Muhammad Ali

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Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. Do any of you know who that is? How about a Hall of Fame boxer with an overall record of 56-5(ibhof.com)? Not yet, well here is an obvious clue. He switched his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964(Ali) after his fight with Sonny Liston. Now do you know? I'm sure most of you know who that is, but for those of you that don't I have done some research for you to explain and tell you more about this amazing boxer. I would like to share with you about his early life, his amazing career, and his dreadful disease.

Cassius Clay had an interesting early life. He was born on January 17, 1942(Hauser 1) in Louisville Kentucky. He was raised in poverty but was loved very much by his family especially his mother. She would take him to church every Sunday to thank God for saving them and keeping them afloat in life. Cassius religion was brought up here. Cassius also had a lot of fun with his brother. He would often go to parks and play pick up games or just sit in a parking lots and have his brothers throw rocks at him so he could doge them and gain good quickness. But with this of going to parks he would often hear the word Nigger being referred to him and he would be asked to leave. He was always confused about this because he knew he did nothing wrong so why did people be so mean to him. He wanted to make a difference.

After his bike was stolen when he was 12, he reported it to a police officer. This mans name was Joe Martin. He saw Clay's ferociousness and his competitiveness and took him in and trained him to be a boxer. He then gave him over to his main trainer, Fred Stoner. He would train 6 days a week with him and Clay was very committed to being a boxer. Stoner knew Clay was something special so he worked very hard with him. Clay then started to fight in amateur leagues and he did phenomenal. Over the next six years from when he was 12 Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves Championships, two National Golden Glove Titles, and 2 AAU crowns.

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