LEWISTON — A 10-foot bronze statue of Muhammad Ali is on track to be unveiled May 25 in Lewiston, sculptor Zenos Frudakis said Thursday. Construction of the statue’s 3-foot base is set to wrap up this week in front of Bates Mill No. 5 at 65 Main St.
The statue is to depict the world heavyweight boxing champion standing victoriously in the aftermath of his 1965 knockout of Sonny Liston at what is now called The Colisée. Frudakis said the statue will show Ali in a slightly different pose — “a little bit more timeless” — than the iconic 1965 photograph “where he’s got this hand across his chest and he’s looking down at Liston.” Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali gestures and shouts May 25, 1965, while standing over challenger Sonny Liston, after dropping Liston with a short hard right to the jaw in Lewiston.
John Rooney/Associated Press file “I thought, first of all, it’s a shame to cover his chest,” Frudakis said. “He had a beautiful figure, body and chest and everything. But more importantly, I didn’t want to try and copy somebody else’s photograph, which they really owned.
It’s a combination of a couple photos that I saw. It’s not any one photo.” The new pose is a nod to Ali’s unique fighting style, according to Frudakis.
“Ali often fought with his arms down a little bit, which very few fighters ever did,” he said. “He was so fast. He could bring his arms up, or he could back up on his heel and just have the fighter miss h.
