I am glad the in-process statue of Muhammad Ali, eventually to be situated next to Mill No. 5 , is being purposely altered. As the Dec. 27 Sun Journal edition reported, the pose was to have been the rather famous one during the knockdown of Sonny Liston in their May 1965 bout.

To update myself about the event I once again watched the video of it recently. For those who have not seen it, Ali stands over and stares at the fallen Liston, with his right arm partially cocked, while barking at and begging him to get up. The gestures did not reflect good sportsmanship whatsoever.

As an aside, it is probably irrelevant that the landed short right-hand punch may not have had the power to put Sonny down, in addition to the suspicions that shady dealings surrounding the fight may have tainted the outcome.

In our era of bold, unchecked, visual influences, we do not need a new, permanent symbol displaying exaggerated superiority of one human over another. Thanks to whomever decided to change the original figure to a more humane one.

Norm Gellatly, Auburn