Friday Feature
MUHAMMAD ALI " THE GREATEST"
"People don't realize what they had till it's gone. Like President Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles, and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing."
Muhammad Ali (born Cassius
Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American Olympic and professional
boxer and activist, widely regarded as one of the most significant
and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career,
Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial and polarizing figure both inside
and outside the ring.
Clay was born and raised in Louisville,
Kentucky, and began training as a boxer when he was 12 years old. Cassius Clay
Sr. gifted his son a new red-and-white Schwinn in 1954, which was promptly
stolen. The 12-year-old, 89-pound Cassius Clay vowed “I'm gonna whup whoever
stole my bike!” A policeman, Joe Martin, told young Cassius Clay that he better
learn how to fight before he challenged anyone. After 6 months of training with
Joe Martin, Cassius won his debut match in a three-round decision. Young
Cassius Clay dedicated himself to boxing and training with an unmatched fervor.
According to Joe Martin, Clay set himself apart by two things: He was “sassy,”
and he outworked all the other boys.
Shortly after his high school
graduation, 18 year-old Cassius Clay began his journey towards greatness at the
1960 Rome Olympics. His expansive personality and larger-than-life spirit
earned him the nickname “The Mayor of Olympic Village.” The future 3-time
Heavyweight World Champion nearly missed the trip to Rome due to his fear of
airplane travel; he insisted on bringing a parachute on the plane with him. On
September 5, 1960, “The Greatest” proved his dominance in the Light Heavyweight
Boxing Division by beating Zigzy Pietrzykowski of Poland, capturing the Olympic
Gold Medal. Muhammad Ali participated in the light-heavyweight class Golden
Gloves tournament for novices in 1956. It took him three years, but finally in
1959, Ali was named Golden Gloves Champion and earned the Amateur Athletic
Union’s national title in the light-heavyweight division.
At 22, he won the WBC and WBA
heavyweight championships from Sonny Liston in an upset in 1964.
Shortly after that, Clay decided to join the black Muslim group the Nation of Islam. He announced his conversion and changed his
"slave" name to Ali, and gave a message of racial pride for African
Americans and resistance to white domination during the 1960s Civil
Rights Movement. In 1966, two years after
winning the heavyweight title, Ali further antagonized the government by refusing
to enter the Vietnam War draft. He was stripped of his championship titles,
passport, and boxing licenses. He lost an initial court battle and was facing a
5-year prison term. Muhammad Ali was the first national figure to speak out
against the war in Vietnam. During his 3 ½ year layoff, Ali earned a living
speaking at colleges. He successfully appealed in the U.S. Supreme
Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971. By that time, he had not fought
for nearly four years—losing a period of peak performance as an athlete. Ali's
actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for
the larger counterculture generation.
Ali remains the only
three-time lineal world heavyweight champion; he won the title in
1964, 1974, and 1978. Between February 25, 1964, and September 19, 1964, Ali
reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion. He is the only boxer to be
named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year five times. He was
named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and
the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC. Nicknamed "The
Greatest", he was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable
among these were the "Fight of the Century", "Super Fight II"
and the "Thrilla in Manila" versus his rival Joe Frazier, the
first Liston fight, and "The Rumble in the Jungle" versus George
Foreman.
At a time when most
fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali, inspired by professional
wrestler "Gorgeous George" Wagner, thrived in—and indeed
craved—the spotlight, where he was often provocative and outlandish. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's
disease and publicly announced that he had the disease, a degenerative
neurological condition attributed to brain injuries caused by his boxing
career. Following his diagnosis, he created and continued to raise funds for
the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
In
2005, Ali received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush. He also
opened the Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville,
Kentucky, that same year. Despite the progression of Parkinson's and the onset
of spinal stenosis, Ali remained active in public life. He was on hand to
celebrate the inauguration of the first African-American president in January
2009, when Barack Obama was sworn
into office. Soon after the inauguration, Ali received the President's Award
from the NAACP for his public service efforts.
In
early 2015, Ali was hospitalized for a severe urinary tract infection after
having battled pneumonia. He was hospitalized again in early June 2016 for
what was reportedly a respiratory issue. The revered athlete passed away on the
evening of June 3, 2016, at a Phoenix, Arizona facility.Ali was survived by his
fourth wife, Yolanda, whom he had been married to since 1986. The couple had
one son, Asaad, and Ali had several children from previous relationships,
including daughter Laila Ali, who
followed in his footsteps by becoming a champion boxer.
Sources: http://muhammadali.com/
http://www.biography.com/people/muhammad-ali-9181165
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