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Overview (5) |
Mini Bio (1) |
Family (4) |
Trade Mark (7) |
Trivia (70) |
Personal Quotes (29)
Overview (5)
| Born | in Louisville, Kentucky, USA |
| Died | in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA (septic shock) |
| Birth Name | Cassius Marcellus Clay |
| Nicknames |
The Louisville Lip The Greatest The People's Champion |
| Height | 6' 3" (1.91 m) |
Mini Bio (1)
Muhammad Ali beat more champions and top contenders than any heavyweight champion in history. He defeated heavyweight kings Sonny Liston (twice), Floyd Patterson (twice), Ernie Terrell, Jimmy Ellis, Ken Norton (twice), Joe Frazier (twice), George Foreman and Leon Spinks. He defeated light-heavyweight champs Archie Moore and Bob Foster. Ali defeated European heavyweight champions Henry Cooper, Karl Mildenberger, Jürgen Blin, Joe Bugner, Richard Dunn, Jean-Pierre Coopman and Alfredo Evangelista. He defeated British and Commonwealth king Brian London. All of Ali's defeats were by heavyweight champions: Frazier, Norton, Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. Ali also beat undefeated fighters Sonny Banks (12-0), Billy Daniels (16-0), 'Rudi Lubbers' (21-0) and George Foreman (40-0).
- IMDb Mini Biography By: angelsunchained (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
Family (4)
| Spouse |
Lonnie Ali (19 November 1986 -
3 June 2016) (his death)
(1 child)
Verónica Porche Ali (19 June 1977 - July 1986) (divorced) (2 children) Belinda Boyd (17 August 1967 - 29 December 1976) (divorced) (4 children) Sonji Roi (14 August 1964 - 10 January 1966) (divorced) |
| Children |
May May Jamillah Ali Rasheda Ali Laila Ali Hana Ali Khaliah Ali Miya Ali Asaad Ali Muhammad Ali Jnr Miya Ali |
| Parents |
Odessa Clay Cassius Clay Sr. |
| Relatives |
Rahman Ali (sibling)
Jacob Ali-Wertheimer (grandchild) Sydney Jurldine Conway (grandchild) Curtis Muhammad Conway (grandchild) Biggio Ali Walsh (grandchild) Nico Ali Walsh (grandchild) |
Trade Mark (7)
Trademark phrase: "Floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee"
Predicting the round in which his opponents would fall, sometimes even down to the minute
The Ali Shuffle
Boastful behaviour
Extraordinary speed and agility in addition to devastatingly powerful blows
Stinging taunts of opponents which frequently rhymed.
Rope-a-dope strategy (absorbing round after round of punishing blows from the opponent only to come back stronger after the opponent exhausted themselves)
Trivia (70)
Former heavyweight boxing champion.
Light heavyweight boxing gold medalist, 1960 Olympics. World heavyweight boxing champion, 1964-1967, 1974-1978, 1978-1979.
Ali learned early from the outrageous bad-guy wrestler, Gorgeous George, that it could pay to be hated. Ali said "I saw fifteen thousand people coming to see this man get beat, and his talking did it. I said, this is a goo-o-o-d idea!" Then Ali refined that talking concept to what has been referred to as the Louisville Lip.
Son of Odessa Clay.
Younger brother of Rahman Ali.
Suffered from Parkinson's Syndrome, caused by numerous blows to the head during his boxing career.
Lit the torch at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
Took an interest in boxing when his bike was stolen by local hoods.
His bout with massive underdog Chuck Wepner inspired Sylvester Stallone to create Rocky Balboa, while the character Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers) was based on Ali himself.
Has a record of 56-5 with 37 KOs.
Children: Daughters Rasheeda and Jamilla (twins) and Maryum (by Belinda Boyd); Miya, Khalilah, Hana Ali and Laila Ali (by Verónica Porche Ali). Sons Muhammed, Jr. (by Boyd); Asaad (adopted with Yolonda Williams).
In order to pay his legal fees (since he was barred from boxing), Ali hit the college lecture circuit and even starred in the Broadway musical "Buck White".
In June 1967, Ali was convicted of violating the Selective Service Act (knowingly and willfully refusing to report for and submit to induction into the armed forces), and was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $100,000. On appeal, Ali claimed he was denied due process because the ratio of blacks on draft boards did not reflect their ratio in the population. But the three member Presidential Draft Board, formed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to prevent such scenarios (and included a black member) ruled his objection was invalid, and that he was not entitled to conscientious objector status as a minister of the Islamic religion (what he stated as his profession). Morever, in an April 1966 letter to his local draft board, Ali protested that two years of military service would cause him serious financial loss in being unable to pursue his livelihood as a boxer, NOT as a minister.
In 1962, Ali signed for Selective Service, but he failed the mental aptitude test, and was classified 1-Y (unfit for service). But when the United States armed forces required more soldiers for the Vietnam War, the pass-percentage marks for the tests were dropped to 15, meaning that Ali (and thousands of other men) was re-classified 1-A, now fit for service.
Contrary to popular belief, he was stripped of his boxing license by the State of New York and his title by the World Boxing Association when he converted to Islam. However, the World Boxing Council recognized him as champ throughout his battle with the Government over his refusal to be inducted into the United States Army.
Married second wife Belinda Boyd when she was age 17.
Inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 (charter member) and the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1986.
Legend has it that Ali threw his 1960 Olympic gold medal into the river, when in reality he just simply lost it at some point in time.
Recorded an album for Epic Records in 1964 titled "I Am the Greatest". Sam Cooke produced one of the songs from the LP, "The Gang's All Here". A single, his version of "Stand By Me" was released just after his first Liston fight, in 1964, and received some airplay.
He is referenced in the song "Powder Blue" by Ween, "Rumble in the Jungle" by Fugees and The Verve's songs "Muhammad Ali' and "Noise Epic".
Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Sport in Society Hall of Fame in 1994.
Portrayed himself in four different motion pictures.
His maternal great-grandfather was Abe Grady, a native of Ireland.
Had an amateur boxing record of 127 wins and only five defeats.
From 1963 to 1966, he successfully defended the heavyweight title nine times.
Inactive for three and a half years while fighting his draft evasion case in court.
In 1999 he was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Century.
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush on November 9, 2005. Other recipients were Frank Robinson, General Richard Myers, Paul Rusesabagina, Carol Burnett, Andy Griffith, Aretha Franklin, Vint Cerf and his Internet co-developer Robert Kahn, Jack Nicklaus, Alan Greenspan and former congressman Sonny Montgomery.
As an amateur, Ali was only knocked-out once in over 110 fights, by Kent Green on a third round technical knockout. Green went on to a 14-2 pro boxing record.
In 62 pro boxing matches, Ali was only stopped once; by Larry Holmes on a technical knockout. Ali was never counted out, but was unable to come out for round 11 in their title fight.
When Ali stopped Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Title, Liston had not lost a fight in over 10 years.
Received the Otto Yamaoka peace medal for his "life-long engagement in the American civil rights movement and the global cultural emancipation of blacks, as well as his work as a UN Goodwill ambassador". [December 2005]
Trained by Joe Martin (1953-1959) as an amateur, Archie Moore (1960-1961) and Angelo Dundee (1961-1980).
His maternal grandmother's paternal grandfather was of Anglo-Saxon descent, and he is related to--among other notables--US Presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Benjamin Harrison VI, Confedrate General Robert E. Lee, General George C. Marshall' and General George S. Patton. He is also related to actors Lee Marvin, Glenn Close, Laura Dern and Hilary Duff, journalist Katie Couric and cyclist Lance Armstrong.
Met The Beatles while training to fight Sonny Liston, and posed for photos with them in a boxing ring. Declared afterward that they were the greatest, but he was "still the prettiest".
Was featured in a "Pizza Hut" boxing commercial alongside David Bortolucci and Ali's real-life trainer Angelo Dundee, which was meant to air during the 1998 Super Bowl but was pulled at the very last moment for being too violent. It was estimated that the entire campaign cost Pizza Hut tens of millions of dollars.
Wanted the role of Bilal in The Message (1976) but the film's director nixed the idea.
Father-in-law of Curtis Conway.
Was photographed with American actor David J. Silver during his visit to Arizona. He attended a lavish dinner at the Palms Hotel in Paradise Valley for his famed 2004 Fight Night Celebrity charity at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.
The only fighter to score a KO of George Foreman and Oscar Bonnavena.
The only fighter to win a decision over Joe Frazier (their second fight).
Ali was arguably actually a four-time World Heavyweight Champion. In 1965, after signing to fight dethroned champion 'Sonny Liston' for a rematch, a fight that was not sanctioned in many areas, Ali was stripped by The World Boxing Association of their recognition of him as Heavyweight Champion. The WBA sanctioned an elimination match between contenders Ernie Terrell and Eddie Machen to determine who the Heavyweight Champion would be. Terrell won by a 15-round decision and was the WBA champion for two years. Most sanctioning bodies and the general public still recognized Ali as the true champion. He regained the WBA Heavyweight Championship and unified the Heavyweight Championship by winning a 15-round decision over Terrell in 1967, only to be stripped of the title again several months later because of his refusal to register the military draft. He later won the title on two more occasions from George Foreman and Leon Spinks, reversing a previous loss to Spinks.
When he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Performance (at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, on January 11, 2002), Ali insisted that the star be installed on the facade of the Kodak Theatre (now the Dolby Theatre), home of the Academy Awards. Ali, who was a Muslim, stated at the time, "I bear the name of our beloved prophet Mohammad, and it is impossible that I allow people to trample over his name." The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honored this request. As of 2021, Ali's star is the only one on the Walk of Fame that cannot be stepped on.
Ali is the first heavyweight champion in the history of boxing to lose his title to a novice (who had only seven professional fights). This occurred when Ali lost to Leon Spinks on February 15, 1978.
He first decided to take boxing lessons when neighborhood bullies stole his bike and he wanted to get back at them.
Having the distinction of being one of the world's most famous celebrities of all time. Many fans would request getting punched by Ali rather than a picture or autograph. Boasting that they got hit by the Greatest!.
He is one of many personalities mentioned in the song "Jesus Numa Moto" by Sá e Guarabyra.
Recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation in 1986.
Was a Professional Wrestler.
Upon returning to boxing in 1970 after having his license returned, Ali no longer had the exceptional footwork against his opponents. However, the 3 time champion proved he could endure punishment inside the ring.
Is regarded as one of the finest heavyweight boxers in history.
During their historic bouts, there was genuine bad feeling between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Years later, they were able to bury the hatchet.
Once said that Joe Frazier was the roughest and toughest opponent he had ever faced.
The sports press had a field day at Ali's expense when he fought against former Marine, Ken Norton.
A rare time when Ali was bleeding during a bout, came from Bob Foster in 1972.
Suffered his second loss against Ken Norton in March 1973. Six months later, Ali avenged his earlier defeat by beating Norton on a split decision.
Was very popular in Great Britain. When Muhammad Ali fought Henry Cooper on two occasions and Brian London the once, the arenas were usually full.
For the rematch against Leon Spinks in September 1978, Ali punished himself during his training. By contrast, Spinks had spent a lot of time on the partying scene after beating Ali before. However, the former champion's hard work would pay off as Muhammad Ali became the first heavyweight to be crowned champion for a third time.
Has one of the fastest jabs in the heavyweight division.
Muhammad Ali's boxing idols were Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis.
Caused shock-waves throughout the sport, when he defeated Sonny Liston in February 1964 for the heavyweight title. The bout has gone down as one of the biggest upsets in boxing.
At his lightest, Ali weighed about 198 lbs. At his heaviest, he weighed 228 lbs.
On the night of his bout against Sonny Liston in 1964, Ali personally re-filled his water bottle in his dressing room. The reason he did this, was due to concerns that the Mafia might have doped his water. Liston was said to have been regularly involved with the Mafia.
Originally, Ali planned to retire from professional boxing in 1975. However, for financial reasons, he felt he had little choice but to continue his career.
His third bout against Joe Frazier was dubbed, "The Thriller in Manilla.".
Before his first bout against Sonny Liston, Ali personally refilled his water bottle as he worried some of Liston's mob contacts might dope the water supply.
After changing his name, Ali refused to sign autographs if requested to use his former name.
Starred in the shelved film Bollywood film "Shiva" (1978) Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha,Danny Denzongpa Romesh Sharma, Produced by Prakash Mehra, Directed by Rakesh Kumar. Boxing legend Muhammed Ali was going to have a guest appearance in the film. The film's script being incomplete was the reason the film was shelved. Amitabh had Prakash Mehra had flown to Los Angeles to sign Muhammed Ali.
Personal Quotes (29)
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
I am an astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own.
At home I am a nice guy - but I don't want the world to know. Humble people, I've found, don't get very far.
When you're as great as I am, it's hard to be humble.
It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
You can't hit what you can't see; I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!
[after being rejected by the United States Army during the Vietnam War because he failed the "intelligence" test] I never said I was the smartest, I said I was the greatest.
I won a gold medal representing the USA at the Olympic Games in 1960, but when I came home, I still got treated like a nigger. There were restaurants I couldn't get served in. Some people kept calling me "boy".
Sonny Liston is too ugly to be world heavyweight champion!.
[on challenger Henry Cooper] If he talks some jive, I'll knock him out in round five.
I'm soooooooooooooooooo pretty!!!
I'm gonna float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, George [George Foreman] can't hit what his eyes can't see, now you see me, now you don't, he thinks he will but I know he won't.
My toughest fight was my first wife.
[on Elvis Presley] Elvis was my close personal friend. He came to my Deer Lake training camp about two years before he died. He told us he didn't want nobody to bother us. He wanted peace and quiet and I gave him a cabin in my camp and nobody even knew it. When the cameras started watching me train, he was up on the hill sleeping in the cabin. Elvis had a robe made for me. I don't admire nobody but Elvis Presley. He was the sweetest, most humble and nicest man you'd ever meet.
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
I ain't got nothing against them Vietcong.
The man who views the world at fifty the same way as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
[after the Supreme Court overturned his conviction for draft evasion] I've done my celebrating already. I said a prayer to Allah.
[observation, 1984] What I suffered physically was worth what I've accomplished in life. A man who is not courageous enough to take risks will never accomplish anything in life.
[after defeating Sonny Liston] I'm king of the world! I'm pretty! I'm a bad man! I shook up the world! I shook up the world! I shook up the world!
My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, 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.
[2004, asked what he thought when he looked back on the boxer he was] Sometimes, I feel a little sad because I can see how some things I said could upset some people. But I did not deliberately try to hurt anyone. The hype was part of my job, like skipping rope
[1999, on being crowned Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC] Ever since I first came here in 1963 to fight Henry Cooper, I have loved the people of England. They have always been extremely warm and welcoming to me, which is why I am especially honored to accept the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century. I give thanks to God and to all the people in the UK who have supported me over the years.
Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn't choose it, and I didn't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name, and I insist people using it when speaking to me and of me.
[1999, on being crowned Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC] I'd like to thank the British people for giving me this great welcome and thank you for this award. I had a good time boxing. I enjoyed it - and I may come back.
I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and got into bed before the room was dark.
I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; Handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick.
It's not bragging if you can back it up.
