The news of Mohammad Ali's death on 3 June 2016 came when I was in Singapore. For a moment, I thought about this man who during his hey days stirred many controversies. He had gone to jail and was stripped off his World Heavyweight Boxing Champion title. Notwithstanding all the setbacks, he managed to weather through these storms and made a comeback to recapture the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion title again. He was legendary and became one of the most well known characters in the universe. At the pinnacle of his boxing career, Mohammad Ali was synonymous to boxing. In his later years after his retirement from boxing, he rose to assume the role of a Statesman crisscrossing countries to promote goodwill and resolving crisis.
Few people knew that Mohammad Ali in fact had at one time visited Sabah. That was in 1975 after he fought and defeated Joe Bugner in Kuala Lumpur on 30 June 1975. He spent three days in Sabah. The man who managed to get him to come was non other - the Chief Minister of Sabah then, Tun Datu Mustapha Datu Harun.
"Champions aren't made in gyms, Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill". Mohammad Ali.
Few people knew that Mohammad Ali in fact had at one time visited Sabah. That was in 1975 after he fought and defeated Joe Bugner in Kuala Lumpur on 30 June 1975. He spent three days in Sabah. The man who managed to get him to come was non other - the Chief Minister of Sabah then, Tun Datu Mustapha Datu Harun.
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| Mohammad Ali with the Governor of Sabah then, Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens |
"Champions aren't made in gyms, Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill". Mohammad Ali.
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