| Variations of Name | Cassius Marcellus Clay Junior |
| Relationships | Son of Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr (American painter and musician, named in honor of a 19th-century Republican politician and abolitionist) and Odessa O'Grady Clay (domestic helper). Clay was a descendant of slaves of the antebellum South, and was predominantly of African descent, with Irish and English heritage.
Grandson of Abe Grady (emigrated from Ireland) and grandmother (descendant of Archer Alexander, a former enslaved person)
Sibling of Rudolph 'Rudy' Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali, American heavyweight boxer) |
| Biography | Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist. Nicknamed "The Greatest," he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century and as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
At 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics, and turned professional later that year. He converted to Islam and became a Muslim after 1961, and eventually took the name Muhammad Ali. He won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in a major upset at age 22 in 1964.
In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. He was arrested, found guilty of draft evasion, and stripped of his boxing titles. He appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971. His actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation, and he was a high-profile figure of racial pride for African Americans during the civil rights movement.
Ali was a leading heavyweight boxer of the 20th century, and remains the only three-time lineal champion of that division. Ali is the only boxer to be named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year six times. He has been ranked the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time and the greatest athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated, the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC, and the third greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN SportsCentury.
Outside the ring, Ali attained success as a musician, where he received two Grammy nominations. Ali retired from boxing in 1981 and focused on religion and charity. In 1984, he made public his diagnosis of Parkinson's syndrome. He remained an active public figure globally, but in his later years made increasingly limited public appearances as his condition worsened. |