Muhammad Ali: Float Like a Butterfly Sting Like a Bee

There have been a number of sports heroes in the 20th Century who became bigger than life by both deeds and fable - Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Joe DiMaggio, and, more recently, basketball icon Michael Jordan. But no athlete weighed so heavily on the public's consciousness as Muhammad Ali.A three-time world heavyweight champion, who first captured our imagination by successfully predicting the round he would dispose of his ring rival, Ali never fit the stereotype role we had shaped for the king of boxing. If the heavyweight champion ideal was Louis - carry a big punch in the ring but walk softly outside the ropes - Ali turned the model upside down.Where he once divided America with his social and religious beliefs, Ali, his body now ravaged by Parkinson's syndrome, has become a unifying force the past decade, a symbol of peace and hope in carrying the torch at the 1996 Olympic Games. In an age of superstars without a public conscience Ali was truly unique. He cavorted with presidents and kings, but was always more comfortable with the common man. Quite simply, "The Greatest"