Behind every strong man, you will find a strong woman. Dr Khalilah Camacho-Ali, wife of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, proudly claims that the boxing legend couldn’t have done it without her support. She shared her story with Saffa Mag during a recent visit to South Africa in January. Khalilah lives in Atlanta, USA and spent time in SA to help promote the movie, “Against All Odds”. The film will reflect the life of boxing legend Gerrie Coetzee.
Khalilah was only ten years old when she first met new Olympian boxing champion Cassius Clay. She was a student at The National of Islam and known as “The Princess of Islam” by its leader, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, known to Khalilah as “Grandfather.”
Through Ali’s many visits to their community and his eventual conversion, Ali and Khalilah became friends, and then husband and wife at the ages of 25 and 17, respectively. Her marriage to Muhammad Ali during most of his boxing career was an internationally followed American fairy tale filled with drama.
Khalilah knows what it takes to make a champion, and she was the wife who guided and gave Ali mental and spiritual support through his good and hard times. Their ten-year union bore four children, and she was Ali’s foundation and support during his conscientious objection to the draft and the War in Vietnam, his Supreme Court trials, conviction and exoneration, his banishment from boxing and his ultimate return in triumph. This is when her career began. She supported their family during the difficult years and worked as wife, mother, publicist and advisor to Ali.
Speaking from the banks of the Crocodile River, only a stone’s throw away from the Kruger National Park, Khalilah says it was her first time in the country and she was enjoying all the pleasures the area brought.
“It is a wonderful country. We have seen the beautiful landscapes and all the animals in the Kruger National Park. We saw the Big 5, as well as some giraffes up close and personal. I also saw some of the most exotic birds and flowers.”
Khalilah and her travelling partners were also treated to a truly South African braai next to a river adjacent to the park. “The talented chefs from the Nkomazi Kruger Lodge prepared the most amazing food and our host, Jaco van den Berg, was truly wonderful.”
The movie Against All Odds, will star South African martial arts champ Dricus du Plessis and award-winning actor, Robert De Niro in the lead roles. Another South African icon, Koos Roets, will be in the director’s chair with Kenddrie Utuk as executive producer. Khalilah is committed to remembering the heroes of a bygone era and to document their stories for generations to come.
“We have to document so that our younger generation can be inspired for the future of this country and the world. If we do not teach our young people the heroism and history of great men and great women, they will be totally lost and won’t have a good future.” She said the world is constantly being flooded with negative information and images, and that it needed to change.
“Ninety-nine per cent of people do good things in this world. This is not a bad world, this is a good world. It has survived because of good people with compassion and love for one another.
Khalilah spoke highly about South Africa and its rich history, including all of the historic figures the country has seen over the years. “If I go to California and tell people about Gerrie, a white man from South Africa, they wouldn’t be able to tell you who he is.
They don’t have any knowledge of this guy. Some of them don’t even know about Mandela because they aren’t given the history. The world is full of super-heroes. We’ve got Captain America and Iron Man in real people. We’ve got Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Gerrie Coetzee, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela – all superheroes and they come in all colours.” In the meantime, discussions are being held for a possible boxing match between the grandsons of the two boxing heroes, Ali and Coetzee, in three years’ time. Ali retired before the possibility of a match-up with Coetzee.
A match between Nico Ali Walsh and Dylan Coetzee, both 21 years old, will ensure the legacy of two legends lives on. “That would be a great fight. Two great children of two great men fighting – it would be the match of the century. Are you kidding me?” After her short visit to the Lowveld area she went to Cape Town where the official launch of the movie took place.
Saffa Mag had the opportunity to learn a bit more about the remarkable woman behind the mighty Ali. As she puts it: “Ali was the greatest, I am the latest.”
Khalilah is a multitalented and accomplished woman and, apart from her humanitarian work, she spends her time on an array of hobbies and pastimes. Some of these include being a pilot, photographer, journalist, rifle marksman, game hunter, sport fisherman, horseback rider, race car driver and mechanic. She is also an expert in karate and has a ninth-degree black belt, having been trained by Bruce Lee. On top of that, she is fluent in seven languages.
“I haven’t realised that I actually do so much stuff,” she said laughing. Being a civil rights activist and humanitarian, she commented on poverty in South Africa.
“Coming here, to this part of the country, I saw the poor people, and the leadership that is keeping them poor.” Khalilah has a true gift in embracing all children and educating families of the necessity of consideration for one another, good manners, and shared heritage as human beings.
She has instructed thousands of children in etiquette and manners all over the world. In addition, she has published the first volume of a ten-volume coloring book for children and families that teaches manners and etiquette: Old Fashioned Values and Good Manners. The book is aimed at reminding not only children, but everyone, of the importance, need and role that good manners and values play in developing a well-balanced individual and caring society.
In the forthcoming book, The Khalilah Ali Story, there are countless amazing and inspiring experiences from childhood through marriage to Muhammad Ali, right up to the present. She attributes her spirit and drive to her upbringing as a Muslim child and woman, and her Indian (Cherokee-Apache) and African-American roots.
The book will share my side of the story, one that has never been told. Muhammad Ali was important, but he couldn’t have done it without a team behind him. No one can do anything alone. I want to tell young women they are someone and they are important.
Back in the day, Gerrie Coetzee was a passive anti-Apartheid campaigner. This picture was taken in the build-up to Coetzee’s WBA title shot in 1983 in Ohio. Left is Willie Lock (Coetzee’s trainer), Coetzee, the Cape Town-born Cedric Kushner who was then part of Don King’s Promotions and Thinus Strydom (Coetzee’s manager). Photo credit: Gerrie Coetzee Facebook page
