Muhammad Ali’s biggest regret revealed
<p>In May 1964, Muhammad Ali had a chance meeting in Ghana, with Malcolm X, and he turned his back on him. Unfortunately, the two never met again.</p>
<p>Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay, once saw the human rights activist as something of a mentor and friend. The Muslim minister had recruited the young boxer into the Nation of Islam, and was beside him the day the newly crowned 22-year-old heavyweight champion of the world announced that he was rejecting his birth name “Cassius Clay” as his slave name.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as the athlete increased his involvement with the group, Malcom became disillusioned with Elijah Muhammad, the prophet leader of the black separatist Nation of Islam movement. He claimed that he was a hypocritical womaniser who had fathered children through affairs with his secretaries, and was not even familiar with the prayer ritual. Subsequently, he was frozen out of the group and his friend, Ali, was to disappoint him.</p>
<p>“Malcolm and I were so close and had been through so much,” wrote Ali in his autobiography, “But there were many things for me to consider.”</p>
<p>Instead of standing by his long-term friend, Ali decided, in line with Nation of Islam politics, to “see Africa and meet my brothers and sisters.” This is where he bumped into Malcom, outside the Ambassador Hotel in the capital Accra.</p>
<p>“He was wearing the traditional Muslim white robes,” wrote Ali, “Further signifying his break with Elijah Muhammad. He walked with a cane that looked like a prophet’s stick and he wore a beard. I thought he’d gone too far.</p>
<p>“When he came up to greet me I turned away, making our break public.”</p>
<p>It was only years after Malcolm X was assassinated that Ali came to see him as “a visionary, ahead of us all.”</p>
<p>“Malcolm was the first to discover the truth, that colour doesn’t make a man a devil. It is the heart, soul and mind that define a person.”</p>
<p>“Malcolm X was a great thinker and an even greater friend,” wrote Ali. “I might never have become a Muslim if it hadn’t been for Malcolm. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would never have turned my back on him.”</p>
<p>“I wish I’d been able to tell Malcolm I was sorry, that he was right about so many things. But he was killed before I got the chance.”</p>
<p>This story just goes to show that never know how much time you have left with your love ones, and there is no place for anger in friendship.</p>
<p>Did you know that these two influential men had such a sad history? Let us know in the comments below. </p>
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