Ali regained his heavyweight title in front of an audience of 60,000 people but the fight reverberated across millions of the people on the continent. Often described as one of the greatest sporting events of the 20th century, the fight put Kinshasa and Africa in the spotlight.

In the wake of his death, the Congolese government credits Ali with making the country “visible” by hosting the Don King-promoted fight in Kinshasa. On the streets, it inspired a generation as, for years, boxing rivaled soccer as the preeminent sport in Congo. ”We spent all our youth with Muhammad Ali,” says Martino Kavuala, a former amateur boxer in Congo. “He was the one who shaped us”

It wasn’t just in DR Congo, Africa has produced scores of great boxers inspired by Ali. One such was Ghana’s Azumah Nelson, a former world featherweight and super featherweight champion.

Ali’s connection to Africa was also seen in his impact on one of the continent’s greatest sons, Nelson Mandela. As a former amateur boxer and avid fan, Mandela once described Ali as “the hero of millions of young, black South Africans”.

Across the continent, tributes have poured in for the legendary champ led by sportsmen, inspired by his achievements in the ring, presidents and elder statesmen, keen to remind a young continent of the indelible mark Ali left on Africa.  Ghana’s president John Mahama shared a picture of Ali with Ghana’s first president and renowned pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah. African Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, also tweeted condolences.

Ali’s interest in Africa did not end with Kinshasa and he visited the continent several times afterwards. In 1980 in the run-up to the Moscow Olympics US president Jimmy Carter deployed Ali to try and convince African countries to boycott the games after the Soviet’s invasion of Afghanistan.

Ali meets with Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya in February 1980.
Ali meets with Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya in February 1980.
Image: AP Photo

In 1997, he visited Ivory Coast on a goodwill visit to deliver food to 400 orphans in San Pedro, Ivory Coast along the Liberian border where tens of thousands of refugees who fled Liberia’s civil war were living. The story goes that the plight of the orphans came to Ali’s attention when a nun caring for the children wrote a letter asking for his help. Despite already obviously being impacted by the ravages of Parkinson’s disease by then he still flew 7,000 miles to support the children.

Muhammad Ali shakes hands with fans in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 1997.
Muhammad Ali shakes hands with fans in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 1997.
Image: AP Photo/David Guttenfelder

In many ways, it feels like Africa itself lost a great son almost as much as the United States did.

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