Muhammad Ali
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- For other people with similar names, see Muhammad Ali (disambiguation). For the 19th century politician, see Cassius Marcellus Clay
{{Infobox_Boxer |name= Muhammad Ali |image=Ali.jpg |nationality= US American |realname= Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.) |nickname= The Greatest |weight= Heavyweight |birth_date= January 17, 1942 |birth_place= Louisville, Kentucky, USA |death_date= |death_place= |style= Orthodox |total= 61 |wins= 56 |KO= 37 |losses= 5 |draws= |no_contests= }}Muhammad Ali (born January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky, as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.), nicknamed "The Greatest", is a retired American boxer. He is considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, as well as one of the world's most famous individuals, renowned the world over for his boxing and political activism. In 1999, he was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.
Ali had a highly unorthodox style for a heavyweight boxer. He carried his hands at his sides, rather than the orthodox boxing style of carrying the hands high to defend the face. Instead, he relied on his extraordinary reflexes and footwork to keep him away from his opponents' blows.
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Early boxing career
In Louisville, October 29, 1960, Cassius Clay won his first professional fight. He won a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker , who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia. From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19-0, with 15 knockouts. He defeated such boxers as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, and Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones, and Henry Cooper. Among Clay's more impressive victories were against Sonny Banks (who knocked him down earlier in the bout), Alejandro Lavorante, and Archie Moore (a boxing legend who had won over 200 previous fights). Cassius became the number one contender for Sonny Liston's title. Liston was greatly feared, and some have said that he was the Mike Tyson of his era. Almost no one gave the young boxer a chance of beating Liston. The date was fixed for February 25, 1964; during the weigh-in, the boisterous Ali declared that he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." and to sum up his defense he quoted "You can't hit what you can't see" Image:GordonParksLife10231970.jpg
First title fight
Template:Main Clay, however, had a plan. Misreading Clay's exuberance as nervousness, Liston was over-confident, and unprepared for any result but a quick stoppage. In the opening rounds, Clay's speed kept him away from Liston's powerful head and body shots, as he used his height and reach advantage to effectively beat Liston to the punch with his jab. By the third, Clay was clearly on top, and had opened a cut under Liston's eye. Liston regained some ground in the fourth, as Clay was blinded by a foreign substance. It is unknown whether this was something used to close Liston's cuts, or applied to Liston's gloves for a nefarious purpose. Partially-sighted, Clay passively sought to escape Liston's offensive. He was able to keep out of range until his sweat cleaned the ointment from his eyes, responding with a flurry of combinations near the end of the fifth round. By the sixth, he was looking for a finish and dominated Liston. The end came after that round, when Liston retired on his stool, later claiming his shoulder had become dislocated. Clay leapt out of his corner, proclaiming himself "King of the World", and demanding the writers eat their words!
Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. changes his name to Muhammad Ali
Following his ascension to champion, he also became famous for other reasons: he revealed that he was a member of the Nation of Islam (often called the Black Muslims at the time) and changed his name to Cassius X, discarding his surname as a symbol of his ancestors' enslavement, as had been done by other Nation members such as Malcolm X. He was soon given the name Muhammad Ali by the leader of the Nation, Elijah Muhammad, who revealed the name to Ali as "his true name," although only a few journalists (most notably Howard Cosell) accepted it at that time. The adoption of this name symbolized his new identity as a Muslim, and he retained the name even after his later conversion to Sunni Islam.
Ali defends his title
Ali would reconfirm his abilities when he knocked out Liston in the first round of their rematch in Lewiston, Maine on May 25, 1965, albeit controversially, as few observers saw the "phantom punch" that floored Liston. Because boxing insiders knew that Liston's career had been in part sponsored by organized crime interests, there were whispers that Liston had taken a dive. However, film analysis and eyewitness accounts indicate that Ali did land a short, hard right cross, too quickly for most spectators to see accurately. Ali himself suspected at first that Liston could have gotten up from the punch but stayed down; hence the famous photo of Ali, standing over the fallen Liston and shouting at him to get up. No evidence or testimony supporting a fix has ever been produced. It is possible that Liston was out of shape for the fight and had little faith that he could dent Ali's style any more than he had in Miami; so, when Ali knocked him down, he simply lost his will to continue. However, Liston did seem to rise on shaky legs (referee Jersey Joe Walcott, possibly because of Ali's antics and scornful rebuke of Liston, hesitated at first to count Liston out), and Liston apparently offered no defense as Ali resumed the fight for a few seconds before Walcott retroactively declared the fight over. That November, Ali met and defeated former champion Floyd Patterson. Patterson had been a childhood hero of Ali's, and as such Ali was terribly hurt by the fact that Patterson refused to acknowledge the new name he had taken, his conversion to Islam, and Patterson's insistence that Ali was a bad role model for children. Ali resolved to humiliate Patterson in the ring, and Patterson, well past his prime, was helpless to do anything about it. The referee stopped the fight in Round 12, after Patterson had taken a terrible beating.
Vietnam puts a pause in Ali's career
It was also in this same year that he refused to serve in the American army during the Vietnam War as a conscientious objector, because "War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'aan. I'm not trying to dodge the draft. We are supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don't take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers." Ali also famously said "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong" and "no Vietcong ever called me nigger." Ali was basically banned from fighting in the United States and forced to accept bouts abroad for most of 1966. From his bout with Patterson in November of 1965, to his final defense against Zora Folley in March of 1967, he defended his title nine times. No other heavyweight champion in history has fought so much in such a short period. Ali pounded out a fifteen round decision against tough Canadian George Chuvalo (who was never knocked down in his career), he then went to England and defeated Henry Cooper and Brian London by knockout. Ali's next defense was against German southpaw Karl Mildenberger (who was the first German to fight for the title since Max Schmeling). In one of the tougher fights of his life, Ali finally stopped his opponent in Round 12. Ali then returned to the United States in November of 1966 to fight Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams in the Houston Astrodome. Williams had one of the highest knockout percentages of any heavyweight and was thought by many to be one of the finest boxers who never won a title. Many expected he would give the young champion a tough fight but Ali destroyed him in three rounds knocking him down several times. The champion returned to a Houston boxing ring in January of 1967 to fight Ernie Terrell in one of the uglier fights in boxing. Terrell had angered Ali by calling him Clay and the champion vowed to punish him for this insult. Terrell suffered fifteen rounds of brutal punishment, but Ali refused to knock him out. He kept shouting at his opponent "Whats my name, Uncle Tom...whats my name". The press called this cruel and inhuman and the audience booed Ali for his tactics. Many boxing analysts have called Ali's fight against Zora Folley at Madison Square Garden on March 22, 1967 to be him at his brilliant best. Every punch he threw in this fight was sharp and on target until he knocked Folley out in Round 7. Some have speculated how far Ali could have gone had he been allowed to fight for the period of two and a half years afterward.
Image:AliEsquireCover1.JPG Ali's actions in refusing military service and aligning himself with the Nation of Islam, made him a lightning rod of controversy, turning the outspoken but popular former champion into one of that era's most recognizable and controversial figures. Appearing at rallies with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and declaring his allegiance to him at a time when mainstream America viewed them with suspicion — if not actual hostility — made Ali a target of outrage, and suspicion as well. Ali seemed at times to even provoke such reactions, with viewpoints that wavered from support for civil rights to outright support of separatism.
In 1969, Ali fought Rocky Marciano in a computerized fight, known as, The Superfight: Marciano vs. Ali. This fight was under the promotion of Murry Woroner, a Miami boxing promoter, who ran a fantasy boxing radio show, filled with fantasy matches, with the blow by blow by Murry Woroner, himself.
The comeback
In 1970, Ali was finally able to get a boxing license. With the help of a State Senator, he was granted a license to box in Georgia. In October of 1970, he returned to stop Jerry Quarry on a cut after three rounds. Shortly after the Quarry fight, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Ali was unjustly denied a boxing license. Once again able to fight in New York, he fought Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in December of 1970. Ali stopped Bonavena in the 15th round, paving the way for a title fight against Joe Frazier.
The Fight of the Century
Template:Main Ali and Frazier fought each other on March 8, 1971 at Madison Square Garden. This fight, known as The Fight of the Century, is one of the most famous and was one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts of all time, since it featured two skilled, undefeated fighters, both of whom had reasonable claims to the heavyweight crown. The fight lived up to the hype, and Frazier punctuated his victory by flooring Ali with a hard left hook in the final round. Frank Sinatra took photos of the match for Life Magazine. Legendary boxing announcer Don Dunphy and actor and boxing aficionado Burt Lancaster called the action for the broadcast, which reached millions of people.
In 1973, Ali split two bouts with Ken Norton (in the bout that Ali lost to Norton, Ali suffered a broken jaw, but refused to quit), before beating Frazier on points in their 1974 rematch, to earn another title shot.
The Rumble in the Jungle
Image:Casseus-clay.jpg Ali regained his title on October 30, 1974 by knocking out champion George Foreman in their bout in Kinshasha, Zaire that had been called "The Rumble In The Jungle". The fight was one of the first promoted by Don King. The flamboyant showman realized the symbolic importance of staging the fight in Africa ("From Slaveship To Championship"). Almost no one, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning. Analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Norton had given Ali four tough battles in the ring and won two of them while Foreman had destroyed both in the second round. In the fight, Ali took advantage of the young champion's one weakness. This was the fact Foreman had won 37 of his 40 bouts by knockout and most were within three rounds or less. In fact, Foreman's last eight bouts before this hadn't gone beyond the second round. Ali lay on the loosened ropes and "invited" Foreman to whale away at him. The former champion was fast enough to elude and slip most of the mighty broadsides Foreman threw. The enraged champion threw hundreds of punches in seven rounds but only rarely connected. Just by fighting off the ropes, Ali took three of the first four rounds. When Foreman went down and out in the eighth, it was just as much from exhaustion as from punches.
Ali becomes a Sunni Muslim
Less public than Ali's acceptance of the Nation of Islam and subsequent change in name was his later conversion to the far more orthodox Sunni sect of Islam. In a 2004 autobiography, written with daughter Hana Yasmeen Ali, Ali attributes his conversion to the move toward Sunni Islam in 1975 by W.D. Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad's son, after he gained control of the Nation upon his father's death. Due to this belief, Ali up to this day claims to be a segregationist.
Rocky
On March 24, 1975, Ali fought Chuck Wepner in Cleveland, a fight that was to inspire the Academy Award winning movie "Rocky". Ironically, however, it was Ali's opponent who provided the inspiration for history's most famous fictional pugilist. Wepner was a journeyman fighter who earned his living as a liquor salesman. His nickname was "The Bayonne Bleeder" and, although he was ranked, an unknown journalist remarked that "if he is the number eight contender, a punching bag must be number seven." Wepner, however, trained for two months and somehow lasted until 2:41 in the fifteenth round against Ali. Sylvester Stallone saw the match on television and the concept of Rocky Balboa -- an unknown club fighter who lasts 15 rounds against the heavyweight champion -- was born.<ref>ESPN interview with Sylvester Stallone[1]</ref>
The Thrilla in Manila
Template:Main In 1975, Ali was very confident coming into this fight and made a poem, that goes "Now this may shock and amaze ya/But Ali will destroy Joe Frazier/Ali's got such endurance/Frazier's gonna need some insurance". Ali defeated Joe Frazier once more in the "Thrilla In Manila", in the Philippines. This fight surpassed their earlier bouts, and is one of the best-known heavyweight fights ever. After 14 grueling rounds, Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch refused to allow Frazier to continue, and Ali left, the winner by TKO. Ali was quoted after the fight as saying "This must be what death feels like". Ring Magazine called this bout 1975's Fight of the Year, the fifth year an Ali fight had earned that distinction. Many felt Ali should have retired after this fight; however, he continued to box. 1976 saw him knock out two largely unknown opponents, Belgian stonecutter Jean-Pierre Coopman and English boxer Richard Dunn. On April 30, 1976 Ali faced Jimmy Young in Landover, Maryland. Ali was heavy and out of shape and won a lackluster decision. In September, Ali faced Ken Norton in their third fight, held at Yankee Stadium. The champion won a unanimous decision, although it was highly disputed by some observers.
Ali would retain his title until a February 1978 split decision loss to 1976 Olympic champion Leon Spinks, who was fighting in only his eighth professional fight. Prior to this, Ali was overconfident and trained less than ever for the upcoming fight. Stunned by the upset, Ali re-dedicated himself to his craft. He soundly defeated Spinks by unanimous decision in a September rematch in New Orleans at the Superdome, becoming the first man to win the world heavyweight championship three times. Then on June 27, 1979, he announced his retirement and vacated the title.
Final Comeback and Retirement
That retirement was short-lived, however, and on October 2, 1980, he challenged Larry Holmes for the WBC's version of the world Heavyweight title. Looking to set another record, as the first boxer to win the Heavyweight title four times, Ali lost by technical knockout in round eleven, when Dundee would not let him come out for the round. The Holmes fight, promoted as "The Last Hurrah", was a fight many fans and experts view with disdain, because it was a fight that saw a "deteriorated version" of Ali. Holmes was Ali's sparring partner when Holmes was a budding fighter; thus, some viewed the result of the fight as a symbolic "passing of the torch." Holmes even admitted later that, although he dominated the fight, he held his punches back a bit out of sheer respect for his idol, and former employer. It was revealed after the fight that Ali had been examined at the Mayo Clinic, and the results were shocking. He had admitted to tingling in his hands, and slurring of his speech. The exam revealed he actually had a hole in the membrane of his brain. However, Don King withheld this report, and allowed the fight to go on.
Despite the apparent finality of his loss to Holmes and his increasingly suspect medical condition, Ali would fight one more time. On December 11, 1981, he fought rising contender and future world champion Trevor Berbick, in what was billed as "The Drama in the Bahamas." Because Ali was widely viewed as a damaged fighter, few American venues expressed much interest in hosting the bout, and few fans expressed much interest in attending or watching it. Compared to the mega-fights Ali fought in widely known venues earlier in his career, the match took place in virtual obscurity, in Nassau. Although Ali performed marginally better against Berbick than he had against Holmes fourteen months earlier, he still lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Berbick, who at 27 was twelve years younger.
Following this loss, Ali retired permanently in 1981, with a career record of 56 wins (37 by knockout) and 5 losses.
In retirement
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome in the early 1980s, following which his motor functions began a slow decline. Although Ali's doctors disagreed during the 1980s and 1990s about whether his symptoms were caused by boxing and whether or not his condition was degenerative,<ref>[2],[3]</ref> he was ultimately diagnosed with Pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome. By late 2005 it was reported that Ali's condition was notably worsening.<ref>[4]</ref> According to the documentary When We Were Kings, when Ali was asked about whether he has any regrets about boxing due to his disability, he responded that if he didn't box he would still be a painter in Louisville, Kentucky.
Despite the disability, he remains a popular and active public figure. In 1985, he served as a guest referee at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 1996, he had the honor of lighting the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He has appeared at the 1998 AFL Grand Final, where NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Pratt recruited him to watch the game. He also greets runners at the start line of the Los Angeles Marathon every year.
His daughter Laila Ali also became a boxer in 1999, despite her father's earlier comments against female boxing in 1978: "Women are not made to be hit in the breast, and face like that... the body's not made to be punched right here [patting his chest]. Get hit in the breast... hard... and all that." The $60 million non-profit Muhammad Ali Center opened in downtown Louisville, Kentucky on November 19, 2005 (his 19th wedding anniversary). In addition to displaying his boxing memorabilia, the center focuses on core themes of peace, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth. Muhammad Ali currently lives in Michigan with his fourth wife, Yolanda Williams.
He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony on November 9, 2005 Template:Ref.
According to the Muhammad Ali Center website, "Since he retired from boxing, Ali has devoted himself to humanitarian endeavors around the globe. He is a devout Sunni Muslim, and travels the world over, lending his name and presence to hunger and poverty relief, supporting education efforts of all kinds, promoting adoption and encouraging people to respect and better understand one another. It is estimated that he has helped to provide more than 22 million meals to feed the hungry. Ali travels, on average, more than 200 days per year."
In 2001, a biographical film, entitled Ali, was made, with Will Smith starring as Ali. The film received mixed reviews, with the positives generally attributed to the acting, as Smith and supporting actor Jon Voight earned Academy Award nominations.
Personal life
Muhammad Ali has been married four times and has seven daughters and two sons. Daughters Miya and Kalilah were born to women to whom he was never married.
| Wife's name | Marriage date | Divorce date | Children |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lonnie Ali | November 19, 1986 | N/A (current wife) | Assad (adopted) |
| Veronica Porsche Ali | August 19, 1977 | July 1986 | Hana, Laila. |
| Khalilah 'Belinda' Ali | August 17, 1967 | 1977 | Maryum, Rasheeda, Jamilla, Muhammad Jr. |
| Sonji Roi | August 14, 1964 | January 10, 1966 | (none) |
Notes
<references/>
See also
- List of famous Louisvillians
- List of heavyweight boxing champions
- List of male boxers
- List of notable boxing rivalries
- List of WBC world champions
- Notable boxing families
External links
- Muhammad Ali official website
- Muhammad Ali Center
- United Athletes Magazine Ali's physical qualities and abilities.
- Muhammad Ali's profile at FamousMuslims.com
- Muhammad Ali's Career Record
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Categories: 1942 births | African American boxers | American boxers | American taekwondo practitioners | Boxers at the 1960 Summer Olympics | Conscientious objectors | Converts to Islam | Muslim Americans | Heavyweights | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Living people | Louisvillians | Nation of Islam | Olympic competitors for the United States | Parkinson's Disease sufferers | Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients | Professional wrestling referees | Vegetarians | Vietnam War people | World boxing champions