Mar 07, 2016 A major exhibition devoted to the world’s greatest heavyweight boxer, Muhammad Ali, recently opened in London.
Staged at the O2 Arena, the exhibition was tagged “I am the greatest” and was curated by Davis Miller.
Speaking at the event, Miller, said:
“We need a re-acquaintance with Muhammad Ali. You are right, he is absolutely the dominant athlete of the twentieth century, of our lifetimes, of numerous generations, arguably maybe the most important public figure of the later half of the twentieth century.”
The exhibition featured personal memorabilia belonging to Ali, some of which have never been seen in public before.
Among the memorabilia on display were the famous “fight of the century” gloves, which Ali wore for the first of his three fights against Joe Frazier in 1971.
Also on display was Ali’s draft card for the U.S. Army. Known as Cassius Clay at the time, his refusal to be drafted into the Army and the Vietnam War resulted in him being stripped of his heavyweight title, withdrawal of his boxing license and condemnation in the United States.
The event also showed exhibits of Ali’s charitable work after his boxing career ended, and mementoes of his lighting of the Olympic flame in Atlanta 1996.
Speaking on this, Miller said:
“I think by doing it this way it gives later generations some sense of his heat, of his presence, of how genuinely unique he was. There has never been anyone like him before, there has never been anyone since, as Ali himself said: ‘After me there will never be another’, and excuse the horrible imitation, but it is true! And I think this exhibition will give people some sense of that,”