Muhammad Ali was a spectacular athlete.  He had the fastest hands in the fight game and was so quick on his feet that he could dance away from the heaviest puncher at will.

But the question many boxing fans often asked was,“Can he take a punch?”

They had their answer at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971,  when Ali, an undefeated heavyweight champion who had been stripped of his title after refusing induction in the Army four years earlier,stepped into the ring with Joe Frazier, the current undefeated champion.

Frazier was a puncher. He had a killer left hook that in the 11th round knocked Ali into the ropes. It was a 15-round slug fest that has been called, “The Fight of the Century.  When it was over Joe Frazier, after taking a wicked amount of punishment himself,was still the champ.

But no one ever again questioned the great Ali’s ability to take a punch. 

The Clinton campaign has been complaining for weeks that the press has been giving Barack Obama a free ride.  Saturday Night Live, back in business after the writer’s strike, rode that theme relentlessly, as did the Clinton campaign’s media tough-guy Howard Wolfson.

Then came Clinton’s 3:00 AM red phone ad, followed by reporters’ questions to Obama about his relationship with his former Chicago fundraiser Tony Rezko, who went on trial this week for extortion  and influence-peddling. And Canada-gate. Was Obama saying one thing publicly and another privately to the Canadians on NAFTA? The Canadians say no. But Monday, in Texas,after a few minutes of pummeling by reporters,a rattled Obama threw in the towel and took a hike. It looked bad. Where was the cool, collected customer we had been watching in primary after primary? 

One more thing, on 60 minutes, Clinton told Steve Kroft there was no basis for saying that Obama is a Muslim, “as far as I know.” “As far as I know?” Excuse me? This is what Obama calls the Clinton kitchen sink strategy, and it may have cost him with voters who made up their minds in the last three days before Texas and Ohio. Obama is still ahead in delegates, after losing Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, and he has even regained some delegate ground in Texas, based on results from the caucuses, so I guess you could say he can take a punch. But can he throw one?

Can he head Clinton off at the pass as she tries to persuade super-delegates that she is the more electable Democrat?  Can he defeat her efforts to seat Florida and Michigan delegations? She won in both states after having promised not to campaign there and Obama wasn’t even on the ballot in Michigan.

Says Florida’s Republican Governor Charlie Crist, who’s backing John McCain, “I think it’s important that these delegates be seated. I’m hopeful that the National Democratic party comes to the conclusion that it’s the right thing to do.” Thank you, Charlie. That’s very helpful. And the longer Clinton and Obama are in the ring slugging it out, the happier  Charlie Crist  and his fellow Republicans will be.