I am writing regarding the Maine Sunday Telegram front-page article on the Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston fight of 50 years ago in Lewiston (“The moment that made Ali,” May 24).

I find the writing too polite. The fight was clearly fixed, and Liston took a dive as soon as he could. As the article notes, even Ali was surprised that Liston went down so easily. From all I have read, it appears that Ali was unaware that the bout was fixed.

In any case, what I am really writing about is Ali himself. According to Wikipedia, Ali “refused to be inducted into the U.S. military.” He was not a patriot. He would not serve his country at a time when his country needed him.

His issue was that he wanted to continue to box and make millions of dollars, but he feared being drafted and possibly sent to Vietnam. Fleeing to Canada like many cowards would not work for him.

So he lost his title after being convicted of draft-evasion charges, but the Supreme Court eventually overturned his conviction, based on a narrow point of improperly filled-out paperwork by the local draft board. Sad.

And so, in my opinion, Ali was then and remains to this day an unpatriotic coward. You can argue the point, but you cannot change the facts. He was about to be drafted and he suddenly became a conscientious objector.

Ali has been suffering for a long time now the effects of Parkinson’s syndrome. Hey, Ali, what goes around comes around!

I urge Ali, his family and his many followers to visit Washington, D.C. Go to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, which has the 58,000-plus names of those who died while serving their country in Vietnam.

Spend some time looking for the name of the man who took Ali’s place in the draft. Reflect on your cowardice.

Harry White

Scarborough