Cassius Clay is one of the best known boxers all over the world. After retiring from his career, he has devoted his time to helping people all over the world, providing food and supplies to unfortunate people in countries worldwide.
Cassius Clay, also known as Muhammad Ali, was devoted to boxing at a very young age, along with school and family. Cassius Clay, Jr. son of Odessa Clay and Cassius Clay Sr., was born on January 17, 1942(cite). Cassius Clay, Jr. was an African-American and a descendant of pre-Civil War American slaves (cite). Clay and his parents lived in Louisville, Kentucky, where his dad had a job as a painter. His family was not wealthy. Clay’s mother made sure that they went to church and Sunday school each week. As a child, Clay attended the Virginia Street Elementary School, and may have suffered from dyslexia (Christopher 12). He started boxing at the age of twelve, weighing 89 pounds. Later in his life, Clay converted his religion to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali ("Muhammad Ali"). Ali has been married four times and has nine children, two sons and seven daughters. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (cite).
Cassius Clay, or Muhammad Ali, is considered the best boxer of all time. Boxing is one of the world’s oldest sports. Although it began in England during the 1700s, it became an Olympic sport in 1904, but did not become legal in the United States until 1920 (cite). Nearly every town and city in the United States in the 1920s had at least one or more gyms where boxing was taught. Boxers are categorized into different divisions based on their weight. Boxers who weighed less than 108 pounds were considered junior flyweight and boxers that weighed above 195 pounds were categorized un...
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...efforts to help those in need around the world. He is a recipient of an Olympic gold medal, and a three time heavyweight champion. Ali had received countless awards for his service, including the United Nations Messenger of Peace, for his effort with developing nations, International Ambassador of Jubilee, a global organization that relieves debts in nations, Germany’s Otto Hahn Peace Medal, for involvement in civil rights movement in the U.S, and several more.
Muhammad Ali is an example of a person who not only cares for himself and his family, but he also cares for everyone in need, following the Catholic social justice teaching of solidarity. Muhammad Ali’s legend will always remain in history, not only as one of the greatest human beings and boxers ever to live, also for his efforts and contributions to those in need all around the world as well.
What they did not know was the self proclaimed greatest in the world was planning the one of the greatest changes in his life. Behind the scenes Cassius was studying Islam, he became good friends with Malcolm X and studied under Elijah Muhammad. Cassius took the name Muhammad Ali, saying he did not want to be called by a slave name any longer. He took Muhammed from the first prophet of Islam with the name meaning worthy of being praised, and the last name Ali which meaning is to be elevated. During a time where racial tensions were high people had a hard time accepting his new name. Often times the media would continue to call him Cassius, one didn't famed ABC sports reporter Howard Cosell, he respected Ali, because he too had changed his name from Cohen a Jewish name to Cosell, because in those time it was also a disadvantage to be Jewish. In 1965 Ai was scheduled to fight Floyd Patterson, who insisted on calling him Cassius, Patterson paid a big price for that, there is documentary footage which shows Ali giving Patterson the beating of a lifetime, making sure not to knock him out taking him through all 12 rounds repeating “now what’s my name
Remnick does not shy away from discussing the shadowy history of the boxing world (no pun intended). It's well known boxing has been affiliated with the 'mob,' but perhaps what is lesser known is Clay's absolute refusal to be in any way associated with the Mafia.
The first reason Muhammad Ali isn't a hero is because he is violent. For almost all of his life he fought in boxing matches that all started when he was a boy because he wanted to beat up the kid who stole his bike. For 14 years, on-and-off, he was heavyweight champion and before that a lightweight champion. To do this, you had to have the rage to hurt your opponent. Muhammad Ali even said, “I believe in the eye-for- an-eye business, I got no respect for a man who won’t hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat” (Myers 36). Now, in his 60’s,...
history in the 1950's and 1960's by hitting the society. Ali was a great boxer who was very confident in his boxing game. Ali wanted to make a change in society by trying to get rid of the racial discrimination in America. Ali was also against the war in Vietnam. Ali said “Unless you have a very good reason to kill, war is wrong.” Ali sent messages of hope to the African American community by telling them to have pride. Ali said “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people while so called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?” Ali said “The Vietnamese had nothing against him” (Schwartz).When he was drafted to fight in the war, a lieutenant called Ali by his real name, Cassius Clay, and he said, “Sir that isn't my name, my name is “MUHAMMAD ALI!” Ali said, again “Sir that is a slave name my name is “MUHAMMAD ALI” (Muhammad Ali [HH:MM:SS]). After that, Ali refused to serve in the Vietnam War. This lead Ali to the Supreme Court, and he was five years in imprisonment. Ali was precluded from the athletic commissions for fighting in the United States for three and a half years. Even though Ali was released from his five year sentence, he still had a jail sentence of four years, which was overturned by the Supreme Court (Schwartz). Ali was also stripped of the heavyweight boxing title because he refused to serve in the draft Following his suspension, Ali reclaimed
...civil rights movement. He spoke on the racial injustices of America, and of the world. He led a movement in the nation, and worked towards a cause shared by the nation. He left behind his wife Betty Shabazz (1934-1997) and his six children. To this day, his legacy lives on and has inspired millions.
Ali proved to be a strong-willed individual that did leave a huge impact on America, but what impact had increased as time continued and his faults have been somewhat forgotten. Those believing that Muhammad was more of a hero than Jackie Robinson most likely feel that Ali’s action of standing up against the United States government, when he was drafted, was an act of courage and bravery. The main reason why Ali didn 't wish to go to war in Vietnam was because he believed he shouldn 't be fighting for a country that ultimately didn 't support his own people within its own borders. Ali has developed into a figure of courage after the time that his happened. In the 1960s when this originally happened, Ali had more enemies as a result of his religious and social views and ideas than fans. Today we see that what he did may be considered heroic, but back when it actually occurred, Ali was seen as a nuisance to America. He was spreading word and influencing people to act against their own country in a time of war. Since Muhammad Ali’s retirement from boxing the course of time has faded criticism of Ali and left mostly just the positive parts of his life and career. As a society we’ve buried the controversial side of Ali’s existence in our minds and history simply remembers his greatness as an athlete. Robinson had an impact on
In the beginning of his career, he stood at 6' 3" and he had a highly irregular style for a heavyweight boxer btu that didn't mean he wasn't good. Rather than the normal boxing style of carrying the hands high to defend the face, he instead relied on his ability to avoid a punch. The person who first introduced him to boxing was the police officer who started it all. Joe E. Martin. Martin lead Clay to his first trainer, Fred Stoner, who trained with Cassius during his entire amateur career. With the aid of Stoner, Clay went on to win 6 Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, 2 national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
George Foreman, former heavyweight champion, has been through the beginnings of boxing and still is actively participating in the sport today. Foreman throughout his career has witnessed and has full knowledge what the sport is outside the ring. Besides corruption the sport came to be the most exciting and underrated sport of all time. Due to criminal activity boxing to this day remains the sport with most corruption in American history.
Muhammad Ali is an example of an athlete who used politics in sports to advocate for the Civil Rights movement and protest the war. As an Olympic gold medalist, heavy weight titlist, and many other victories, he used the fame for humanitarian efforts. Ali refused to serve in Vietnam due to his religion and as a result, he was stripped of his 1967 title. He retired in 1981 with an incredible 59 wins and five losses, but he will always known as symbol of courage, will power and strength, not for his career milestones, but for breaking racial barriers.
Once returning to his segregated hometown in Louisville, Ali showed off his Gold Medal to everyone whether they wanted to see it or not. Ali then decided to wear his Medal to downtown Louisville looking for respect and praise as a U.
Boxer Muhammad Ali, was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., on January 17, 1942, he was the son of Marcellus Clay Sr. and Odessa Grady Clay. He lived in Louisville, Kentucky where he experienced discrimination and racial prejudice towards himself and his family, which led him to his fascination towards boxing. Later in his life, he would win the Olympic gold medal for boxing in 1960 and became the world heavyweight boxing champion in 1964, and was the first fighter to recapture heavyweight champion three times. But Clay was not only a boxer, he was also a philanthropist and social activist with astonishing effrontery, he spoke out against problems such as race, religion, and politics that cause him to become such a controversial figure.
Muhammad Ali was not the kind of person that gets taken away with fame and money. He is a simple, unsophisticated person with a very loving heart, and very determined (Hauser 186). He did not care much about himself, he enjoyed making people happy. While training, he let people come and see him, charging them to see the show. Doing so, he earned about $1000 a day. After the ...
He was fearless. He was powerful. His footwork was more beautiful than a ballet dancer. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist. He is the G.O.A.T of boxing. He is… Muhammad Ali. I will inform you about the biography of Muhammad Ali of how people saw him in real life, the Movie Ali how it portrayed Muhammad Ali based on his life through screen write, and the Vietnam War. Muhammad Ali is considered one of the greatest athletes in boxing history, but before there was the Greatest of All Time or the acronym G.O.A.T World Heavy Champion Muhammad Ali, he was just a little kid that went by the name Cassius Clay.
Hauser, Thomas. "The Importance of Muhammad Ali." The Glider Lehrman Institute of American History, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
Muhammad Ali is an example of an athlete who voiced his political ideologies in sports to advocate for the Civil Rights Movement and protest the War. As an Olympic gold medalist, heavy weight titlist, and many other victories, he used the fame to project his humanitarian efforts. Ali refused to serve in Vietnam due to his religion and as a result, he was stripped of his 1967 title . He retired in 1981 with an incredible 59 wins and five losses, but he will always known as symbol of courage, will power and strength, not for his career milestones, but for breaking racia...