Informative Speech On Muhammad Ali

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Xavier Bonner

English Comp II

April 13, 2015

Ali

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.

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville,

Kentucky. According to (Muhammad Ali, n.d) Clay at an early age showed he was not afraid of anything inside or outside of the ring. Clay grew up in the segregated south where he experienced racial prejudice and discrimination firsthand. Clay discovered his talent for boxing through an incident that was dealing with his bike. Clay told police officer Joe Martin, who later became his Ali 2 boxing trainer that he wanted to fight thief for stealing his bike. Martin also trained young boxers at a local gym. Clay trained with Martin to learn how to box. He started his career in 1954; where he won his first amateur by split decision. In 1956, Clay won the Golden Gloves tournament for novice in the light-heavyweight class. He went on three years later to win the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions and Amateur Athletic Union’s national title in the light-heavyweight division.
Clay won a spot on the U.S Olympic boxing team in 1960.

He traveled to Rome, Italy to compete. He was the center of attention standing 6 foot 3 inches. Clay was well known for his beautiful footwork and stinging powerful jabs, which go with one of his famous quotes ‘Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee.” He won all of his fights including defeating Zbigniew Pietrzkowski from Poland for the gold medal. Clay was an American hero after his Olympic victory. He turned professional with the Louisville Sponsor Group. In the 1960s, Clay was an unstoppable force that nobody could stop. He won majority of his fights by the ruling of knockout. He knocked out the British Heavyweight Champion Henry Cooper in 1963 and in the next year he knocked out Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion of the world. Clay always referred to himself as "the greatest," He was not afraid to praise himself. He talked about his skills before a fight and he had colorful descriptions and phrases. Especially, his famous quote “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

His bold public persona described or showed what was happening in Clay's personal life. However, Clay did some soul searching and he decided to join the Nation of Islam, in 1964. The Nation of Islam was a black Muslim group. Clay went with the name Cassius X, but he later changed his name again to Muhammad Ali. Two years later, he picked a fight that did

not
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involve boxing, but more of a political fight. Ali refused to fight in the Vietnam War after being drafted for his military service. He was a practicing Muslim minister and his religious beliefs prevented him from fighting in the Vietnam War in 1967. Ali put his personal values ahead of his career. In an article (The Black scholar Interviews: Muhammad Ali), Ali did not care about going to jail for a few years because of denying his services in the Vietnam War. Black men were dying in the Vietnam War for stuff they did not believe in. Also, black men were still racially profiled at the time by their white comrades during time in war. Ali felt like war for black men is a turnaround in history. Slavery was not an option for Ali. The U.S. Department of Justice pursued a legal case against Ali. Denying his military services, was found guilty of refusing to be inducted to the military. Ali cleared his name after a lengthy court battle later .Although he cleared his name in court, his professional boxing career took a major hit. The boxing association took away his title and suspended him for three and a half years. Ali returned to the ring 1970. Ali won his first fight back in Atlanta against Jerry Quarry by the way of knockout. The next year he fought Joe Frazier. It was the Fight of The Century. Both fighters went 15 rounds, but unfortunately Ali was knocked down by Frazier and later lost to Frazier by the way of decision. In 1974, took on the reigning heavyweight champion George Foreman. He won the title back being the underdog in the fight. He had a rematch with Joe Frazier that lasted 14 rounds. Ali was victorious this time around. Ali’s boxing career was coming to an end in the late 1970s. He lost to Leon Spinks in 1978. He was knocked out by Larry Holmes in 1980. His last fight was in 1981 against in Trevor Berbick. Ali lost his heavyweight title to him. The next day, Ali announced his retirement from boxing. Ali has also supported the Special Olympics and the Make a Wish Foundation among other organizations.