into the conscious of his worldwide sport fans in many parts thanks to sports technological advancements. We look forward to reading the new book penned by the former Mrs. Muhammad Ali.
If you have seen the movie or trailer, or have any thoughts about the forthcoming book by Khalilah, please let us know as a blog comment of via any of our social media network links below.
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