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Remembering Muhammad Ali; Recession and Zika Mar Brazilian Olympics Fervor. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired June 05, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, everyone. Muhammad Ali is gone but he leaves an unparalled legacy behind.
As a boxer, he stood atop the world several times and it likely would have been more had he not stood even taller for what he believed in. He devoted his life to his principles and held the courage of his convictions above all else.
And we continue to examine this great man's remarkable life. This is a special CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.
Ali passed away Friday at the age of 74, dying in Phoenix, Arizona, where he had gone to the hospital on Thursday. He was surrounded by his family. His body will be moved to his hometown now of Louisville, Kentucky, in the coming days for his funeral in a few days.
Ali redefined what an athlete could mean to the world around him; even those who had never seen a single fight know the impact that he made worldwide. Our Polo Sandoval shows us how he's being remembered.
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MUHAMMAD ALI, BOXING CHAMP: I shook up the world! I shook up the world!
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the boxing ring, Muhammad Ali brought grace and power.
ALI: I'll be pecking and a-poking, pouring water on his smoking.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): His wit always packed a punch as well.
ALI: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!
SANDOVAL (voice-over): He passed away at an Arizona hospital Friday. His family spokesperson says he died of septic shock due to unspecified natural causes. Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984. His funeral will be in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, Friday. It will be open to the public.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Muhammad Ali was truly the people's champion and the celebration will reflect his devotion to people of all races, religions and backgrounds.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in 1942 and quickly started fighting at the age of 12. After discovering the nation of Islam in the politically turbulent 1960s, Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
He retired in 1981, a three-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist. He won the adoration of fans around the world who admired him for both his boxing accomplishments and his humanitarian work.
One of those fans, President Obama, put out this message on Twitter.
"He shook up the world and the world's better for it. Rest in peace, champ."
Back in Louisville, the city that once segregated African Americans, is lowering flags in his honor. This man says Ali funded his program to help the city's hungry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'd been great in the ring but I think he were more greater outside of the ring, encouraging others to be the best they could be.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): In Louisville, Kentucky, I'm Polo Sandoval, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Nice to hear from his hometown neighbors there in Louisville, Kentucky, because we've been focusing so much on reaction from around the world and the tributes that are coming in.
Here's another example. British prime minister David Cameron saying, "Muhammad Ali was not just a champion in the ring. He was a champion of civil rights and a role model for so many people."
And let's just expand on the tribute you just heard in Polo's report from U.S. President Barack Obama who said, "He was the greatest, period. Muhammad Ali shook up the world and the world is better for it. We are all better for it. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family and we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rests in peace."
And in a move that epitomizes Ali's universal appeal, Cuban president Raul Castro also praised the greatest.
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RAUL CASTRO, PRESIDENT OF CUBA (through translator): We send our condolences and solidarity to the family of the great boxing champion, Muhammad Ali.
To the people of the United States, especially the African American community, whose rights he always defended, and the entire international sporting community, we will never forget his chivalry and ethics, his activism against war and his defending of peace. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: I wonder how many, if we could count how many social media aspects of this, my goodness, everyone.
Some of the strongest reviews, of course, coming from his sporting peers and Don Riddell's following that part of his legacy.
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Natalie, thanks very much.
Ali really was a hero to so many athletes who, for so many different reasons, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors right now are in the midst of the NBA finals but their top stars took a moment to reflect on what Ali meant to them.
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LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS FORWARD: For an athlete like myself today, without Muhammad Ali, I wouldn't be sitting up here talking in front of you guys. I wouldn't be able to walk in restaurants. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere where blacks weren't allowed back in those days because of guys like Muhammad Ali.
STEPHEN CURRY, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS GUARD: Ali was --
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CURRY: -- the example of how you use your platform and speak what you believe, no matter what people say.
RIDDELL: LeBron James said that he watched one of Ali's most iconic fights, the "Thrilla in Manila," in his hotel room last night after he learned of the news.
Probably the only athlete that comes close to Ali's global fame is Michael Jordan. He released a statement saying, "This is a sad day for me and for the world. Muhammad Ali was bigger than sports and larger than life. He said he was the greatest and he was right."
The tennis star, Serena Williams, one of the all-time greats in her sport, posted this to Instagram, "The true greatest of all time, what a sad day for everyone to lose someone so great and kind and someone who really stood up for what they believed in. He was my hero. He always will be."
Former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson, posted this message on his Twitter account, "God came for his champion. So long, great one."
The golfer, Tiger Woods, who broke down barriers on his way to 14 major titles, tweeted this praise, "You'll always be the greatest for more than just what you did in the ring, a champion to so many people in so many ways."
And the Formula 1 three-time world champion, Louis Hamilton, wrote this, "I'm gutted. Rest in peace, champ. God bless and help his family get through this incredibly hard time."
Some of Ali's greatest rivals are also paying tribute to him, including George Foreman who lost the world heavyweight title to Ali in the very famous "Rumble in the Jungle" fight back in 1974. He has been speaking with CNN.
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GEORGE FOREMAN, BOXING CHAMP: I went to Africa. I had beaten Joe Frazier pretty easily, Ken Norton, all the people who had beat Muhammad Ali. So I thought this would be the easiest $5 million I was going to pick up.
Got into the ring with Muhammad, beat him up for the first three rounds, he hit me a few times. But then after a while, I just knew I was going to knock him out. I hit him hard in the third round and he looked to me as if to say, I'm not going take this.
Then he said no way he's going slug it out with me. And I whaled on him. Then the bell rang and he looked at me as if to say, I made it. And I thought, oh, my God, he made it. And I knew I was in trouble then. The water had gotten -- just gotten deep.
And then about the sixth, seventh round, as he said, he started whispering, "That all you got, George?"
And believe me, that's scary because that was all I had. He hit me with a quick one-two, knocked me down to the canvas and my whole life changed. I was devastated. Little did I know I would make the best friend I ever had in my life. That fight made it that way.
I was trying to court a girl and I invited her to have dinner with me. And I told her that I was going to be a boxer.
She said, really?
I seen Muhammad Ali on the street and he was just saying, I'm beautiful, look at me.
You know what?
I never dated that girl again, I go so upset.
But then I met him myself, down the street in New York City, he was walking down the street with just a pair of slacks on. And I said man, he is beautiful.
So after you get out of the ring with him and look at him, everybody falls in love with him. You can't help it. He was one lovable, good- looking, great guy. And you wanted to be around him. I was excited to meet him and happy to be his friend.
There's so many people, the realization that there was so many people who truly loved Muhammad Ali. A lot of times people say, he's got a lot of hangers-on in boxing and wrestling but this man truly was loved. I know for a fact he was loved and I'm happy that there will be
something there for people to come in and feel like they were part of his life and of course be at the service and be around Louisville, Kentucky, where it all started.
What a man. Boy, the greatest show on Earth. He was the greatest show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIDDELL: Absolutely wonderful testimony from George Foreman there, who also said on Twitter that Ali was the most beauty he had ever known and that he loved him.
It's been four decades since the final chapter in an epic trilogy between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
The "Thrilla in Manila" is often regarded as one of the best boxing matches of all time. But one fan remembers the event being more about Ali's grace, kindness and humility rather than an absolutely brutal fight. Here is Andrew Stevens with this incredible story.
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ALI: I just want to tell you to move. And in my glory, I'm here in my glory, whippin' Joe Frazier.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR (voice-over): When Muhammad Ali arrived in the Philippines in October 1975 for the "Thrilla in Manila," he was already a household name in this boxing mad country.
Thousands --
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STEVENS (voice-over): -- of fans turned out to welcome him and thousands more just to watch him train.
One of them was a young Romy Macalintal, a hardcore fan, who just wanted a signature on his prized possession: a collection of newspaper clippings about Ali. But Romy got a whole lot more than he'd bargained for.
ROMY MACALINTAL, ALI FAN: It was an experience which I cannot now forget, one of the most memorable experiences in my life.
STEVENS (voice-over): Romy ended up not only meeting Ali in private but spending the entire afternoon alone with the boxer, the two of them watching movies.
MACALINTAL: We were just sitting on the carpet watching the movie and in between he would stand up, he would get some cookies, some juice and he would be offering me or serving me.
Imagine the heavyweight champion, serving me at the time with biscuits and juice. STEVENS (voice-over): Romy didn't get to the fight but like millions of other Filipinos, he watched it on television, a brutal encounter eventually won by Ali and now regarded as one of the greatest bouts ever in boxing.
RECAH TRINIDAD, JOURNALIST: The lights would turn around because of the blood splashing from the mouth.
STEVENS (voice-over): Recah Trinidad was a journalist who watched the fight ringside. For him, the fight wasn't about the sport so much as the politics. The dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos had been in power for three years and the country was under martial law. Marcos himself had been key to getting the fight staged in Manila.
TRINIDAD: It was something to camouflage, the misdeeds of the martial law as far as the world audience was concerned.
STEVENS (voice-over): But to a young fan, the memories are not of politics, not even the fight but of Muhammad Ali himself.
MACALINTAL: For me, I would always remember him as a very humble, a humble man, a man with humility and a man with a heart, my encounter with the greatest, a very great man, really the greatest champion in the world.
STEVENS (voice-over): Andrew Stevens, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RIDDELL: What a remarkable story. I can't imagine there would be a top athlete nowadays who would take time out with a complete stranger to watch a movie with them and give them cookies and juice, just amazing.
ALLEN: Right. You have to get past the entourage of today's athletes.
RIDDELL: Of course, yes.
ALLEN: Well, we have other sports news coming up in this newscast. And Don's going to back in a moment to talk about the French Open and a disappointment for someone -- yes, I think we all know. But Don will be back with that in a moment.
Thank you, Don.
Also ahead here, as Brazil puts the final touches on Olympic preps, a perfect storm is steering people and some athletes away from the Summer Games.
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ALLEN: This is California just west of Los Angeles. A huge wildfire burning out of control. So far the fire has forced nearly 5,000 people from their homes. Officials think it started after a car hit a utility pole and knocked down power lines. No word of any injuries. Everyone got out in time. But still, it's raging there.
Now we turn to the other part of the world, Australia. Heavy flooding struck the eastern coast of the country as a powerful storm moves across there. And Derek Van Dam is following that one for us -- Derek.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Natalie, I've been following this on Twitter and looking at some of the local accounts from people. They have just described this as a horrific storm along the east coast of Australia.
Take a look at some of the visuals coming out of the region. And then we'll talk rainfall totals in just a moment. This is coming out of the Brisbane area. We're working from New South Wales into the Queensland region. That's where the coastal flooding really took place.
Thunderstorms led to flash flooding in some of the Brisbane suburbs. Even people abandoning their cars after they were caught in the flooded roads. Emergency crews said they received thousands of calls to deal with the damage caused by the strong winds and some of the dangerous weather conditions that you're seeing here.
People, well, unfortunately trying to drive across these flooded roads, which of course is one of the number one things that we talk about not to do.
Go back to my graphics, we'll get to totals.
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VAN DAM: And we have seen the flooding pictures coming out of a different continent, this is in Europe. This is an incredible photo coming out of France. We have had a rough time in an around the Paris suburbs with rainfall totals not as high as what we experienced in Australia this past 24 hours but certainly a force to be reckoned with.
We're talking about just shy of 300 millimeters in some locations. That led to the Seine River in Paris actually reaching flood stages, bursting its banks and causing scenes like this. We're actually going to talk about Germany at the moment, because this is coming from a music festival there that was actually suspended originally for five hours.
And then authorities actually had to cancel it because of lightning that continued to impact the region. In fact, there were 82 concertgoers injured by lightning strikes; some of them in serious conditions had to be hospitalized as well. The festival last year, believe it or not, was actually cancelled
because 33 people were injured from lightning strikes. So this seems to be a common recurrence in this part of Germany, which is just outside of the Frankfurt region.
So scary moments across the world, trying to cover them all here in the CNN International Weather Center, right, Natalie.
ALLEN: Yes, and always, Derek, thank you very much.
VAN DAM: You're welcome.
ALLEN: We are now two months away from the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But what's usually an exciting time of course in the run-up to the games is being overshadowed by turbulent politics in the country, fears over the Zika virus and rampant crime.
Ticket sales are low; some athletes are saying they just won't go. Here is our Shasta Darlington with more about the issues. She's in Rio.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rio de Janeiro.
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A surprise announcement seven years ago that sent politicians leaping from their seats and set off a 24-hour party across the ocean.
On Copacabana Beach today, the mood is a little more uncertain. Despite that initial burst of enthusiasm, it's hard to find a whole lot of people rushing out to buy tickets.
Have you bought tickets?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not yet. But I want to.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): In fact, with Brazil mired in a deep recession, just 67 percent of Olympic tickets have been sold.
Unemployment has surged. So has crime. We head out with police, patrolling the favelas where drug gangs often have the upper hand.
"Our responsibility is higher with the Olympics getting closer," he says.
"There's going to be a lot of international delegations."
But for foreign visitors, the biggest fear is Zika, with 150 --
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DARLINGTON (voice-over): -- doctors and scientists posting an open letter, recommending the Rio Olympics be postponed or moved.
The city fumigating venues and tourist sites. But athletes like basketball player Pau Gasol are getting nervous.
PAU GASOL, BASKETBALL PRO: Not just my health and the health of my family but also the potential of an epidemic to spread around the world.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): And then there's the political chaos, prompting rival protests as the suspended president fights to survive an impeachment trial.
There are, however, bright spots. Sporting venues are almost 100 percent complete. Organizers now working on temporary structures like the beach volleyball stands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many times the drilling is high. A lot of work yet to be done. But also a huge sense of pride of what we've been accomplished so far.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): As for getting Rio in a party mood, only time will tell if, as Brazilians say, everything ends in samba.
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DARLINGTON (voice-over): Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.
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ALLEN: Stay on the beach, everyone's having a good time there.
Well, Don Riddell back with me.
And you know, Don, you and I were talking about the fact that there are always fears that they're not going to be ready before Olympics.
But the question is, Rio does have the facilities but they still do have some issues on the table.
Will this beat the Olympics just doesn't --
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RIDDELL: Yes. You're right. In the build-up to every Olympics, there are always many headlines about are they going to be ready, are the venues ready, will the infrastructure be able to cope, have they got that up to speed.
It sounds like a lot of that is not going to be an issue this time. But there is a laundry list of things to worry about ahead of this Olympics. People have even started asking, is Rio cursed?
When you look at all the things they're having to deal with, at the very top, the government is in meltdown, the economy is collapsing, you've got violence in the slums. You've got the threat of Zika, which has received so much press in the
last few months and of course the issue of doping. The very credibility of the Olympics is on the line here because of the doping scandals we've seen recently, the accusations made against Russia; their athletes in track and field may not even be allowed to compete in these Olympics.
We'll learn more about that in the coming days. So all in all, it's just an absolute mess and it's a real tragedy for Brazil.
It was great seeing the clips from seven years ago, when the envelope was opened and Rio came out --
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RIDDELL: -- and at the time they were looking forward to the World Cup as well. It was a BRIC country, an emerging economy, so much optimism in Brazil. And it's just all gone very sour since then. It's a real shame.
ALLEN: It's really surreal, isn't it, that all that they're dealing with and the Olympics are coming in two months. Maybe the Olympics are so emotional and spiritual for people that it will be a nice distraction and it will go OK for the people in Brazil.
RIDDELL: We'll see.
ALLEN: Fingers crossed.
Well, we have another event to talk about and that would be the French Open and the females' final. And I'll just let you give the news in case any --
RIDDELL: Yes, well, the ladies' final on Saturday, of course, Serena Williams was hoping for an historic French Open win. It didn't happen. She lost to Spain's Garbine Muguruza in the final in straight sets. All credit to Muguruza, who's just 22 years old. She was playing in her second major final and she absolutely deserved the win here.
Big serve, strong game from the baseline. She played the bigger points better. She held her nerve at times when newer, younger players might have completely folded. But she had already beaten Serena on clay in this event recently and I think that gave her a lot of confidence.
From Serena's perspective, no excuses. She could have blamed it perhaps on her thigh injury she's been struggling with but she -- fair play to her, she came out and said, it wasn't my day. My opponent deserved it.
Serena, of course, is chasing history. She's trying to get to 22 major titles, which would tie her with Steffi Graf, which is the open era record. She's been so close now in the last few tournaments, getting to the final of the French, the final of the Australian, the semifinals of the U.S. Open. She's lost all those matches. But I think the fact that she's still competing and getting to the
business end of these events at the age of 34, surely she's going to match the record and beat it at some point.
But it's been a while now that she's been knocking on the door and she hasn't managed to get one. She will be the defending champion at Wimbledon this summer. Hopefully she'll try and get there.
And of course, we have got the men's final later today.
ALLEN: Number one and number two?
RIDDELL: Yes.
ALLEN: The usual suspects?
RIDDELL: Well, but it's a long time in this event since the two top seeds have got to the final. I think it's more than 30 years. But it's Novak Djokovic, who is also going for history. He's trying to win this one to complete the career slam.
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RIDDELL: Against Andy Murray, these two are good friends. They go way back. Murray has never played in this final before. Djokovic has actually played in three of these finals and lost them all. Djokovic is trying to win the French -- sorry; Murray trying to win the French for the first time.
I think this has all the makings of a great match and hard to call how it's going to go. But I think it'll be close.
ALLEN: Good reason to watch the telly in a few hours.
All right. Thanks very much, Don.
We go back to Muhammad Ali for a moment here. Fans of Ali are paying their respects, visiting his childhood home in Kentucky. And Kasey Cunningham spoke with some fans stopping by the pink home on Grant Avenue.
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KASEY CUNNINGHAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a quiet night here on Grant Avenue but every so often, someone will stop by Muhammad Ali's childhood home and share their favorite memories of the greatest of all times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a sad day.
CUNNINGHAM (voice-over): Uriah English (ph) has a pretty impressive former next-door neighbor.
URIAH ENGLISH, NEIGHBOR: It was just kind of cool, because Muhammad Ali, you live next to him. It's kind of cool, like you live next to the person who arguably the greatest boxer of all time. CUNNINGHAM (voice-over): Since news broke of Ali's poor health, English says everyone has been passing through the West End neighborhood he shares with this legend.
ENGLISH: I just got back from college and they're seeing a lot of people coming by visiting the house.
CUNNINGHAM (voice-over): Including these fans here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being from Louisville, representing the city of Louisville, we just wanted to come out and show our respects to the greatest of all time.
CUNNINGHAM (voice-over): For some, Ali is remembered as an athlete.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's our generation, somebody we looked up to as a sports figure.
CUNNINGHAM (voice-over): And for another fan, Ali is remembered as the man who saved his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in a little trouble back in my days, early '80s. And he came out to Central Kentucky Treatment Center out on Westport (ph) Road and he gave me a lot of inspiration. He saved me. He basically -- he saved me.
CUNNINGHAM (voice-over): Neighbors expect this little pink home that did open as a museum just days before Ali died to see many visitors in the next few days. English says he doesn't mind. If anyone deserves it, it's Muhammad Ali.
ENGLISH: (INAUDIBLE) the world, shook up the world. So it's just a sad day but it's also happy to see him rest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: How sweet, reflections from Ali's hometown, Louisville, Kentucky, where a public funeral will be held this coming Friday. That service will be streamed live and of course CNN will be there as the city says farewell to its favorite son.
Thanks for watching. I'll be right back with our top stories. Then it's "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT."
