Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/992522
31 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 JUNE 2018 SPORTS BOXING US President Donald Trump's comment on Friday that he might pardon boxing legend Muhammad Ali drew a prompt response from the late heavyweight champion's estate: thanks but no thanks Ali after a court appearance during the exile years Muhammad Ali family lawyer to Trump - thanks, but no pardon needed "WE appreciate President Trump's sentiment, but a pardon is unnecessary. The US Supreme Court over- turned the conviction of Muhammad Ali in a unani- mous decision in 1971. There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed," said Ron Tweel, a lawyer for the boxer's estate and his widow, Lonnie. Before leaving to attend the Group of Seven summit in Canada, Trump told re- porters he was considering pardoning some 3,000 peo- ple, including Ali, who died in 2016. "I'm thinking about some- body that you all know very well, and he went through a lot and he wasn't very popular then," Trump said. "His memory is very popu- lar now. I'm thinking about Muhammad Ali. I'm think- ing about that very seri- ously." The boxer refused to be inducted into the US Army in 1967 during the Vietnam War, claiming conscien- tious objector status, and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was never imprisoned while his case was under appeal and in 1971 the US Supreme Court overturned the conviction. Tweel, reached by tel- ephone at his home in Vir- ginia, said the White House had not contacted him or Lonnie Ali about a potential pardon. He said he had been in contact with the widow after Trump's comments and they decided to issue a statement on behalf of the family. "We heard what he was contemplating and it need- ed a response," he said. It was unclear why Trump would consider a pardon, given that Ali's conviction was overturned. The White House did not immediately comment on the lawyer's statement. Trump said many of the 3,000 people he was con- sidering for pardons were treated unfairly or given un- fairly long sentences. Last month, President Trump, alongside actor Sylvester Stallone, pardoned late boxer Jack Johnson in the Oval Office