FROM ALI TO PACQUIAO, MURAD MUHAMMAD IN HIS OWN WORDS PT. 1: THE RELIGION

"I have been in this business for over 30 something years. I have been away for over 2 ½ years or more. I chose to take time off because things were happening and I feel any time something is happening that you have no control over, you need to step back...I can honestly tell you that my success in boxing is believing that God is great! I couldn't have done the things that I done on my own. Surely I thought it. God said, 'If you take a step, I will take two.' I had to think about it. It had to be a thought first. I had to think about it and then I had to believe it. So I did. I believed that I could help a lot of athletes in this business and I did because I saw a lot of athletes being mistreated," stated promoter Murad Muhammad as he recalled his experiences in boxing. Don't miss this behind-the-scenes look into the history of boxing as Murad himself tells his story in his own words. From Muhammad Ali to Manny Pacquiao, he has worked alongside some of the biggest names in the sport and you don't want to miss some of his extremely revealing tales. Check it out...

I have been in this business for over 30 something years. I have been away for over 2 ½ years or more. I chose to take time off because things were happening and I feel any time something is happening that you have no control over, you need to step back. I was able to step back and I realized that I never took a break. I do a lot of studying of our scripture and I have been doing that since I was about 14 years old. It comes up through my family and then, when I embraced Islam, that was intense studying of the Quran; learning the Quran. However, we have a leader and his name is W.D. Mohammed and he took us from his father, the honorable Elijah Mohammed, and led us on the path where one, being Muslim, studies the Quran. He gave us the opportunity to learn on our own. However, about 20 something years ago, he decided to teach me personally. I was a student of his.

By me taking 2 ½ years off, it allowed me to give him my undivided attention. It helped tremendously my interpretation of the Quran. And then, who ever thought he was going to pass away. It's been over 2 years since he passed away and I'm not God, so I wouldn't have known that, but had I known that he was going to leave us, I would have took more time off. But it helped me tremendously, spiritually and morally, and I understand that we have to grow in life. God says that the human being must grow and sometimes we think that's just about in body, so we develop our intellect, but we forget our moral substance. We forget our morality and our God consciousness, so when you grow without your God consciousness, you have a tendency to be off balance. When you're off balance, you fall victim to society.

We are made from the earth mud. Man is made from material, so it's why most men fall into being materialistic because we are made from material. However, if you're spiritual, being what God said, "I have breathed into the human being some of my spirit." And when you tap into that spirit, it allows you to be fully proportioned. You will be balanced. You can have a whole lot of fun my brother; you see it all. You can stay in the best hotel rooms, flying private jets, you got plenty of money, people know you around the world and you can buy anything you want to buy and sometimes that can detour you and take you in a different direction. I understood that, but I understand it more now than before.

We are born vertical and that's straight up, but then, horizontal is what the cross is about; vertical and horizontal. People think it's a physical cross, but that's the way we were born. We are like a plant. God said we are like a plant and if God says we are like a plant, then you study the plant. So I was able to study the plant and the plant grows straight up. That's what man do, we stand straight up, but sometimes, that plant falls. It will fall like a vine and it will go all across the street if there are no automobiles on that road and it will grow and grow until it finds a wall and as soon as it finds a wall, it stands right back up. Plants need water, sunshine and air and man needs all of those things as well. So we're like a plant. Sometimes we fall and sometimes we get back up, but the struggle to get back up is the mercy. Why would I say that? I learned that a man can't call on God unless he struggles because that's the only one that can help him.

So when he recognizes that God is the controller of everything and is bigger than we could ever imagine, boxing, your mother, your father and all of your siblings, it allows you to understand. What am I hear for? Why did God create you and me? I can say it has nothing to do with how rich you are or how tall or short you are or how good looking or ugly we are. God created us to serve him and when you recognize that that's what you were created for, the sky is the limit. I can honestly tell you that my success in boxing is believing that God is great! I couldn't have done the things that I done on my own. Surely I thought it. God said, "If you take a step, I will take two." I had to think about it. It had to be a thought first. I had to think about it and then I had to believe it. So I did. I believed that I could help a lot of athletes in this business and I did because I saw a lot of athletes being mistreated.

BE SURE TO CHECK BACK FOR PART 2 AS MUHAMMAD GETS MORE IN DEPTH ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF BOXING 

[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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