Puskas: There will never be another Ali

When you reach a certain age, you almost get used to saying goodbye to the cultural icons of your youth.

We’ve lost so many in 2016, with Prince and David Bowie among the most notable.

But Muhammad Ali? The world without him already feels different.

This is a loss we knew was coming, but for which we were still woefully unprepared.

There was a certain comfort in knowing that Ali — whatever his physical condition — was still with us and was still The Greatest of All Time.

But even death somehow can’t take that away from him.

Ali was indeed the greatest, but for many reasons totally unrelated to his career choice.

Can you imagine another athlete making the kind of social impact Ali did?

Maybe LeBron James has a chance, but that depends on the path he chooses after basketball.

I doubt another athlete will ever transcend sports the way Ali did. He captured our attention and held it for a lifetime, even if much of his last 25 years was spent in the grip of Parkinson’s disease.

Even then — the gloves long put away — Ali was changing the world in far more important ways than he ever did in the ring.

Ali arrived in a time of social unrest like none we’d ever seen. But even as a sometimes polarizing figure, he managed to win over and inspire people from all walks of life.

Ali impacted millions who never were in the same room with him. He was a political and social marvel who challenged convention by refusing to join the Army during the Vietnam War . He was sentenced to prison for it and stripped of his title.

The term “conscientious objector” was burned into our psyche in large part because of Ali’s stand, which was eventually successful.

Some still resent him for that act of defiance, but others consider him a hero.

Ali did so much aside from boxing that we forget how great he was.

Ali dominated boxing for two decades and was a three-time heavyweight champion. He did it during perhaps the greatest era of heavyweight fighters we’ve ever seen.

Ali fought Braceville native Earnie Shavers, who is considered to be boxing’s hardest puncher. He fought Joe Frazier three times. He fought George Foreman and Ken Norton. He fought Leon Spinks and Larry Holmes.

Ali finished 56-5 with 37 knockouts. He also finished his life locked in a long, losing battle with Parkinson’s disease from all those punches he took over the years.

The weird thing is that my memories of Ali in the ring somehow do not include him taking a punch.

It’s as if that never happened. But we’re better because Ali happened.

Write Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.