--- description: Muhammad Ali proved it should have been no surprise that every time he seemed knocked out, he came back title: Muhammad Ali Kept Coming Back, In and Out of the Ring image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a4a0111baadc96/698762c3a988ca42b26aa0a8/1101780227_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Muhammad Ali Kept Coming Back, In and Out of the Ring ## Video: 100 Photographs: Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston [Watch (HLS stream): 100 Photographs: Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/usmFW6V8.m3u8) (5:54)  _Published 2016-06-04. Neil Leifer’s iconic image of Muhammad Ali towering triumphant over Sonny Liston pinpoints the moment Ali became a larger-than-life legend_  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 4, 2016 4:48 AM CUT  The Feb. 27, 1978, cover of TIME The Feb. 27, 1978, cover of TIMECover Credit: CURT GUNTHER -CAMERA 5  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 4, 2016 4:48 AM CUT When [Muhammad Ali](http://time.com/muhammad-ali-dead/ "undefined") was featured in TIME Magazine on Feb. 27, 1978, [the cover](http://time.com/vault/issue/1978-02-27/page/1/ "undefined") bore the following words: _“The Greatest” Is Gone._ The fight that had prompted the story, and the dramatic headline, was a bout between Ali, then 36, and Leon Spinks, 24, that ended in a split decision—and with Spinks as the new heavyweight champion of the world. The most famous boxer in history, known worldwide, was celebrated as a man at the end of his career. But Ali said at the time that he wasn’t through yet. And, that autumn, he proved it, beating Spinks and becoming the first boxer to ever take the heavyweight championship three times. The headline on that article? _Young Once Again._ TIME had covered Ali’s career from a brief mention in February of 1963—”All clowns in three rounds,” the magazine quoted him saying—and his first cover story later that year, to his later years as an author and the subject of the biopic _Ali_ (another [cover story](http://content.time.com/time/covers/europe/0,16641,20020128,00.html "undefined"), at least for international editions). Throughout, Ali proved it should have been no surprise that every time he seemed knocked out, he came back. It was true in the ring and elsewhere, as when the Supreme Court in 1971 decided that the draft board’s decision to reject his conscientious-objector status during the Vietnam War, a decision that had resulted in his being stripped of his title, had been tainted by what TIME [called](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-07-12/page/67/ "undefined") an “admittedly erroneous attack on Ali’s sincerity and religion.” He had in fact promised as much his title had been taken away: that no matter what the world or the sport or life did to him, he wasn’t going anywhere. As TIME quoted him in a cover story about his return to fight Joe Frazier in 1971:  Muhammad Ali quoted in the Mar. 8\. 1971, issue of TIME Perhaps some of today’s boxers will take that promise seriously, imagining Ali haunting the ring forever—but even the most skeptical among us can probably admit that, as a metaphor, that promise is unlikely to go unkept. As it was put at the end of the 1978 cover story, the one that guessed too early that Ali’s career was over, the boxer had the power to “make time stand still—for a little while.” “Muhammad Ali careened across his stage, by turns as hopeful and despairing as his time,” the story [concluded](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,919377,00.html "undefined"). “He is unlikely to go quietly into the past.” **_Read TIME’s first cover story about Muhammad Ali—then Cassius Clay—here in TIME’s archives:_** [The Dream](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,896687,00.html "undefined") **_Read George Plimpton’s essay on Muhammad Ali from TIME’s 100 Heroes and Icons of the 20th Century issue:_** [The Greatest](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1653049,00.html "undefined") _For much more on Muhammad Ali, see TIME’s_ ALI: The Greatest_, a 112-page, fully illustrated commemorative edition. Available at retailers and at_ [_AMAZON.COM_](http://amzn.to/1rbALvP "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3537814/muhammad-ali-dead-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3537814/muhammad-ali-dead-history/"},"headline":"Muhammad Ali Kept Coming Back, In and Out of the Ring","datePublished":"2016-06-04T04:48:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:16.675Z","description":"\"Muhammad Ali careened across his stage, by turns as hopeful and despairing as his time\"","url":"https://time.com/3537814/muhammad-ali-dead-history/","keywords":["Sports topic","remembrance","Boxing","Muhammad Ali"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a4a0111baadc96/698762c3a988ca42b26aa0a8/1101780227_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a4a0111baadc96/698762c3a988ca42b26aa0a8/1101780227_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME Cover Feb. 27, 1978","caption":"TIME Cover Feb. 27, 1978","creditText":"Cover Credit: CURT GUNTHER -CAMERA 5","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3537814/muhammad-ali-dead-history/","name":"Muhammad Ali Kept Coming Back, In and Out of the Ring"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"100 Photographs: Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston","description":"Neil Leifer’s iconic image of Muhammad Ali towering triumphant over Sonny Liston pinpoints the moment Ali became a larger-than-life legend","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/usmFW6V8/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-04T04:40:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/usmFW6V8.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3537814/muhammad-ali-dead-history/","duration":"PT5M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3537814/muhammad-ali-dead-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```