Sonia Gandhi recounts tracking Muhammad Ali's sixth-round victory over British fighter Henry Cooper in May 1966 shortly after meeting Rajiv Gandhi. She describes how the athletic contest resonated far beyond the ring amid the racial struggles of Jim Crow-era America. Their clash followed an earlier 1963 contest where Cooper knocked down the fighter then known as Cassius Clay in the fourth round. Trainer Angelo Dundee famously aided the boxer by widening a tear in his glove to secure recovery time before he rallied to victory.
Key points
Global audiences viewed the 1966 bout through the lens of civil rights and resistance aga…: Global audiences viewed the 1966 bout through the lens of civil rights and resistance against the American racial establishment.
The fighter's vocal political stances foreshadowed his eventual draft resistance against…: The fighter's vocal political stances foreshadowed his eventual draft resistance against the Vietnam War and subsequent exile from the sport.
Surviving Cooper's fourth-round knockdown in 1963 proved essential for Cassius Clay's pat…: Surviving Cooper's fourth-round knockdown in 1963 proved essential for Cassius Clay's path toward challenging Sonny Liston for the championship.
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NEW DELHI: Sonia and the '60s is also a tale of a young girl swept in the tide of civil rights blowing across the globe.
In her memoir 'Belonging', mentioning Martin Luther King, "free speech movement" in Berkeley and students movements in Europe as the influences on her generation, the Congress matriarch has fleetingly, but noticeably, referred to an indelible episode from the timeless story of boxing great
Muhammad Ali. This was among the "memorable moments" in Cambridge after Sonia met Rajiv Gandhi. On a May 1966 evening, Sonia and friends gathered at a friend's place glued to the radio to listen to "the blow-by-blow boxing match between Ali and British boxer Henry Cooper."
She adds, "when Clay beat Cooper in the sixth round of the match, we roared in triumph. It was for us not just a victory in a sport but a moral one as well. We had been roused by Martin Luther King Jr's massive demonstration in Washington and his 'I have a dream' speech."
It was a momentous evening - not just for the prize fight…
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