Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / pabkov
On March 29, 1966, at Toronto’s famed Maple Leaf Gardens, boxer Muhammad Ali beat George Chuvalo, whom a “panel of acclaimed boxing historians and experts unanimously named . . . the single toughest fighter ever to have lived in the entire history of the sport of boxing,” according to
sportswriter Lou Eisen.¹
Many boxing enthusiasts who were not even alive when that match took place likely have heard or read about it. However, Ali did something else in 1966 that most people living today might not be aware of, and this action had a much bigger impact, this time on the entire country. In trying to avoid being drafted into the U.S. military, Ali gave as one of the reasons, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.”²
For some, 1966 was a significant turning point in the opposition to the Vietnam War. Shortly after Ali’s comment, the first national antiwar Mobilization Committee was established, which, along with other organizations, spearheaded a number of protests. And while disapproval had been growing, many historians believe it was this comment from one of the biggest sports stars of the era that helped mobilize many people to speak up and protest the war.