Muhammad Ali
Great PeopleA Louisville Childhood
Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942, into a segregated America where he was still made to drink from separate water fountains. When he was twelve, someone stole his bicycle, and he swore he would beat up the thief. A police officer told him he had better learn how to fight first, and that is how Ali found boxing.
Olympic Gold and a Loud Young Voice
In 1960, at just eighteen years old, Ali won the Olympic boxing gold medal in Rome. Fast, fearless, and famously loud, he called himself the greatest long before the world was willing to agree. His confidence and showmanship quickly made him one of the most talked-about young athletes in America.
Shocking the World and Claiming His Name
In 1964, at only twenty-two, Ali challenged the heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, a fighter so feared that many called him unbeatable. A seven-to-one underdog, Ali shocked the world and tore the crown away to become world champion. He had already joined the Nation of Islam well before the fight. The day after winning the title he confirmed it publicly, and within weeks he rejected his birth name, declaring that Cassius Clay was a slave name and that he was now Muhammad Ali.
Refusing Vietnam
In 1967 Ali was called to fight in the Vietnam War, and he refused, saying he had no quarrel with the Viet Cong. For that stand he was stripped of his title, banned from boxing, and threatened with prison, losing three and a half years in the prime of his career. He did not run and he did not apologize, and in 1971 the U.S. Supreme Court cleared him unanimously, by a vote of eight to nothing.
The Rumble in the Jungle
To win back the title that had been taken from him, in 1974 Ali traveled to Zaire to face George Foreman, an unbeaten and terrifying puncher who had destroyed the two men who had beaten Ali. A four-to-one underdog whom many feared Foreman might seriously hurt, Ali leaned on the ropes and let Foreman punch himself out. He then knocked Foreman out in the eighth round, reclaiming everything that had been taken from him. This legendary bout is remembered as the Rumble in the Jungle.
The Fight With No Gloves
Ali's greatest fight wore no gloves. In 1990, when Saddam Hussein was holding American civilians as human shields in Iraq, Ali flew to Baghdad against his own President's wishes, his hands already trembling with Parkinson's disease, and brought fifteen Americans home free. Though Parkinson's slowly stole his voice, in 1996 he raised the Olympic flame in Atlanta with shaking hands as the whole world rose to its feet. Muhammad Ali died in 2016, remembered not only as perhaps the greatest boxer who ever lived but as a man whose courage to stand alone and pay the price made him a hero.
Key Dates to Remember
- 1942 — Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky
- 1960 — Won Olympic boxing gold in Rome at age eighteen
- 1964 — Upset Sonny Liston as a 7-to-1 underdog for the world title, then took the name Muhammad Ali
- 1967 — Refused the Vietnam draft; stripped of his title and banned from boxing
- 1971 — The U.S. Supreme Court cleared him unanimously, 8 to 0
- 1974 — Beat George Foreman at the Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire to reclaim the title
- 1990 — Flew to Baghdad and brought 15 American hostages home from Iraq
- 1996 — Lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta; died in 2016