It is Muhammad Ali who is considered the most famous boxer in history. He held a number of sports fights, which forever entered the history of boxing, and his skills are still considered the reference. Speaking in heavyweight, this American athlete ascended to the very heights of sports glory, becoming an unattainable ideal for thousands of followers.
In fact, the famous boxer at birth was called differently – Cassius Marcellus Clay. Later, he officially changed his name first to “Cassius X”, and then to “Muhammad Ali”, under which he became famous. When the boxer was already famous, he was called up for compulsory military service at that time in the US Army. He refused, for which he was deprived of all the won titles, and was also suspended from the competition for 3 long years. After completing his sports career, Muhammad Ali was actively involved in social and charitable activities, and for 10 years he was UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Mohammed Ali had Irish roots. His great-grandfather, Aid Grady, was an Irishman who emigrated to the United States and settled in Kentucky in the middle of the 19th century. Parents named the future boxer in honor of Cassius Marcellus Clay, a famous abolitionist who spoke in the 19th century and actively fought for the abolition of slavery and the release of slaves. According to one of the many legends, in 1960, after returning from the Roman Olympic Games, Mohammed was refused to serve in one of the restaurants of his native Louisville. This upset Ali so much that he allegedly threw his gold medal into the Ohio River. Later, the legendary boxer admitted that he simply lost the award. Ali began boxing at the age of 12 after having stolen a red and white Schwinn bike, which he bought with his money. Reporting the theft to policeman Joe Martin, he said that he would beat the one who did it, to which he received the answer: “Before you beat someone, you must first learn this”.
At the beginning of his boxing career, Clay dreamed of a professional ring. The coaches persuaded him to wait until the 1960 Olympics. At the games, the 18-year-old boxer was the youngest among the heavyweights, but managed to win the tournament by defeating the experienced Pole Zbignev Petshikovsky in the finals. Muhammad Ali suffered from aerophobia. Simply put, he was afraid to fly on airplanes. He almost nearly refused to participate in the aforementioned Olympics, just to avoid flying from the USA to Italy by plane. The coach managed to persuade him with difficulty. Mohammed Ali held his first fight as a professional boxer on October 29, 1960, and his opponent was Tunny Hanseker. Despite the fact that in 6 rounds none of the rivals managed to finish the fight ahead of schedule, by the decision of the judges Clay was declared the winner, and Hansacker said that today he was fighting with the future champion. The famous boxer was a multifaceted personality. He released his own music album, played in a musical and wrote his own autobiography. Muhammad Ali received an Oscar for the film “When We were Kings”. This film won an Oscar in the nomination “Best Documentary”. As an amateur boxer, Ali won 100 of the 108 fights in which he took part. Mohammed Ali liked to say offensive words to his opponents in order to anger them and infuriate them. He even composed poems in which he ridiculed his rivals and praised himself. Boxer was married four times. With his first wife, a waitress named Soji Roy, the boxer met in his youth, but a month later the marriage broke up due to his wife’s unwillingness to accept Islam and “immodest behavior”. In 1971, Muhammad Ali entered the ring against Joe Frazier. This match went down in history as the “Battle of the Century.” Ali and Fraser were paid $ 5 million for a fight in Madison Square Garden. This was the first professional fight that Ali lost.
He is the only boxer who has been recognized as a boxer of the year 5 times, in 1963.1972.1974.1975 and 1978. Ali has been knocked down three times in his entire career, but he has never been knocked out. At the peak of his fame in the 70s, Muhammad Ali was, according to a number of sources, the most famous and popular person on Earth. In the professional ring, he spent 549 rounds. Everyone knows that the guru of the quickest strike has always been considered Bruce Lee. But few people know that the impact speed of Bruce and Ali is the same – one twentieth of a second. Once the famous boxer was arrested by the police for driving a car without a license. As a result, he spent 10 days in a prison cell. It was he who became the first world boxing champion to win the title for the third time. It happened in 1978.
Muhammad Ali appeared on the cover of the popular magazine Sports Illustrated as many as 37 times. Only Michael Jordan visited there more than once. He trained his speed, dodging stones. He asked his best friend to throw stones at him and practice dodging them. Muhammad Ali received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the development of the theater. Moreover, of the 2500 stars on the Alley, only one is not on the asphalt, but on the wall of the building. This is the star of the great boxer. Ali’s professional career lasted more than 20 years: from 1960 to 1981. During this time, the athlete spent 61 fights, winning 56 victories. In 37 battles, Mohammed Ali ended the match ahead of schedule, sending the opponent to a knockout. Since 1984, the athlete suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Despite the disease, Ali was active: he donated huge sums to charity, was a Goodwill Ambassador, and often visited poor countries in Africa and Asia. In the US Army, the IQ level of Mohammed Ali was measured, which amounted to only 78 points. In his autobiography, Ali jokingly said: “I claimed that I am the greatest, not the smartest”. As many as 6 times, Ali’s fights were recognized as “fights of the year”, and so far no one has achieved the same achievement.
