‘float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’. pv and good morning all 🌞☕️ I re-read this book summary I wrote and it was just the boost I needed for today and I hope it motivates you too.

This one is on Muhammad Ali, his younger days to winning World Championship twice, racism faced, drafted for war but declined causing his title to revoke and forced to live in exile for 4 yrs - and his comeback after all that downfall and winning the championship title again.

Some things that I loved :

1. You never know where you find some of the best talents

Ali met his manager Herbert who was originally his photographer and realised they shared same vision. Herbert took Ali from an olympics champion to world title champion twice, and made Ali the highest paid boxer of his time

2. The change in treatment by investors

Ali’s 1st investment offer as pro-fighter was $75 per wk for 10 yrs. His 2nd offer made him do odd jobs cleaning homes. 3rd investor took 50%, reminded Ali they were doing a black man a huge favour.

He went on to become the highest sponsored fighter

3. Joe Frazier - Ali’s all time biggest competitor

Frazier became heavyweight champ after Ali was stripped of his title. Ali fought him in ‘71 after exile to reclaim his title but lost. In a rematch in ‘74 Ali won and defended his title in their final fight in Manila in ‘75

4. On handling loss gracefully

He did not shy away from public when he lost. He said “Let them hear how I lost. Let people who believe in me see that I’m not crushed, that I’ve had a defeat just as they have defeated, that I’ll get up & come back again, just like others do.”

5. Turning negative message to positive

Someone sent this negative poem ‘The butterfly has lost its wings, the bee has lost its sticks’. Ali used it as his motivation and it became a famous chant

“ float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.

6. Certain things he was grateful for much later on that didn’t go his way

when he wanted Sugar Ray as his manager but Sugar Ray declined. Later on, he realized they had a different view of black fighters in America

7. Ali was famous on talking to his opponents

(I remember my dad telling me how he gets his opponents emotional with angst)

He picked up this art during Olympic Trials, after he fought Allen Hudson, who talked throughout, made fun of Ali’s mistakes & rattled him

8. He built publicity by bragging

“I understood how it works. No one liked a braggart. It gets on your nerves. I started announcing: “I’m the World’s Prettiest Fighter! The only fighter who predicts what round they’ll fall in!” Almost overnight everyone wanted to see me fight.”

9. First championship title against Sonny Liston

He was asked to disavow his religion as Black Muslim or the fight be off. He declined. But he did not give up. He fought everyone under him and created so much publicity until the public wanted to see the fight badly.

10. Forced to join the army

In 1967, he was stripped of his world heavyweight title because he refused to join the army to kill Vietnamese (the Uncle Sam wants you era). He was facing 5 yrs prison charges

(From 1973 onwards, the military was on the voluntary basis)

11. Treatment from politicians during exile

Other Athletes who declined drafting still played. But Reagan kept Ali out of California. Senator from Mississippi gave license but orders from “the top” (Nixon/pentagon) asked it to be revoked. Senator Robert Kennedy supported Ali

12. Sometimes we all get beaten down

Ali was so jaded that when offers came he way, he didn’t want to try anymore. But Senator Johnson of Atlanta did not quit on Ali. He changed racist law that prevents blacks from fighting with whites

It was Ali’s first comeback after 4 years

13. Sometimes you may have been at it for a long time

After his exile, way past his “peak performance age”, ppl tell Ali his time has passed. Ali has been boxing for 20 years

Ali says “I’m just getting started”

Few years after that he won back his championship title 2nd time

14. On why Ali always wins, by King Levinski

Because he knows all about losing. Ali said losing feels naked and cold, “they cut you off from the world - Nobody’s with the sucker who loses.”

15. John Lennon to Ali on the way people act when a star gets big

‘Champ, the bigger you get, the more unreality you have to face. The more real you get, the more unreal they get.’

16. Running is source of stamina for Ali

He ran till he is tired, then ran some more. The real conditioning is when the pain kicks in; then it’s time to start pushing. Every mile after that is extra strength, stamina

What counts in the ring is what you can do after you’re tired

17. If you are scared and nervous -  Joe Lois to Ali

When Ali was nervous for a fight after his comeback and all were against him, Joe Lois said :

“Fighters get scared. But a scared fighter is a dangerous fighter, sometimes the most dangerous.”

18. How champions are made

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside—a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, be a little faster, have the skill and the will.

But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

19. 2nd championship title fight in Zaire :

International bank transfers in the 70’s had to go through 3 banks on 2 continents before reaching Ali’s bank in Chicago.

The fight in Zaire started at 4am to follow NY’s ideal time.

Before the fight - they studied competitors closely - every fight videos, every move

During the fight - “when everyone is watching, you still gotta observe your opponent & learn his strategy, no matter how prepared you are as it’s the real battle”

20. From hate to love

“They will all be against you until they see you winning. Then they will be on your side” - Muhammad Ali