EDITORIAL: Mohammad Ali Clay’s smashing victory over Floyd Patterson in Las Vegas on Monday convincingly confirms the opinion expressed by many experts that this gifted Muslim boxer is one of the greatest performers that modern boxing has produced. Since his earlier victories were won in very brief encounters, the impression was being propagated that he was not an “endurance” fighter. ... This impression Mohammad Ali has effectively dispelled with his latest triumph. Indeed, one would have to go back to the days of the legendary Jack Johnson to find such an effective combination of boxing skill, punching power and fighting temperament.

Mohammad Ali’s brilliant successes in the ring are all the more remarkable because of the fact that he has all along been treated in a most unsportsmanlike manner by the non-Muslim crowds and commentators in the United States and, this time, also in the United Kingdom. Particularly distressing for all true sportsmen is the grim fact that the campaign to malign and harass Mohammad Ali has been progressively intensified ever since this great Muslim boxer began zealously to express his devotion to his great religion.

However, no amount of misrepresentation and distortion can disguise the fact that Mohammad Ali has already earned his place amongst the greatest of boxing’s all-time greats. Tens of thousands of his “fans” have been heartened by the news that the distinguished Muslim sportsman is to visit Pakistan in the near future. It is to be hoped that the itinerary will cover as many sports centres (in both Wings of the country) as possible so that sportsmen and well-wishers ... are given an opportunity to show how proud they — as indeed all Pakistanis — are of him and his glorious achievements. Till then the whole country will echo the slogan raised in Lahore after the result of Monday’s fight — ‘Mohammad Ali Clay Zindabad’!

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2015