Muhammad Ali elicits awe. Forty-four years after his final fight, nine years after his death, Ali will always elicit awe.

The statue of Ali unveiled Saturday afternoon in Lewiston elicits that same awe, and now stands as a reminder to the city to always fight.

“That’s why this statue matters,” said Ilyas Bashir, a first-generation Somali immigrant, a New England Golden Gloves champion and a recent Bates College graduate from Auburn.

On May 25, 1965, Ali made Lewiston famous when he fought his rematch with Sonny Liston and retained his world heavyweight title. The larger than life bronze statue — just like Ali himself — is a reminder of that time 60 years ago when the world’s eyes were on Lewiston. It’s also a reminder of the resiliency the city and its residents put on display every day. It’s an example we can all learn from and emulate.

Gov. Janet Mills said she had tickets to attend the Ali-Liston fight with her then-boyfriend. They broke up two weeks before the fight, so she didn’t go. Sixty years later, that didn’t stop Mills from using the fight as a metaphor for both Lewiston and the current political climate: A boxing ring, like life, can be chaotic until you land the right combination and take control.

“Loud. Proud. Strong. Resilient. Get up and fight,” Mills said with the vigor of a ring announcer. “We’ll never get knocked out. We’ll never get knocked down.”

You can make the case that the fight in Lewiston was the most significant of Ali’s professional career. He was defending the title he won when he beat Liston in Miami a year earlier. It was his first fight under his new name, after previously being known as Cassius Clay. It set the tone for the rest of his long career.

“For boxing in Lewiston, it put us on the map,” said Glenn Cugno. “Joey Gamache (a Lewiston native and world champion in the super featherweight and lightweight divisions), he took it from there.”

Cugno’s boxing gym, Cugno Boxing Academy, sits across the street from the statue. If any of Cugno’s fighters ever need inspiration before a big bout, they can simply walk outside.

“Lewiston should be proud of this,” Cugno said.

Sixty years later, the Ali-Liston fight is still the biggest sporting event to take place in Maine, and it’s a stretch to come up with anything close.

Dan Cote of Cote Crane and Rigging, the company that set the statue in place Friday in advance of Saturday’s unveiling, noted that when he travels and tells people he’s from Lewiston, they light up with recognition.

“I’m in Florida, someone says, ‘Where you from?’ and I say Lewiston, they go, ‘Ah! The fight! Ali!'” Cote said.

Anyone who has deep ties to the Lewiston area probably knows somebody who was at the fight. For Cote, it’s an uncle. Cote remembers listening on his transistor radio, held close to his ear.

Decades later, the sudden end of the Ali-Liston fight is still one of the most controversial in boxing history. Officially, referee Jersey Joe Walcott stopped the fight at 2:12 of the first round. Did Liston take a dive and succumb to a phantom punch, as many allege? Did Ali land a perfect left-right combination, putting Liston down for the night before many fans were in their seats?

Boxing fans can debate that for another 60 years. In Lewiston, it doesn’t matter. Ali became the most famous athlete of the 20th century, and that short fight in Lewiston was one of the seminal moments of his long career. Ahead of Ali was his stance as a conscientious objector. His title would be taken away, and that battle, bigger than any he had in the ring, would go all the way to the Supreme Court, where Ali’s conviction for draft dodging was unanimously overturned in 1971.

In Lewiston, Ali is immortalized as a champion. Over Ali’s left shoulder is another reminder of what can be good — one of Charlie Hewitt’s Hopeful light sculptures found in cities across the state.

In Lewiston, Ali stands on his toes, arms bent at his sides, ready for what’s next.

In Lewiston, like the city itself, Ali fights.