How long has ali been around

He shaped them. His conscientious objection to the Vietnam war, and reasoned rants against a country fighting for freedom on the other side of the globe, while its own black citizens were denied basic rights of their own, energized a generation.

Ali refused to serve in Vietnam, was convicted of draft evasion, and stripped of the heavyweight crown he won from Sonny Liston in Imagine, for a moment, a 21st-century athlete who could command an audience with presidents and the pope, the Dalai Lama, Castro, Idi Amin and Saddam Hussein. Ali might have been the most famous man on earth. Disease robbed Ali of his speech late in life. Ali was also a reminder of what boxing has lost.

Though Ali fought George Foreman in Zaire, the electricity spilled into your living room. Dance away. I move in again.

I hit him five times. He hits me one time. I back away. I get him again. His father, Cassius Sr. His mother, Odesssa, worked as a household domestic. He had an Irish great-grandfather, named Abe Grady. But no trace of white blood could shield young Cassius from the slights of segregated Louisville.

Cassius Sr. Clay came out swinging, and scored his first knockout against his own mother. In October of , when Clay was 12, he and a friend rode their bicycles to a Louisville bazaar and spent the day eating free popcorn and candy. When it was time to head home, Clay discovered that his red-and-white Schwinn had been stolen.

A white police officer named Joe Martin was downstairs, in a boxing gym, and a crying Clay reported the theft to him. Clay swore that we would beat up whoever took it. Just six-weeks later, the pound nothing-weight won a three-round decision in his ring debut. Clay won out of amateur bouts, and two consecutive Amateur Athletic Union Championships, in and , both as a light heavyweight.

The only other athlete I ever saw who had that kind of eye speed was Ted Williams. In the classroom, Clay was a lightweight.

During his high school years, Clay showed little interest in the civil rights movement, though he did start to craft his showman act. Kennedy said Clay would endlessly declare his love for her. He wanted to be this person — the class clown. After qualifying for the Rome Olympics, Clay almost skipped the trip.

Airplanes terrified him. Fighting in the lb. The charismatic Clay strutted around Olympic village, where he was known as the mayor. Everybody wanted to be near him.

Everybody wanted to talk to him. And he talked all the time. I always hung in the background, not knowing what he was going to say. He never took it off. No one cherished it the way he did. When Clay arrived back in Louisville, he was greeted as a hero—although his gold medal could not get him a glass of juice at a Jim Crow luncheonette. The mayor, a group of cheerleaders, and fans greeted him at the tarmac.

He beat Tunney Hunsaker, a part-time fighter who was also chief of police of Fayetteville, West Virginia. Clay trained with former heavyweight champ Archie Moore, who was still fighting at They did not mesh. After the Moore experiment turned sour, Clay still needed a trainer. On the advice of a boxing bigwig from New York, the Louisville syndicate hired veteran Angelo Dundee. Clay won 18 straight fights over the next three years; only three of them went the distance.

And Clay was aware of his appeal. Roger Maris, the world of space — this is an age of records and record-breaking. I want to break some boxing records. I want to be the youngest heavyweight champion in history. I have to be first in the soup line. Half of them adored him; half wanted to be on hand when the loudmouth got his comeuppance. Everyone wanted to know what happened next. And Clay waged an unprecedented smack-talking campaign to secure his shot.

The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. One night before the fight, Clay stood against a casino wall and taunted Liston as he played the tables.

I want that big ugly bear. I want that big bum as soon as I can get him. That November, he signed a contract to fight Liston, despite the objections of the Louisville investment group, which felt that Clay needed more experience. Top Skip to main content. Selected Records [Reynolds, William B. NAID Selected Records President George W.

Selected Records News of the Day Aug. His birth name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. At an early age, young Clay showed that he wasn't afraid of any bout — inside or outside of the ring. Growing up in the segregated South, he experienced racial prejudice and discrimination firsthand.

At the age of 12, Clay discovered his talent for boxing through an odd twist of fate. After his bike was stolen, Clay told a police officer, Joe Martin, that he wanted to beat up the thief. In addition to being a police officer, Martin also trained young boxers at a local gym. Clay started working with Martin to learn how to spar and soon began his boxing career. In his first amateur bout in , he won the fight by split decision.

Clay went on to win the Golden Gloves tournament for novices in the light heavyweight class. Three years later, he won the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, as well as the Amateur Athletic Union's national title for the light heavyweight division. In , Clay won a spot on the U.

Olympic boxing team, and traveled to Rome, Italy, to compete. At six feet, three inches tall, Clay was an imposing figure in the ring, but he also became known for his lightning speed and fancy footwork. After winning his first three bouts, Clay defeated Zbigniew Pietrzkowski of Poland to win the light heavyweight Olympic gold medal. After his Olympic victory, Clay was heralded as an American hero. He soon turned professional with the backing of the Louisville Sponsoring Group and continued overwhelming all opponents in the ring.

Clay joined the Black Muslim group Nation of Islam in At first, he called himself Cassius X before settling on the name Muhammad Ali. The boxer eventually converted to orthodox Islam during the s. Ali started a different kind of fight with his outspoken views against the Vietnam War. Drafted into the military in April , he refused to serve on the grounds that he was a practicing Muslim minister with religious beliefs that prevented him from fighting.

He was arrested for committing a felony and almost immediately stripped of his world title and boxing license. The U. Department of Justice pursued a legal case against Ali, denying his claim for conscientious objector status.

He was the voice for us. He's the voice for me to be where I'm at today. How world remembers Ali. World media: Muhammad Ali was unique. In , Ali took the momentous decision of opposing the US war in Vietnam, a move that was widely criticised by his fellow Americans. He refused to be drafted into the US military and was subsequently stripped of his world title and boxing licence. He would not fight again for nearly four years.

After his conviction for refusing the draft was overturned in , Ali returned to the ring and fought in three of the most iconic contests in boxing history, helping restore his reputation with the public. Ali fought Frazier for a third and final time in the Philippines on 1 October , coming out on top in the "Thrilla in Manila" when Frazier failed to emerge for the 15th and final round. Six defences of his title followed before Ali lost on points to Leon Spinks in February , although he regained the world title by the end of the year, avenging his defeat at the hands of the Olympic light-heavyweight champion.

Ali's career ended with one-sided defeats by Larry Holmes in and Trevor Berbick in , many thinking he should have retired long before. He fought a total of 61 times as a professional, losing five times and winning 37 bouts by knockout.

Soon after retiring, rumours began to circulate about the state of Ali's health. His speech had become slurred, he shuffled and he was often drowsy. Parkinson's Syndrome was eventually diagnosed but Ali continued to make public appearances, receiving warm welcomes wherever he travelled. He lit the Olympic cauldron at the Games in Atlanta and carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony for the Games in London.

And I wouldn't even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was. Tributes to Muhammad Ali. A boxer who changed his sport and his country. Growing up with Ali. Ali in his own words. What they said about him. Foreman owes it all to Ali. A simply extraordinary night.