Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer and philanthropist. Nicknamed The Greatest, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century. He won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in a major upset on February 25, 1964, at age 22. In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the military, citing his religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the Vietnam War. He retired from boxing in 1981 and focused on religion, philanthropinism and activism. He died of cancer in June 2016, at the age of 74, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

About Muhammad Ali in brief

Muhammad Ali (January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer and philanthropist. Nicknamed The Greatest, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century. He won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in a major upset on February 25, 1964, at age 22. In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the military, citing his religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the Vietnam War. He retired from boxing in 1981 and focused on religion, philanthropinism and activism. In 1984, he made public his diagnosis of Parkinson’s syndrome, which some reports attribute to boxing-related injuries. He remained an active public figure globally, but in his later years made fewer public appearances as his condition worsened, and he was cared for by his family. He was a descendant of slaves from Madagascar, with some African and English heritage. His maternal grandparents were from Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, and his paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne. His father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr, was named in honor of the 19th-century Republican politician and staunch abolitionist. His sister claimed that his father was a descendent of antebellum South African slaves, but DNA testing in 2018 showed that he was a predominantly African-American man of predominantly Irish descent. He is the only boxer to have been ranked as the world’s best heavyweight by BoxRec twelve times.

He has been ranked among BoxRec’s ten best heavyweights seventeen times, the third most in history. He remains the only three-time lineal champion of that division. His fight with George Foreman, known as The Rumble in the Jungle, was watched by a record estimated television audience of 1 billion viewers worldwide, becoming the most-watched live television broadcast at the time. Ali was a very high-profile figure of racial pride for African Americans during the civil rights movement and throughout his career. As a Muslim, Ali was initially affiliated with Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam. He later disavowed the NOI, adhering to Sunni Islam, and supporting racial integration like his former mentor Malcolm X. His fights with Joe Frazier, such as the Fight of the Century and the Thrilla in Manila, were among the most watched live television broadcasts of all time. He received two Grammy nominations as a musician, where he also featured as an actor and writer, releasing two autobiographies. He had a sister named Cassius Clay Jr, who was named after his father, who had a brother and four brothers and who was himself a staunch Republican politician. He also had a younger sister named Eva Clay, whose father was also a Republican politician from Kentucky, also from the state of Kentucky. He died of cancer in June 2016, at the age of 74, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. His funeral was held in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 4, 2016.

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