Box-Legende Muhammad Ali feiert heute seinen 70. Geburtstag. Hier ein paar Zitate des Champs.

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”

“I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.”

“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

“I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.”

“It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am.”

“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”

Vokabeltipps:
humble: bescheiden
plain wrong: schlicht (und ergreifend) falsch
to be defeated: unterliegen,besiegt werden

In folgendem Artikel habe ich bereits einmal geschrieben, was Ali in einem Interview im Jahr 1972 auf die Frage “What would you like people to think about you when you’ve gone?” erklärte:
Muhammad Ali und wie man sich an ihn erinnern soll