Muhammad Ali

American light-heavyweight gold medalist, the only man to win the heavyweight championship of the world

three times. He began boxing professionally on 10/29/1960 and became world champ in 1964 by knocking out

Sonny Liston. His title was declared vacant after he refused military obligation as a Muslim and a

conscientious objector. He later changed his name and reentered the ring in 1970, fighting with singular grace

and beauty for 25 years. Muhammad Ali earned a reputation as a man dedicated to his goals and beliefs. A

consummate showman, he used to call himself "the Greatest," and many of his fans believe that the nickname

fits.

Clay’s great grandfather was an Irishman who had married a black girl. Ali was raised in a middle-class

neighborhood, the eldest of two sons born to Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. and Odessa (Grady) Clay. Ali's father

supported his family as a sign and mural painter, while his mother worked as a domestic. Ali worshiped with

his family on Sundays at Mount Zion Baptists Church and attended school with brother Rudolph. He was a

rather poor student, which he blames on his preoccupation with boxing as a boy. Ali has confessed that he

wished he had put forth more effort academically, because he has struggled as a slow reader his entire life.

It was due to a stolen bicycle that Ali began to box, at age 12. When he reported the theft, Policeman Joe

Martin invited the boy to train with Fred Stoner, who taught him to move with the speed and grace of a dancer.

While still in high school, he won 100 out of 108 matches and earned six Kentucky and two national Golden

Glove championships, as well as two Amateur Athletic Union Championships. Ali mastered his renowned skill

at ring chatter; talking a poetic jive while in the fight, geared to distract and frustrate his opponent, and at age

18, he won the boxing Olympic gold medal in the light heavyweight category at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

Upon returning to Louisville, he signed a lucrative fifty-fifty split contract turning him into a professional boxer.

With arrogance and wit he spouted off catchy jive talk such as his famous chant, "float like a butterfly, sting like

a bee." Still known as Cassius Clay, Ali fought Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight championship title,

beating him to become the world’s heavyweight champion at age 22 on 2/25/1964, beating him again on

5/25/1965.