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Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. on January 17, 1942) is a retired American boxer. In 1999, Ali was crowned \"Sportsman of the Century\" by Sports Illustrated. more...

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He won the World Heavyweight Boxing championship three times, and won the North American Boxing Federation championship as well as an Olympic gold medal.

Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He was named after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., (who was named for the 19th century abolitionist and politician Cassius Clay). Ali later changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam and subsequently converted to orthodox Sunni Islam in 1975.

Biography

Early boxing career

Standing at 6' 3\" (1.91 m), Ali had a highly unorthodox style for a heavyweight boxer. He carried his hands at his sides, rather than the normal boxing style of carrying the hands high to defend the face. Instead, he relied on his ability to avoid a punch. In Louisville, October 29, 1960, Cassius Clay won his first professional fight. He won a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia. From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19-0, with 15 knockouts. He defeated such boxers as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson (who weighed 160 pounds when he fought Clay), Donnie Fleeman (who had broken ribs going into the fight but fought Clay anyway), Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones, and Henry Cooper. Among Clay's victories were versus Sonny Banks (who knocked him down during the bout), Alejandro Lavorante, and the aged Archie Moore (a boxing legend who had fought over 200 previous fights, and who had been Clay's trainer prior to Angelo Dundee).

Clay then won a disputed 10 round decision over Doug Jones, who, despite being lighter than Clay, staggered Clay as soon as the fight started with a right hand, and beat Clay to the punch continually during the fight. The fight was named \"Fight of the Year\" for 1963. Clay's next fight was against Britain's Henry Cooper, who knocked Clay down with a left hook near the end of the fourth round. Clay was given extra time between rounds immediately after being floored by Cooper, a blatant violation of boxing rules. However, the fight was stopped in the 5th round due to a deep cut on Cooper's face.

Despite these close calls against Doug Jones and Henry Cooper, he became the top contender for Sonny Liston's title. In spite of Clay's impressive record, he was not expected to beat the champ. The fight was to be held on February 25, 1964 and during the weigh-in on the previous day, the never-bashful Ali—who frequently taunted Liston during the buildup by dubbing him \"the big ugly bear\", among other things—declared that he would \"float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,\" and, in summarizing his strategy for avoiding Liston's assaults, said, \"Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see.\"

Read more at Wikipedia.org