Muhammad Ali, the boxing legend when born was named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. and was born in Louisville, Kentucky on the 17 of January in the year 1942. He was raised over there only.
So basically Ali was introduced to boxing by a police officer of his area. The police officer saw in him the potential and the story behind the police officer discovering him is Ali's anger when his bicycle got stolen as a child. Ali started training when he was 12 years old. Initially he was trained by the same police officer who discovered this talent in him and his name was Joe Martin. In the later years of training he was trained by Chuck Bodak.
Ali when he was 18 years old participated in the Summer Olympics in Rome. There he won a gold medal in light heavyweight division. This took place in the year 1960 and Ali took to being a professional boxer later that year. The year of 1964 is when Ali won against the highly talented and famous boxer Sonny Liston. He was 22 that time and also the youngest boxer to win against a prevailing heavyweight boxer. In the year of 1965 Ali again played against Liston and won. The punch that ended the fight between Ali and Liston is referred to as the 'phantom punch' . In the same year Ali won a fight with Floyd Patterson , ex heavyweight champion. In the year 1967 Ali won against Ernie Terrell. It was a lopsided 15 round decision. In 1971 Ali fought against Joe Frazier and lost. This was the first match that he had lost and happenned because of Frazier's left hook in the 15th round. In 1973 Ali lost a match for the second time against Ken Norton in March but wont the rematch later on in September. In 1974 Ali fought against George Foreman for heavyweight title and won the title with his 'Rope-A-Dope' technique.In 1975 Ali fought Frazier and won. Ali called the fight 'Thrilla in Manila' and later said that it was the closest thing to dying that he knew. In 1978 Ali fought against Leon Spinks and lost the title to him in February but won the rematch in September. He then became the first heavyweight champion to ever win the belt thrice. In the year 1980 Ali fought with Larry Holmes and lost for the first time by a knockout. 1981 is the year when he fought a match against Trevor Berbick and lost .
Even though Ali is one of the most celebrated sportsman of all times and is a boxing icon he had his own ways and was many times been a subject of controversies. In the match against Floyd Patterson(1965) he claimed that Floyd had made defamatory statements about Islam (this is after he converted to Islam) and it is supposed that he stretched the match before knocking his opponent down. He derogated Floyd by calling him 'white man's champion'. In another controversy Ali was seen taking a dig at Ernie Terrell by passing statements like ''What's my name, Uncle Tom?What's my name?''.
Due to a major controversy Ali lost his title and precious years of career (March 1967-October 1970). He had shown resentment against the Vietnam war in the year 1967. He was contrived by refused to join the armed forces and passed the following statement,
" I ain't got no quarrel with the Vietcong. No Vietcong ever called me nigger."
In the fight against Joe Frazier(1971) Ali had called his opponent "dumb tool of the white establishment".
Another noticeable thing that Ali did was his conversion to Islam in 1964. He than changes his name from Cassius, which he referred to as his 'slave name' to Muhammed Ali.
Ali made his name in the field of boxing. Apart from this he was also a social activist. He stood against the Vietnam war , Islamophobia, racism. He also made his contributions to help people . As a philanthropist he gave his best.
SOME OF HIS FAMOUS QUOTATIONS ARE:
" Float like a butterfly , sting like a bee."
"Don't count the days. Make the days count."
"It's not bragging if you can back it up."
"A man who has no imagination has no wings."
Muhammad Ali is an inspiration to many . He participated in 61 fights of which he won 56. The legendary American professional boxer passed away on June 3, 2016 in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 74 that time and passed away due to septic shock. As good as he was in the field of boxing he was no less as a social activist and a philanthropist. He made his contributions to the world and is still remembered for his talent and good deeds.
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