1. Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr, named after his father. He changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964.
Cassius Clay officially converted to Islam only days after his first victory over Sonny Liston, on March 6, 1964. When asked why he picked the name, he replied with:
“I am Muhammad Ali, a free name – it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me”
Ali further explained that Cassius Clay was his “slave name”, as he did not choose it and did not want it.
“I am Muhammad Ali, a free name – it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me”
2. A 12-year old Muhammad Ali(then Cassius Clay), striking a pose in 1954.
3. As a child, Muhammad Ali was refused an autograph by his boxing idol, Sugar Ray Robinson. When Ali became a prizefighter, he vowed never to deny an autograph request – a principle he upheld throughout his career.
He even had a dedicated P.O. box for anyone who wanted his autograph!
4. When Muhammad Ali was 12 years old, he and a friend went to the Columbia Auditorium. On returning from the show they went back to get their bicycles only to discover that Muhammad Ali’s had been stolen. This incident inspired Ali to become a boxer.
Angered by the robbery, Ali reported the crime to police officer Joe Martin, who happened to also be a boxing coach at the Columbia Gym. When Muhammad Ali told Martin that he wanted to beat up the person who stole his bike, Martin suggested that he should learn to fight first. Days later, he began training in boxing at Martin’s gym.
5. Ali demonstrating his incredible footwork on a TV show.
6. Dollar bills, y’all! Here is Muhammad Ali with his huge stash of winnings in 1964.
7. Muhammad Ali stands over fallen challenger Sonny Liston on May 25, 1965, in Lewiston, Maine.
8. Aerial view of Muhammad Ali’s knockout of Cleveland Williams, in 1966
9. Muhammad Ali blows out the candles on a cake baked for his 25th birthday, Jan. 17, 1967.
10. Muhammad Ali in a match with Brian London in 1966. His punches were so swift that his opponents often did not register what hit them (literally) until it was too late.
11. Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and his bride, Veronica Porsche.
Muhammad Ali and his bride, Veronica Porsche posing for photographers on their wedding day, June 19, 1977 in Los Angeles.
12. Muhammad Ali in 1972, engaging in a play-fight with two Irish policemen. Although intimidating and formidable in the ring, Ali was known for his easy-going demeanor everywhere else.
13. Cassius Clay (not Muhammad Ali yet) training in a pool at the Sir John Hotel in Miami, 1961.
14. Ali standing outside the federal courthouse in Houston, after being stripped of his world heavyweight title and boxing licence for refusing to be inducted into the United States Army; 1967.
Muhammad Ali was drafted into the Army but refused to join due to religious reasons. He was arrested on charges of draft evasion on April 28th, sentenced to five years in prison and fined heftily ($10,000). His licence was suspended for three years, and Ali did not fight from the ages of 25 and 28.
15. One of the first MMA fights was between Muhammad Ali and a Japanese pro-wrestler. Only shortly before the fight, Ali’s camp realized it was not going to be orchestrated. After the fight (and 64 kicks to his leg), Ali was left with 2 blood clots which nearly caused his leg to be amputated.
‘Isn’t there any Oriental fighter who will challenge me? I’ll give him one million dollars if he wins.’
‘Isn’t there any Oriental fighter who will challenge me? I’ll give him one million dollars if he wins.’
Japan’s Antonio Inoki accepted the challenge in earnest, kickstarting one of the most dangerous fights of Ali’s life. By the end of it, despite Ali’s team placing Inoki on a severe handicap, he was beaten to a pulp by the oriental MMA artist.(source)
16. Muhammad Ali reportedly went two months without sex before a big fight, claiming it made him unbeatable in the ring.
The underlying idea behind this is the notion that refraining from ejaculating preserves the levels of testosterone in the body – a hormone that controls both sexual desire and aggression in males. It clearly worked, looking at these impressive stats: 56 wins in 61 fights, with 37 knockouts all in all.(source)
17. Muhammad Ali dodging 21 punches in 10 seconds!
18. Muhammad Ali with a young Michael Jackson.
19. Human rights activist Malcolm X trying to calm down Muhammad Ali in this photo from early 1964.
20. Muhammad Ali traveled to Iraq in 1990. He negotiated a deal with Saddam Hussein, eventually releasing 15 American prisoners.
Ali was not your run of the mill superstar sportsman. Even with a fortune under his belt, he stood up to his own government in the war in Southeast Asia. His conversion to Islam helped him too, as it gave him more credibility in the turbulent Baghdad of 1990’s. Before Muhammad Ali managed to persuade Saddam Hussein to release the prisoners, it was inconceivable that a mere sportsman could have accomplished such a feat.(source)
21. Muhammad Ali threw his 1960 Olympic Gold Medal into the Ohio River, after being refused service at a “whites-only” restaurant. He would later be awarded an honorary medal in 1996.
After being denied service in a Louisville restaurant, he brawled with racist bikers and finally threw his gold medal into the river. “We don’t serve negroes”, they told him, and he replied, “That’s OK. I don’t eat ‘em.”(source)
22. Muhammad Ali V/S the Beatles, circa 1965 during his preparation for the 25 February fight against heavyweight champion Sonny Liston.
23. A fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner inspired the character of Rocky Balboa after Sylvester Stallone spent his only remaining $106 on watching the match.
Stallone recalls the event in his biography,
“Early in my acting career I realized the only way I would ever prove myself was to create my own role in my own script. On my 29th birthday, I had $106 in the bank. My best birthday present was a sudden revelation that I had to write the kind of screenplay that I personally enjoyed seeing … To cheer myself up, I took the last of my entertainment money and went to see the Ali-Wepner fight on closed circuit TV. Chuck Wepner, a battling, bruising club fighter who had never made the big time, was having his shot.”
He adds emphatically:
“That night, Rocky Balboa was born.”
“Early in my acting career I realized the only way I would ever prove myself was to create my own role in my own script. On my 29th birthday, I had $106 in the bank. My best birthday present was a sudden revelation that I had to write the kind of screenplay that I personally enjoyed seeing … To cheer myself up, I took the last of my entertainment money and went to see the Ali-Wepner fight on closed circuit TV. Chuck Wepner, a battling, bruising club fighter who had never made the big time, was having his shot.”
“That night, Rocky Balboa was born.”
24. When Muhammad Ali was invited to North Korea in 1995 with an athlete group, he didn’t speak much during the visit. At one function, as officials claimed they could take out the US or Japan whenever they wanted to, Ali declared loudly “no wonder we hate these motherf–s.”
Professional wrestling manager Ric Flair writes about the incident with Ali in his autobiography Ric Flair: To Be The Man,
“The festival was truly one of the oddest events in this country’s strange history of contact with the outside world. Although the government had hoped to lure Western tourists to Pyongyang, most of those who showed up were overseas Koreans yearning to see long-lost relatives. Their fervent requests for visits were callously refused, however, and instead of enjoying family reunions, they found themselves prisoners at a pro-wrestling extravaganza.”
He adds,
“Because of the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, it was difficult to understand Muhammad Ali when he spoke. But at one function, we were sitting at a big, round table with a group of North Korean luminaries when one of the guys started rambling on about the moral superiority of North Korea, and how they could take out the United States or Japan any time they wanted. Suddenly, Ali piped up, clear as a bell, No wonder we hate these motherf—–s.'”
“The festival was truly one of the oddest events in this country’s strange history of contact with the outside world. Although the government had hoped to lure Western tourists to Pyongyang, most of those who showed up were overseas Koreans yearning to see long-lost relatives. Their fervent requests for visits were callously refused, however, and instead of enjoying family reunions, they found themselves prisoners at a pro-wrestling extravaganza.”
“Because of the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, it was difficult to understand Muhammad Ali when he spoke. But at one function, we were sitting at a big, round table with a group of North Korean luminaries when one of the guys started rambling on about the moral superiority of North Korea, and how they could take out the United States or Japan any time they wanted. Suddenly, Ali piped up, clear as a bell, No wonder we hate these motherf—–s.'”
25. Police tried for over two hours, but it took Muhammad Ali to finally talk a suicidal 21-year-old off the 9th floor of a high-rise in LA, 1981.
After the police, a psychologist and a minister had given up on the man, Ali, who was nearby rushed to a nearby window and extended his help. After a tense 20 minutes had passed, the man wept and was taken to a psychiatric ward. The heavyweight champion even promised to visit the man the following week.
26. When 14-year-old Mike Tyson saw Larry Holmes beat Muhammad Ali, he called up Ali and said: I’ll grow up and get him back for you. 7 years later, Tyson meets Holmes; retired Ali steps into the ring and says: “Remember what you said — get him for me.”
The date was October 2, 1980. Holmes defeats Ali and retains the title. Tyson recalls the event in an interview with ESPN,
“I was offended by how bad he beat up Ali. When we drove home to Catskill [about an hour from Albany], nobody in the car said a word, we were all so upset. The next morning, Cus was on the phone with Muhammad Ali after taking this shellacking from Holmes. He said to Ali, ‘I have this young black kid who is going to be heavyweight champion someday and I want you to talk to him.'”
Years later, Ali returns as a guest to the Tyson v/s Holmes fight and whispers a single sentence to the Tyson decimates Larry Holmes, reaching the peak of his career that night.(source)
“I was offended by how bad he beat up Ali. When we drove home to Catskill [about an hour from Albany], nobody in the car said a word, we were all so upset. The next morning, Cus was on the phone with Muhammad Ali after taking this shellacking from Holmes. He said to Ali, ‘I have this young black kid who is going to be heavyweight champion someday and I want you to talk to him.'”
27. Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1984 when he was 42 years old, speculated to be the result of sustaining brain injuries during his career as a boxer.
Symptoms of Parkinson’s appeared when he retired in 1981, even though he received an official diagnosis only three years later. As Dr. Dennis Cope, Ali’s physician and director of the training program in general internal medicine at the UCLA Medical Center said at the time,
“Our feeling is that Muhammad Ali’s condition is ‘pugilistic brain syndrome,’ caused by injuries to the brain from fighting.”
(source)
“Our feeling is that Muhammad Ali’s condition is ‘pugilistic brain syndrome,’ caused by injuries to the brain from fighting.”
28. Muhammad Ali’s star is the only one that is mounted on a wall instead of the sidewalk, because he “did not want to be walked on.”
His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is the only star which is not on the sidewalk; rather, it is on the wall of the Kodak Theatre to honor his request. Ali, who was 59 years old at the time, explained,
“I bear the name of our Beloved Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), and it is impossible that I allow people to trample over his name.”
(source)
“I bear the name of our Beloved Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), and it is impossible that I allow people to trample over his name.”
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