On February 17, 1966, Ali was sidelined by one number and one letter: 1-A, or his reclassified draft status for the U.S. Army.

Ali wasn’t totally caught off-guard by the move. Two years earlier, as a brand new champion, his results on a test deemed him ineligible for the draft. He’d remained outspoken about civil rights and racial issues since then, and seemed to always anticipate being targeted. As expected, Ali vowed to defy the order and he was quickly called a “draft dodger.”

Heavyweight contender Jack Dempsey knew that feeling. After riding the rails and working in shipyards, bars and orchards, he’d heard every kind of insult and epithet, often directed at him. He’d just never been called a “slacker” until near the end of World War I.

Dempsey claimed in his autobiography that after his 1918 win against “Big” Bill Brennan, he heard shouts from the audience calling him a slacker. “I wanted to eat them,” Dempsey wrote.

Like most major wars and conflicts involving the U.S., World War I was met with an initial burst of enthusiasm followed by a waning support as time went on. Draft evasion, or slacking, soared as much of the nation struggled financially, but many fighters served in “The Great War.” Lightweight champion Benny Leonard and featherweight champion Johnny Kilbane were both boxing instructors in the U.S. Army, and future featherweight champ Eugene Criqui took a bullet to the jaw in the war.

Two of Dempsey’s future rivals, Gene Tunney and Georges Carpentier, both served in the war. Carpentier even became a distinguished airman for France. Dempsey later gave conflicting stories as to why he didn’t serve, and in any case charges of avoiding military service dogged him for decades.

When World War II erupted and the U.S. pledged its troops, Dempsey joined a host of former heavyweight champions like Tunney, Max Baer and James Braddock in serving. Involvement was mostly symbolic for “The Manassa Mauler,” who was in his late 40s and wanted to right an old wrong. But future heavyweight champs Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano also served, adding to the list.

Most importantly, heavyweight king Joe Louis not only joined the U.S. Army but became a go-to symbol of hope and patriotism. He even took leave from serving to defend the heavyweight title, and he initially did most of this nearly for free. Louis later paid a heavy price for his time in the army, as he picked up considerable wear on his body and accrued debt while fighting exhibitions.

Tradition worked against Ali. Generally speaking, heavyweight champions answered when called to serve in the military. Louis criticized Ali for refusing induction and Ali responded angrily, saying, “Joe Louis was a sucker. Look what happened to him.”

Still, Ali couldn’t just ignore what happened to Louis, his hero. Ali softened his stance later on and seemed to feel sympathy for a man who was clearly betrayed on numerous levels. Whether he understood any of the politics or the causes of the Vietnam War was irrelevant, because he understood enough to know he was expendable.

Ali struggled to navigate court dates and the impending suspension of his boxing license while he rattled off six fights in just over one year. He defended the title in Canada, England and Germany before fighting twice in Houston, where he was convicted of draft evasion in 1967. He eventually won his appeal and fought again, but those precious years Ali lost while in exile are widely viewed as one of boxing history’s greatest what ifs.

Bluster and hyperbole about how fighters are warriors is impossible to avoid. Some even believe the most cowardly pretenders are blessed with the sacred mark of your average Spartan soldier by virtue of simply lacing up boxing gloves. But on some level, every fighter gives up a piece of themselves. They offer up things they can never get back in exchange for something they might never attain. A lot like soldiers and warriors.

Joe Louis left his prime fighting exhibitions with sparring partners and training pals at various military bases and installations. He returned to boxing older, slower, heavier and with thinning hair after the war. And he experienced a best case scenario given the urgency of the conflict.

Dempsey acknowledged that he probably wouldn’t have seen action had he been more proactive about joining the war effort the first time. “It was a hundred thousand to one that I would have spent the duration doing just what I did in civilian life -- fighting with gloves on.” But he didn’t join and he wasn’t drafted, so he had to listen as fans cheered Frenchman and war hero Georges Carpentier over heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey on American soil, and he endured the jeers as he faced Argentine Luis Ángel Firpo in boxing’s New York City homebase.

If Dempsey was to be believed, he genuinely wanted to serve in the army when he applied in 1942. The army wouldn’t take him due to his age, but he signed up with the U.S. Coast Guard, and ultimately he did truly perform a worthy service by teaching hand-to-hand combat to various troops. Though the slacker charge was never completely forgotten, his service drowned out all those old taunting voices.

Like Louis, Ali lost his prime. Unlike any of the others, Ali was willing to give up that which made him “The Greatest” in the ring for what he felt was right at the time, and history proved him uncomfortably correct.

For far too many, Ali is still a draft dodger. If Dempsey’s trespasses could be forgiven through his service in World War II, it’s worth asking whether the pain Ali endured and his deeds beyond the ring could absolve these early sins.