Muhammad Ali was born Jan. 17, 1942 in Louisville, Ky. His birth name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr, and he was a professional boxer. He was very accomplished, being the first boxer to win the world heavyweight championship three times, and successfully defended his title 19 times throughout his career.
When Ali was 12 years old, he started boxing under Joe Martin, who was a Louisville policeman. After boxing in the professional ranks, he won a gold medal in the 175 pound division at the 1960 Olympic games in Rome and then began a professional career of boxing.
Four years later, on Feb. 25, 1964, Ali challenged Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world. Ali was an underdog, but that did not stop him from fighting against Sonny. After six rounds, Ali won the fight when Sonny retired his corner, making Ali the new champion.
Two days later, he shocked the whole boxing community when he announced that he had taken up the teachings of Islam. March 6, 1964 he adopted the name Muhammad Ali. He has been known by everyone as Muhammad Ali from that day forward. For the next three years, he dominated the ring. Then, May 25, 1965, in a rematch against Liston, he emerged with a first-round knockout victory.
His final few bouts in the ring were reported as almost sad to watch. He lost his title to Leon Spinks, who at the time, was a novice boxer with an Olympic gold medal, but had only been in seven professional fights. Seven months later, Ali regained the championship with a 15 round victory over Spinks. He then retired.
In 1996, Ali was chosen to light the Olympic flame at the start of the 26 Olympiad in Atlanta. He was a member of the Inaugural class of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990, and in 2005 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ali had a very impressive career, with 56 wins and five losses with 37 knockouts. Ali’s later years were marked by severe physical decline. Due to the damage to his brain caused by blows in the ring, his speech started to slur, and he started to move slower. He died on June 3, 2016 in Scottsdale, Ariz. due to Parkinson’s Disease.
