Historical Figure
Muhammad Ali
1942–2016
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In Their Own Words (5)
I hated every minute of it. But I said to myself, 'Suffer now, and live the rest of your life as a champion'.
On training, as quoted by Pete Axthelm and Peter Bonventre in "Ali: Born Again!," Newsweek (25 September 1978) , 1978
Over the years my religion has changed and my spirituality has evolved. Religion and spirituality are very different, but people often confuse the two. Some things cannot be taught, but they can be awakened in the heart. Spirituality is recognizing the divine light that is within us all. It doesn't belong to any particular religion; it belongs to everyone.
p. xvi , 2004
Ain't no reason for me to kill nobody in the ring, unless they deserve it.
Comment after the match with Jimmy Ellis was stopped by the referee in the twelfth round (July 1971) , 1971
We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn't matter whether you're a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can't love only some of his children.
p. xvii , 2004
My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn't put no dogs on me, they didn't rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. ... Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.
Regarding the Vietnam War and conscription (1967) , 1967
Timeline
The story of Muhammad Ali, told in moments.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky. His father paints signs and murals. His mother is a household domestic. When he is 12, someone steals his bicycle. A police officer named Joe Martin tells him he should learn to fight before he picks one. Martin runs a boxing gym in the basement of a recreation center. Cassius shows up the next day.
Wins the gold medal in light heavyweight boxing at the Rome Olympics. He is 18, six feet three, 178 pounds, and he talks more than any boxer anyone has ever seen. Legend says he threw the gold medal into the Ohio River after being refused service at a Louisville restaurant. He denied this later. The medal was simply lost.
Beats Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title in Miami Beach. Liston is a 7-to-1 favorite. Clay is 22. He screams at the ringside press after the fight: "I shook up the world! I am the greatest!" The next day he announces he is a member of the Nation of Islam. A week later, Elijah Muhammad gives him the name Muhammad Ali.
Announces his conversion to the Nation of Islam and his new name, Muhammad Ali. Cassius Clay is his 'slave name.' Most of the press refuses to use the new name for years. Howard Cosell is one of the few who does.
Refuses induction into the U.S. Army. "I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong." He is stripped of his title, banned from boxing, and faces five years in prison. He is 25 and in the prime of his athletic career. He doesn't fight for three and a half years.
The Fight of the Century. Ali vs. Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden. Both undefeated. Frank Sinatra shoots photos at ringside for Life magazine because it's the only way he can get a seat. Frazier knocks Ali down in the 15th round and wins by unanimous decision. Ali's first professional loss.
Loses the heavyweight title to Leon Spinks, a 24-year-old with only seven professional fights. Seven months later, he wins it back. Three-time heavyweight champion. No one has done it before.
Dies in Scottsdale, Arizona, of septic shock. He is 74. His funeral procession passes through the streets of Louisville. Thousands line the route and throw flowers at the hearse. The pallbearers include Will Smith, Lennox Lewis, and Mike Tyson. Bill Clinton delivers the eulogy.
Show full timeline (12 entries)
The Rumble in the Jungle. Ali vs. George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. Foreman is 25, undefeated, and hits harder than anyone alive. Ali invents the rope-a-dope: he leans against the ropes and lets Foreman punch himself into exhaustion for seven rounds. In the eighth, Ali knocks him out. He is 32 years old and heavyweight champion of the world again.
Thrilla in Manila. Ali vs. Frazier III. The temperature inside the Araneta Coliseum exceeds 120 degrees. Both men nearly die. After 14 rounds, Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch stops the fight. Ali collapses. He says afterward it was "the closest thing to dying that I know of."
Diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome, likely caused by the thousands of punches absorbed over 21 years of professional boxing. His speech slows. His hands shake. His face, once the most animated in sports, goes still.
Lights the Olympic cauldron at the Atlanta Games. His left hand trembles as he holds the torch. Three billion people are watching. It takes him several seconds. The stadium is silent, then erupts. It is the last time most of the world sees Muhammad Ali standing.
Artifacts (2)
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