Born Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight championship boxers of all time. As an amateur boxer he won a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. After becoming a professional boxer he became the first boxer to win the lineal heavyweight championship three times.
Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S. military based on religious beliefs and his opposition to the Vietnam War. Because of this he was arrested and found guilty on charges of draft evasion. He was stripped of his boxing title, license, and he was suspended from boxing. However, Ali never went to jail, his appeal went all the way to the Supreme Court (Clay vs. United States) where his conviction was overturned.
Ali, nicknamed “The Greatest,” was involved in several historical fights, including three with Joe Frazier and one with George Foreman. In his career he amassed 56 wins and only 5 losses. Ali’s success, fighting style (floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee), “trash talking,” and idioms made him a cultural icon. In 1999, Ali was crowned “Sportsman of the Century” by Sports Illustrated and “Sports Personality of the Century” by the BBC.
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