Muhammad Ali Sculptures
They say "Miami made Ali." Whether or not that is true, we do know he went to Miami to train for his first heavyweight boxing shot at the title. He rented a house in Miami and would jog across the causeways to train at the legendary 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach. More than once he was stopped by police while jogging across the causeways or running through the streets because he was a black man and black people were not allowed to be in Miami Beach past sundown or running through the streets during the day. At that time very few people knew who he was until he started getting media attention for his upcoming fight for the heavyweight championship with Sonny Liston. After beating Liston on February 25, 1964 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, he would forever become known to everybody as the Greatest Of All Time.
These proposed public sculptures are to commemorate Ali's indomitable spirit and to remind everyone that one of the most remarkable human beings "Of All Time" once lived among us.
These proposed public sculptures are to commemorate Ali's indomitable spirit and to remind everyone that one of the most remarkable human beings "Of All Time" once lived among us.
The Ali Cube (Ali Underwater)
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This sculpture commemorates Ali's famous iconic photo of him boxing underwater. Taken in 1961 when segregation kept the G.O.A.T from staying at a Miami Beach hotel, Clay (as he was then known following his Gold Medal win at the 1960 Olympics in Rome) stayed in Overtown at the Sir John Hotel (now long gone). Flip Schulke shot the picture of Ali boxing underwater in the hotel pool for Life magazine. My proposal is for a sculpture to be placed on the sidewalk at that location to remind people that on that spot one of the most famous and inspiring men of all time once walked among us. The statue would be cast in bronze and then encased in tinted plastic or glass with the top carved to suggest moving water. The "water" would filter sunlight, creating shafts of light permeating the cube. At night it would be lit from below. Another version: A fountain on the corner of N.W. 6th Street and 3rd Ave. The life-size statue is centered in a bulletproof glass open-ended tube. Water flows over the top and cascades into the fountain pool to be pumped up again. Lit from below. |
"Ali Wins!"
Ali Celebrates!
For a look at the history of the Hampton House including loads of archival and current pictures, please click here and here.