English 101
Dr. Anthony
2/4/2015
Muhammad Ali Clay
The name Muhammad Ali needs no introduction when it comes to the sports industry. Muhammad Ali Clay (original birth name, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.) is one of the most famous heavyweight boxers in the American professional boxing history. Ali is the most recognized sports figure today due to the skills he demonstrated in the ring as well as the values he displayed outside of it. Sportsmen consider him a living sporting and a cultural icon, who is famous due to his boxing prowess as well as his beliefs.
Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky on the 17th of January, 1942. He acquired the name Cassius Clay from Cassius M. Clay, a white Kentucky abolitionist, and inherited the name Marcellus from his father. Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was brought up during the era of segregated public facilities in the Southern states of America. His father, Marcellus Clay, was a fresco painter who supported the family by painting billboards and signs and worked for community churches. Ali’s mother Odessa (Grady) Clay was a household domestic.
Just like many young boys, Cassius Clay Junior was full of vigor and was vocal wherever he went. His career in boxing began one day when somebody stole his bicycle. Cassius became furious and made loud, threatening remarks by shouting that he would “whup up whoever took it.” Those threats attracted one of the Louisville police officers named Joe Martin, who convinced Clay to channel his anger and frustration in the boxing ring instead of the risky streets of Louisville. By that time, Ali was only 12 but his career in professional boxing had officially started (Edmonds, 2006).
Under the tutelage of Joe Martin, Cassius Clay became passionately dedicated to the sport. He gained various boxing and dancing techniques from Fred Stoner (a black trainer), eventually becoming a very skilled and feared competitor. Boxing cut man Chuck Bodak was Clay’s couch for the last four years of his amateur career.
Advancing from being an amateur boxer to a professional boxer, clay participated in 108 bouts, winning two National Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships, six Kentucky Golden Glove titles, two National Golden Glove crowns between 1955 and 1960. Clay was just 18 years old when he triumphed over Zbigniew Pietrzykowski (a tough Polish boxer) to clinch the gold medal in the 175-pound division at the Olympic Games 1960 in Rome. It is from this achievement that he and started a professional career under the direction of the Louisville Sponsoring Group, an organization comprised of 11 rich white men. On February 25, 1964, he outfought his opponent Sonny Liston to lift the heavyweight championship in the world. Cassius then altered his name to Muhammad Ali on 6th March 1964.
The next three years saw Ali dominate boxing as magnificently and thoroughly as any fighter ever had. Most memorable triumphs came in wins over Henry Cooper, Karl Mildenberger, Floyd Patterson and George Chuvalo. After winning the heavyweight championships in 1967, he refused an offer to join the U.S. military, on the basis of his religious beliefs and opposition to American contribution in the Vietnam War. The American government, however declined to recognize him as a hardworking conscientious objector eventually arresting and finding him guilty on charges of draft evasion. He was then stripped of his boxing trophies.
Following those actions, Ali did not step in the ring again for nearly four years, essentially losing the peak time in an athlete's career. The next years were tense in the United States as black pride and black resistance to racist treatment grew and the American civil rights movement emerged. Ali’s refusal to join the military was on the basis that “unless the situation obliges one to kill, war is wrong.’’ After a Supreme Court ruling in his favor, Ali returned to action in October 1970. However, his boxing prowess had eroded. He could no longer fight with the same intensity and skill as he used to. However, after losing to Frazier Joe on March 8, 1971 Ali won ten successive matches, triumphing over eight world-class opponents in a row. Ali’s second defeat after returning to the ring, was by Ken Norton broke in 1973; he later triumphed over Norton in a rematch.
The history of Muhammad Ali is a long one. In summary, Ali is the three-time World Heavyweight Champion (1964, 1974, and 1978). The “Greatest", won numerous historic fights in his boxing career, among them being the first fight against Liston, another with George Foreman, and three with competitor Joe Frazie (Micklos, 2011). Ali retired with a 56-3 record in 1979, only to return to boxing in 1980-1981 where he lost his final two matches. Ali’s official retirement came in December of 1981. In 1984, he began suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Since then, Ali has concentrated on doing missionary work across the globe. He now lives in Berrien Springs, Michigan with his wife Yolanda and son.
Muhammad Ali’s charismatic personality makes him be considered the greatest boxer in history. His affectionate and entertaining ways alongside being tough on social ills in the sport will forever be remembered. Ali changed the image of African American athletes in the U.S. by embracing racial pride and trying to provoke the whites in doing so. Muhammad Ali Clay is not only remembered for being the greatest in the boxing industry but also a humanitarian and a global social activist.
References
· Edmonds, A. O. (2006). Muhammad Ali: A Biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
· Micklos, J. (2011). Muhammad Ali: "I am the greatest". Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers.