The Greatest Boxing
Muhammad Ali was originally born as Cassius Clay in 1942 in Louisville Kentucky. The colourful and controversial Clay began taking boxing lessons when he was twelve years old after his bike was stolen. As a high school student, he won the national Golden Gloves middleweight championship in 1959 and 1960 and the AAU national light heavyweight title in 1960, then went on to a gold medal in the Olympic light heavyweight division.
He was renowned for his incredibly fast hand and feet. And although he was built like a heavyweight and weighed about 210 pounds he still moved around the ring like a lightweight. Whereas many other heavyweights were slow sluggers who were incredibly dull to watch.
He had his first professional fight in late 1960 and four years later he became a heavy underdog when he met Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship at Miami Beach. Liston, who had spent time in prison for beating up a police officer and armed robbery, was considered as one of the most terrifying boxers of all time. But Clay won the fight when Liston failed to come out of his corner for the 8th round, claiming a shoulder injury. In a rematch on May 25, a year later, Clay knocked Liston out with a “phantom punch” that few observers saw which occurred in the first minute of the first round. There were many rumours that followed the fight suggesting that it had been fixed as Liston had been known to have had dealings with the Mafia. Liston died shortly after of a heroin overdose.
Although Ali was considered arrogant there was no denying that he had an unbelievable natural talent for boxing and was loved for his controversial low hands and lightening reactions. He was also an incredible public speaker and he had a great wit. He had many famous sayings such as ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.’ And he became the only boxer of all time to state the round in which he would knock his opponent out and fulfil it.
Shortly after becoming world champion, Clay announced that he had become a Black Muslim and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He defended the title eight times in the next twenty months. But during this time he had refused induction into the Army that was fighting in Vietnam due to his Muslim beliefs. As a result of this his license was removed by the New York State Boxing Commission, his title was stripped, and he was sentenced to five years in prison for draft evasion. This caused outrage all across America and he was slaughtered by the press. American people soon became to hate Ali as previous world champions, such as Joe Louis, had accepted conscription into the army.
While the conviction was being appealed, Ali was inactive for nearly three years and announced his retirement early in 1970. During his exile he was a public speaker and campaigner for black people’s rights. Ali was also very close to another famous black campaigner: Malcolm X. He then returned to the ring shortly afterward, knocking out Jerry Quarry in the 3rd round in 1970, at Atlanta. After a court ordered New York to restore his license, he fought the new champion, Joe Frazier, at Madison Square Garden in 1971. Frazier won a brutal 15-round fight on a unanimous decision.