Ali still the Greatest, still the heartbeat of America

As Muhammad Ali turns 70 today, a nation honours a sporting hero that has come to define what it means to be American, writes John Riordan

“I am America. I am the part you won’t recognise. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.”

SEPTEMBER 1977, Madison Square Garden, New York City. Muhammad Ali is 35 years old and still — just about — the heavyweight champion of the world.