Ian White
1/21/2011: Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is a former American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight championship boxers. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. After turning professional, he went on to become the first boxer to win the lineal heavyweight championship three times.
Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975 and more recently to Sufism. In 1967, Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. He was arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges, stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was successful.
Nicknamed "The Greatest", Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these are three with rival Joe Frazier and one with George Foreman, whom he beat by knockout to win the world heavyweight title for the second time. He suffered only five losses (four decisions and one TKO by retirement from the bout) with no draws in his career, while amassing 56 wins (37 knockouts and 19 decisions). Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", and employing techniques such as the rope-a-dope. He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents on television and in person some time before the match, often with rhymes. These personality quips and idioms, along with an unorthodox fighting technique, made him a cultural icon. In later life, Ali developed Parkinson's disease. In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
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.
Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.
I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.
I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.
I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.
I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them.
If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.
It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe.
It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
My toughest fight was with my first wife.
My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.
No one knows what to say in the loser's locker room.
Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths.
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.
Sonny Liston's so ugly that when he cries, the tears run down the back of his head!
I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing, and the shadow won!
Here I predict Sonny Liston's dismemberment, I'll hit him so hard, he'll forget where October/November went!
Journalist Howard Cosell was gonna be a boxer when he was a kid, only they couldn't find a mouthpiece big enough!
I'm so mean, I make medicine sick!
I'm so fast I could hit you before God gets the news!
Boxing's a rough sport. After every fight I rush to the mirror to make sure I'm still presentable. A lot of boxers' features change - mainly when I fight them!
I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked!
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