Michael's mission

“Muhammad Ali walks in and people gasp,” says Michael J. Fox. “Even little kids who have no idea who he is.  They just know he’s someone magical.”

For Michael J. Fox, the boxing legend isn’t just an icon, he’s an ally. Ali’s reach goes way beyond boxing, and now that Michael’s in his corner, they’re a powerful one-two punch in the fight against Parkinson’s. 

"Sometimes he’ll look at me and he’ll tell me a joke without saying anything and he’ll make me laugh," says Fox. “And then other times he can look at me and I can tell he’s saying ‘This sucks doesn’t it?’  I mean, what are a couple of pretty young guys like us doing in this boat?”

At 64 years old, Ali is in the fight of his life—one that began more than 20 years ago.  And unlike George Foreman or Joe Frazier, this opponent won’t go down.

But then again, neither will he.

I had the rare opportunity to visit with the champ and his wife, Lonnie, at the Parkinson’s Research center that bears his name in Phoenix, Arizona.

For Lonnie, if anybody can illustrate the visible effects of what Parkinson’s can do to a person, it’s with Muhammad. “Because of what he was and what it has done to him now.  Not that he’s anybody to be pitied, but it is something.”

Slide show Muhammad Ali Click to take a look inside the life of an all-time boxing great. more photos

Ali is a symbol of defiance and courage — and sometimes, more defiant than courageous. In his prime, he was an impossibly complex and compelling figure: a champion, showman, dissident. By the time he was 22, he’d won Olympic gold and was crowned heavyweight champ.  Then in 1967, he was stripped of his title and prosecuted for evading the Vietnam draft.

But eventually, people began to see Muhammad Ali in a different light — as a martyr taking a principled stand against an unjust war.  By the time he’d regained the title in ‘74, he’d gone from outcast to icon.

Lonnie Ali: I mean, somebody who has come from the mountain—the top of the mountain, like Muhammad, this fabulous athlete with all the skills that and gifts of an athlete that anyone could ever have bestowed upon them, and then to be afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease.  But it’s really about your attitude and how you approach, you know, this disease as well as how you approach life.  And Muhammad approaches this like he does everything else, there’s a reason for it. 

Lonnie says these days Muhammad takes comfort in vintage films starring… who other than himself?

Lonnie Ali: Documentaries of himself, footage of himself, news, whatever it is, if he’s the subject he likes watching it.  He’s his own best fan.

Before his fights, he was poetic. During his fights, it was poetry in motion.  Today, sadly, that fancy footwork has given way to the slow shuffle of Parkinson’s.  And the man once dubbed the “Louisville lip” for his gift of gab, is all but silenced by his affliction.

Katie Couric: Have you almost come up with a kind of non-verbal sign language of sorts?

Lonnie Ali: Muhammad has good days and bad days.  I think that I have been with Muhammad so long, I can read him. I can just read what he wants, I can look at him and tell what he wants.  Which is interesting (laughs), but I can do it.

They’ve been married almost 20 years.  But they’ve known each other much longer.  Their moms were best friends when he was 20, and she was 6 years old.

Couric: How much of that man is still very much in the Muhammad of today?

Lonnie Ali: I will tell you, the prankster is absolutely there.  The little kid is still there.  The proud, dignified man is still there.  The man who wants to affect change is still there.  The only thing that’s not there is the Muhammad who would climb through the ropes of the ring at a moment’s notice and run around the ring and spar and that kind of thing.

He could have fooled me—this was the scene when Muhammad decided to pop in on some young amateur boxers at Al Rodriguez’s gym in Phoenix. 

Couric: And he still completely takes the air out of the room when he walks in a place doesn’t he?  I mean—

Lonnie Ali: Yes, and enjoys every minute of it.  (Laughs)

Couric: You roll you eyes.

Lonnie Ali: No, I mean, Muhammad still feels like he’s the Muhammad of old.  You know, he still wants to make that impact, he still wants his presence to mean something when he walks into the room, how many heads turn. 

But he’s is making an impact in another, more meaningful way.  The Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center offers a full range of outreach programs for people with P.D., with the aim of improving quality of life --  from education, to exercise, to prescription drug coverage for Arizona residents. They even offer golf.

But here’s the real stroke of genius—it’s all free, thanks to a star-studded annual fundraiser aptly named “Celebrity Fight Night.” 

Couric: You all really do an amazing job reaching out to people who are dealing with this disease, as well as their families.

Lonnie Ali: Right.

Couric: But you don’t charge them a penny.

Lonnie Ali: That’s the whole purpose because people are devastated by this illness, their livelihoods are taken away.  We’re fortunate, we can afford the medication, we have insurance.  A lot of people don’t.  So it was important for us that those who were either uninsured or underinsured had the opportunity to have the medication that they need, given the support that they needed, and that’s what this center does.

And during our tour, a few of the beneficiaries of the Ali center were grateful for the opportunity to thank the champ personally.

Couric: What a gift for these people.

Lonnie Ali: It’s a gift for us.  I mean, it’s a gift that we’re able to reach out and touch somebody and affect their lives in that way and make it. You can never make it whole again, but you can try to make it as whole as you can.  You know, give them dignity and quality of life. And that’s important.

He never uttered a word the day of our visit.  But for young athletes like John Askew, Muhammad’s mere presence spoke volumes.  Hours after this encounter with his childhood idol, John won his amateur boxing bout that very night.

Lonnie Ali: You know, Muhammad still has the ability to inspire people, it has not taken that away from him.

Doctors don’t know what caused his Parkinson’s, but they don’t blame boxing.  Lonnie says, neither does the champ.

Couric: Do you think he ever wishes he had bowed out of boxing sooner? 

Lonnie Ali: No.  Muhammad never has regrets.  He never looks back, and he never regrets—especially about his career. 

Now, perhaps the only person who isn’t overshadowed by Ali’s still towering presence is a man two-thirds his size.

Stephen Jaffe / AFP/Getty Images file Boxing legend Muhammad Ali and actor Michael J. Fox talk before the start of a Senate hearing on Parkinson's Disease. The celebrities, who have Parkinson's, asked the panel for more funds for research.

Lonnie Ali: You know Michael has inspired Muhammad because a lot of times before Muhammad actually met Michael, Muhammad wouldn’t speak in public.  He was very, you know, aware of his speech.  And he was very shy about speaking on camera, where at one time this was a man who loved the camera, you couldn’t shut him up. And he saw Michael go out in front of a whole lot of people and start talking about Parkinson’s disease and everything, you know, and just being very courageous about it, not hiding it.  And after that Muhammad started doing the same thing.  

Michael J. Fox:    I think he on some level saw what he could give to people if he could get passed what he was worried about having lost.  And he does this magic trick.  And it’s so… it always makes me laugh the irony of that.  And there’s this hokey magic trick he does, but after two seconds you figure it out.  And then, “But you’re magic.  You don’t need to do this trick, you’re like one of the most magical human beings that’s ever existed.”  And he speaks to his humility that he thinks he has to do this thumb trick.

Perhaps it speaks to Muhammad Ali’s life-long philosophy: if you do get knocked down, you get back up.

Lonnie Ali: You know—I’m not gonna sit here and act like it hasn’t done anything. Of course it’s diminished things.  But there’s so much more to look at. Muhammad always looks at the glass half full.  That’s just his approach to life.

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