He bestrode the planet like a Colossus.
Before Ali, only Hollywood film stars had enjoyed such widespread profile; he outstripped them - and then some.
His feats in the boxing ring made him an outstanding sportsman; his life outside the fight game made him a legend.
His acerbic wit, good humour and mischievous, irresistible charm helped, coupled with his good looks and graceful movement. But it was his sense of destiny to do things his way, to defy the prevailing wisdom and, of course, to defy the prevailing establishment that sealed his place in history.
As Cassius Clay he won an Olympic gold medal and the world heavyweight title before he threw off his slave owner's name and converted to Islam. If his boastfulness had marked him out as an upstart, this move was a shocker to middle America.
Ali gave Muslims a good name when, in 1967, he refused to fight the Vietnamese (what had they ever done to him that he should want to kill them, he asked). And his finding pacifism in Islam when today so many find violence tells us much about religious flexibility and human nature.
Stripped of his boxing title and sentenced to prison, the establishment was going to put this arrogant son-of-a-bitch in his place. But no - he came back to be world champion again and, never compromising his principles, was a campaigner for black civil rights and human rights in general.
And, of course, public opinion moved to him rather than him bending to its whims. The man who had once been an unpatriotic pariah is now universally revered.
