Muhammad Ali track record. Muhammad Ali: biography and obituary

In Rome (Italy), Cassius Clay became a champion under his own name Olympic Games in the floor heavyweight. After that he turned professional.

In 1963, Cassius Clay defeated Doug Jones. The fight received the status of "fight of the year" according to Ring magazine.

In 1964, Cassius Clay received his first championship title in a fight with Sonny Liston, defeating him TKO in the seventh round. That same year, Clay converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

On May 25, 1965, a re-fight took place between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston, in which Ali again won.

In 1966-1967, the boxer defended his title against Brian London, Karl Mildenberger, Cleveland Williams, Ernie Terrell and Zora Folley.

In 1967, during the Vietnam War, Muhammad Ali was drafted into the US Army, but refused to fight in the war. His title was revoked, and the boxer himself was sentenced to five years for evading service. During this time, Ali was prohibited from boxing. In 1970, the US Supreme Court overturned the verdict, and the boxer returned to the ring.

In March 1971, Muhammad Ali entered the ring for the first time against Joe Frazier. This fight was subsequently named "fight of the year" by Ring magazine. In the 15th round, Ali was knocked down, and after the end of the fight the judges came to the conclusion that he lost the fight. This was Ali's first defeat in his career.

In 1974, the second fight took place between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Ali won this fight, winning on points.

On October 30, 1974, a fight for the world title took place between George Foreman, current champion, and challenger Muhammad Ali. Experts consider this fight to be “the greatest and unforgettable.” Ali won it, becoming the champion.

On October 1, 1975, Ali fought another fight, which also remained forever in the history of world boxing. It was a duel in which Muhammad Ali met Joe Frazier for the third time and defeated him again.

In 1976, Muhammad Ali successfully defended his titles against Jean-Pierre Koopman, Jimmy Young and Richard Dunne. In 1977 he defeated Alfredo Evangelista and Ernie Shavers.

In 1978, Muhammad Ali decided to end his boxing career. Was chosen for the final battle Olympic champion 1976 Leon Spinks, to whom Ali lost. The fight received the status of "Fight of the Year" according to Ring magazine.

Ali challenged Leon Spinks to a rematch, which took place on September 15, 1978. This time Ali won by unanimous decision. After which he left boxing. Due to financial difficulties, he soon had to enter the ring again. But only to lose two fights - one in October 1980 against Larry Holmes and the second against Trevor Berbick in December 1981. After which Ali finally left boxing.

Soon the athlete was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

In 1990, Ali was elected to the National Boxing Hall of Fame. In 1996, he carried the torch at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Muhammad Ali - Olympic champion in 1960, absolute world heavyweight champion (1964-1966, 1974-1978), world heavyweight champion according to WBC (1974-1978), WBA (1967, 1974-1978, 1978). Ring magazine recognized him as “Boxer of the Year” five times (1963, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1978) and, in addition, “Boxer of the Decade” (1970s). In 1999, Sports Illustrated and the BBC named Ali

Another world celebrity has passed away - philanthropist, pacifist, public figure and boxing legend Mohammed Ali. The boy who was born under the name Cassius Clay, and years later became one of the most... famous boxers In history, Muhammad Ali, who suffered for many years from Parkinson's disease, died last Friday due to septic shock.

In the eyes of most people, Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer of all time. Unfortunately, the man who showed the world how to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” suffered a series of health problems during the last decades of his life, becoming a shadow of his glorious past.

Suffering from lung problems associated with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali was admitted to a Phoenix hospital last week. With his death, the great boxer shocked the whole world for the last time, causing millions to mourn his loss and pay tribute to his Humanity.

Today we will tell you fascinating facts from the life of an athlete who touched the hearts and souls of millions - perhaps more than any other athlete in human history.

Here are 25 facts about Muhammad Ali that you might not know!

25. At birth, he was named Cassius Clay, after the white farmer and abolitionist of the 19th century who freed 40 slaves, inherited from his father.

24. Muhammad Ali may be one of the most famous African Americans in history, but he also had Irish roots. His great-grandfather Abe Grady was an Irishman who emigrated to the United States and settled in Kentucky in the 1860s, where he married a freed slave.

23. Ali began boxing at the age of 12 after his red and white Schwinn bicycle, which he bought with money he earned, was stolen. Having reported the theft to police officer Joe Martin, he said that he would beat the person who did it, to which he received the answer: “Before you beat someone, you must first learn how to do it.” A policeman who trained young boxers invited him to go to training. Six weeks later, Muhammad Ali won his first amateur fight.

22. As an amateur boxer, Ali won 100 of his 108 bouts, including six Golden Gloves wins in Kentucky and the 1960 Rome Olympics.

21. Many stories are connected with his Olympic medal. Muhammad Ali himself wrote in his 1975 autobiography that after returning to Louisville, he threw his medal off a bridge into the Ohio River to protest the racism he still faced in his hometown.

However, this story is disputed by some in his inner circle, claiming that he made it up after he lost the medal. One way or another, during the Summer Olympics in 1996, the IOC president presented him with a duplicate of the lost gold medal.

20. Muhammad Ali loved to say hurtful words to his opponents in order to anger them and drive them crazy. He even composed poems in which he ridiculed his rivals and praised himself. Columbia Records was so impressed by his ridicule that in 1963 they decided to release an audio album of Muhammad Ali called “I Am the Greatest,” in which the 21-year-old boxer read his poetry to musical accompaniment.

19. After defeating Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight title in 1964, the new champion confirmed that he had become a member of the Nation of Islam. Inspired by Malcolm X, Ali changed his name to Cassius X, and later a short time received a new name - Mohammed Ali.

18. Muhammad Ali refused to serve in the US Army and participate in the Vietnam War, which he considered unjust. He said: "Not a single Viet Congress has ever called me a black man."

17. Due to his refusal to serve in the army, the boxer was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but by appealing, he managed to avoid this. Also, he was stripped of his world title and banned from entering the ring for 3 years.

16. During his forced 43-month exile from the boxing ring, Ali played main role in the Broadway musical "Big Time White Buck". Unfortunately, the musical was quickly closed after 4 days, and Ali only managed to perform 7 times. Despite the failure of the project, Mohammed Ali, who played the role of an aggressive black lecturer, received decent reviews.

15. In 1971, Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier. This fight went down in history as the “Fight of the Century”; each boxer received $2.5 million for the fight, which took place at Madison Square Garden. Fraser won. This was the first professional fight Muhammad Ali lost.

14. Muhammad Ali faced Frazier in the ring two more times, winning both. Journalists called one of these fights “Thrilla in Manila.” This fight is considered the best in the history of boxing.

13. The unsuccessful fight with Frazier was followed by “The Rumble in the Jungle,” which took place on October 30, 1974 in Kinshasa (Zaire). This fight will be called the most iconic in this sport. Ali defeated George Foreman (George Foreman), who at that time was considered invincible, knocked him out in the 8th round.

12. In 1978, Muhammad Ali regained his championship title against Leon Spinks, winning by unanimous decision after 15 rounds. He became the first world heavyweight boxing champion to win the title for the third time.

11. In 1980, at the age of 38, after a two-year break from sports career, Ali entered the ring for the heavyweight championship against then-champion Larry Holmes. This was the first and only time Muhammad Ali lost by stoppage. Unfortunately, during the fight, the boxer already began to show the first signs of Parkinson’s disease.

10. On July 19, 1996, Muhammad Ali, already having difficulty speaking due to Parkinson's disease, lit the Olympic flame at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Sports Illustrated magazine called it one of the most emotional moments in sports history.

9. In February 1999, Muhammad Ali became the first boxer whose image appeared on a box of Wheaties cereal.

8. This may sound far-fetched, but Muhammad Ali trained for speed using stones. He asked his best friend to throw stones at him, which he had to dodge. According to his younger brother Rudy, Ali dodged every stone that was thrown at him.

7. The US Army Select Committee found Muhammad Ali's IQ to be 78. In his autobiography, he jokes, "I said I was the greatest, not the smartest."

6. In 1999, Sports Illustrated magazine named Muhammad Ali the best North American athlete of the 20th century.

5. Almost 50 years after the fight, the gloves Muhammad Ali wore to defeat Liston and win the world title brought him more money than the victory itself. In 2013, an anonymous buyer purchased the boxing gloves he wore to win his first championship for $836,000. For comparison, Ali earned $630,000 for winning that fight.

4. The Benedikt Taschen book, "GOAT: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali," weighs 75 pounds (34 kg) and is framed in Louis Vuitton silk and leather. The 780-page book measures 20 x 20 inches (51 x 51 cm), contains 600,000 words and more than 3,000 images. "GOAT" stands for "Greatest of All Time".

3. Since 2013, the Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, has been holding Three Days of Greatness in his honor.

2. In 1974, Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali, perhaps the two most famous people in the world at that time, met for the first time in Las Vegas. The media and fans still refer to this meeting as "when the Greatest met the King."

1. On November 27, 1990, Muhammad Ali met with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad to negotiate the release of Americans held hostage in Iraq and Kuwait. In the following month, Ali accompanied 15 Americans liberated from Iraq, winning the respect and admiration of the entire world.

Muhammad Ali became a true boxing legend, and he achieved victories not only in the ring, but also on the personal front - Ali was always surrounded female attention and even being married, he couldn’t deny himself short-term romances, not in the best possible way influencing his personal life.

Muhammad Ali's first wife, waitress Sonji Roy, did not live with him very long - the boxer's mentors from the Nation of Islam were against this marriage, forcing him to break off relations with a woman who professed a different religion (Ali was a Muslim), and, moreover, worked as a simple waitress.

Their divorce process lasted about a year, and among the main reasons for the divorce, Muhammad Ali named his wife’s reluctance to dress like a real Muslim woman and her love for revealing outfits.

In the photo - Ali with his first wife

Muhammad Ali's second wife, Belinda Boyd, tried not to make the mistakes of the boxer's first wife - almost immediately after the wedding, she converted to Islam and even changed her name, becoming Khalila Ali. She gave birth to four children - three daughters, Mariyum, Jamila and Rashida, and a son, Muhammad Ali Jr.

However, the family idyll began to crumble after three years of marriage - Ali’s numerous fans, who followed him everywhere, haunted not only him, but also his wife, who was tired of enduring her husband’s endless infidelities.

In the photo - Muhammad Ali, his second wife Khalila and their children

One of the girls who was not against having an affair with the famous boxer was fashion model Veronica Porsche, who starred in a poster for one of Muhammad’s fights.

Their romance began in front of the boxer's wife, who at that moment was with him in the training camp, where Muhammad was preparing for a fight with George Foreman. Ali divorced Khalila after ten years of marriage, then he already had a one-year-old daughter from Veronica Hana, and after Porsche became the official wife of Muhammad Ali, she gave birth to another child - daughter Leila, in the future, like her father, who dedicated her life in boxing and even becoming the absolute world champion in this sport.

In the photo - Ali with his third wife Victoria Porsche

The marriage to Veronica Porsch lasted almost nine years, and immediately after the divorce, Ali married for the fourth time - to Iolanta “Lonnie” Williams, whom he had known in his youth. Muhammad did not have any children together with Iolanta, but they adopted the boy Asaad Amin.

The number of children of the famous boxer is not limited only to those born in marriage - Ali also had two illegitimate daughters - Mia and Kalia. Thus, Muhammad had seven children, two of whom also devoted their lives to sports.

In the photo - with Iolanta Williams

Ali himself was not born into a large family - he had only brother Rudolf, two years younger than him. Their family belonged to the middle class, their father was a member of the US House of Representatives and the Senate from Kentucky, and their mother was a housewife.

Parents raised their sons, trying to instill in them best qualities- taught drawing, my father tried to instill a love of poetry. Muhammad came to boxing quite by accident, trying to achieve justice after his bicycle, which he had bought with his own earnings, was stolen. The policeman, whom Ali turned to in search of a fair punishment for the offenders, advised the boy to take up boxing in order to always be ready to defend himself. So, at the age of twelve it began sports biography future great boxer.

In the photo - Muhammad Ali with his daughter Leila

At the very beginning, no one could even imagine that in front of them was a future boxing star - the coaches did not see any potential in Ali, moreover, he was very cocky and constantly disrupted training. Only Fred Stoner, who taught Muhammad the first techniques, became interested in the boy and was not mistaken. In his first fight, broadcast on television as part of the “Future Champions” program, Ali won an unconditional victory over his peer and immediately shouted straight into the camera that he would become the greatest boxer, and dedicated his whole life to this - Ali never drank or smoked , didn't do drugs, became a fan healthy eating, trained endlessly, and his dream finally became a reality.

In youth fights, he won victory after victory; from the age of fifteen, Ali studied at the Central higher school Louisville, but due to poor academic performance, he was able to graduate only thanks to the personal support of the director, who hoped that the purposeful aspiring boxer would someday become famous and make the school famous throughout the world. Muhammad Ali, who received only a certificate of completion from school, did not even learn to read well, but he became what he dreamed of becoming since childhood.

In honor of the date, we recall the 10 most interesting facts about our favorite heavyweight.

1. Name

At birth, the future boxing legend was named Cassius Clay (Cassius Clay). And they did it in honor of a white farmer and abolitionist of the 19th century who freed 40 slaves, inherited from his father.

• Abolitionism (English abolitionism, from Latin abolitio, “abolition”) is a movement for the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of slaves.

2. Stolen bicycle

Muhammad Ali took up boxing at the age of 12. The boy's favorite red and white bicycle, bought with his earnings, was stolen Schwinn. Angry, he told police officer Joe Martin that he would beat up whoever did it.

“Before you beat someone, you first need to learn how to do it,” Joe answered the boy.

Martin was no ordinary policeman. He trained young boxers. He invited Ali to go to training. Only 6 weeks passed - and Muhammad entered the ring and immediately won his first amateur fight.

3. Amateur career

As an amateur boxer, Ali won 100 of his 108 fights. He has 6 victories in the championship.” Golden Gloves“ in Kentucky, as well as at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

Source: WGSN.com

4. Olympic medal

In 1975, in his autobiography, Muhammad wrote that after returning to Louisville he threw his Olympic medal off a bridge into the Ohio River to protest the racism the boxer continued to face in his hometown.

Many people later said that Cassius simply lost it and made up the story. Be that as it may, in 1996, President International Olympic Committee presented the boxer with a duplicate of the lost gold medal.

5. Cassius X

Year 1964, fight for the world title in heavyweight champion. Ali wins Sonny Liston (Sonny Liston). And he immediately joins the organization.” Nation of Islam" (Nation of Islam). Inspired by Malcolm X, Ali changes his name to Cassius X, and after a short time he takes a new name - Muhammad Ali.

• Malcolm X (full name: Malcolm Little) is an African-American Islamic spiritual leader and human rights activist.

Source: history.com

6. Refusal to serve in the army

Ali not only refused to serve in the army, but also to take part in the Vietnam War. I thought it was unfair. For this, the boxer was sentenced to 5 years in prison. But he was subject to appeal, and “ zone“I passed him by.

But there were other troubles: Muhammad was stripped of his world title and banned from entering the ring for 3 years.

7. “Fight of the Century”

In 1971, Muhammad entered the ring to fight Joe Frazier ( Joe Frazier). The fight went down in history as “ Fight of the Century“, because each of the boxers received $2.5 million for it ( it was at Madison Square Garden).

Fraser won. Ali was shocked: this was his first defeat in professional boxing.

From that moment the confrontation began “ Ali-Fraser“. Two more fights followed, in which Muhammad won. Journalists called one of these fights “ Thriller in Manila“ (“Thrilla in Manila"). She is recognized as one of the best in boxing history.

8. “Rumble in the Jungle”

Muhammad Ali died on June 3, 2016. greatest boxer of all times. It was he who showed boxing fans how you can “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” In this review, dedicated to the memory of the most famous boxer, we are a collection of little-known and very Interesting Facts about this amazing person.

1. Cassius Clay

Muhammad Ali was given the name Cassius Clay at birth. It was named after a white farmer and abolitionist of the nineteenth century who gave freedom to forty slaves inherited from his father.

2. Irish roots

Although Muhammad Ali was one of the most famous African-Americans in history, he actually also had Irish roots. His great-grandfather was an Irishman named Abe Grady who immigrated to the United States and settled in Kentucky in the 1860s, where he married a freed slave.

3. Stolen Schwinn

Young Cassius was inspired to become a boxer by the theft of his beloved red and white Schwinn bicycle. When a bicycle was stolen in 1954, twelve-year-old Ali reported the theft to a police officer who also taught boxing lessons at a local community center.

As a result, the officer suggested that Ali teach him to stand up for himself. Just six weeks later the boy won his first amateur boxing match.

4. Kentucky Golden Gloves

As an amateur boxer, Ali won 100 of his 108 fights, including six Kentucky Golden Gloves championships and an Olympic gold medal. gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960.

5. From the bridge to the river

About him Olympic medal there were many stories. Ali himself wrote in his 1975 autobiography that after returning to Louisville, he threw his gold medal off a bridge into the Ohio River to protest the racism still encountered in his hometown.

However, this has been disputed by some close to the boxer, who claim Ali made up the story after accidentally losing his medal. One way or another, during the 1996 Summer Olympics, Ali received a gold medal to replace the lost one.

6. Album "I am the Greatest" (all kinds of nonsense)

Ali was known for often talking nonsense. He even wrote his own poems in which he mocked his opponents and praised himself. The people at Columbia Records were so impressed by his ridicule that they decided to release an entire album in 1963 called I Am the Greatest, in which twenty-one-year-old Ali rapped his trash talk to musical accompaniment.

7. Victory over Liston

After he defeated Liston to win the world heavyweight title in 1964, the new champion confirmed reports that he had converted to Islam. Inspired by African-American Islamic spiritual leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, Ali changed his name to Cassius X.

8. Muhammad Ali refused to join the army

Muhammad Ali refused to join the US Army and take part in the Vietnam War, which he considered unjust. The boxer famously stated: "Not a single Viet Congress never called me Niger."

9. Ali was sentenced to five years

As a result of his refusal, he was sentenced to five years in prison. Ali was also stripped of his world title and banned from entering the ring for three years. And this was the heyday of his career.

10. Buck White Musical

During his forty-three-month forced absence from the ring, Ali played the lead role in the Broadway musical Buck White. Unfortunately, the musical closed just four days later after seven performances. Despite the project's failure, Ali, who played a militant black lecturer, received decent reviews.

11. "Battle of the Century"

In 1971, Muhammad Ali entered the ring against Joe Frazier. This match went down in history as the “Battle of the Century.” Ali and Frazier were paid $5 million for the fight, held at Madison Square Garden. This was the first professional fight that Ali lost.

12. "Thriller in Manila"

Muhammad Ali fought Frazier two more times, winning both matches. One of them, which is known as the "Thriller in Manila", is rated as one of the best in the history of the sport.

13. "Rumble in the Jungle"

The "Rumble in the Jungle" fight that followed his fight with Frazier (October 30, 1974) is one of the most iconic fights in boxing. In the Zairean capital Kinshasa, Ali defeated George Foreman (who was considered unbeatable at the time) by knockout in the eighth round.

14. Fifteen rounds of victory

In 1978, Muhammad Ali regained his title against Leon Spinks, which he won by unanimous decision after fifteen rounds. Thus, he became the first world boxing champion to win the title for the third time.

15. Ali returned to boxing

In 1980, at the age of thirty-eight, Ali returned to boxing to fight for the heavyweight title against then-champion Larry Holmes. This was the first and only time Ali lost by knockout in the eleventh round. Unfortunately, during this match the first signs of Parkinson's disease were publicly noticed.

16. Olympic flame

On July 19, 1996, Ali, constantly shaking (from Parkinson's disease), lit the torch at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. It was noted by Sports Illustrated as one of the most emotional moments in sports history.

17. First in advertising

On February 4, 1999, Muhammad Ali became the first boxer to appear on a box of Wheaties breakfast cereal.

18. Spartan training

It's hard to believe today, but Ali trained his speed by dodging rocks. He asked his best friend to throw stones at him and practice dodging them.

19. IQ Ali

The US Army measured Ali's IQ, which was... 78. In his autobiography, Ali jokingly said: "I claimed that I was the greatest, not the smartest."

20. Most Outstanding Athlete

In 1999, Ali was named the most outstanding North American athlete of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated.

21. Equipment is more expensive than an athlete

Almost fifty years after that fight with Liston, the gloves Ali wore in that fight brought in more money than the boxer earned for championship fight. In 2013, an anonymous buyer purchased the gloves Ali wore to win his first world title for $836,000. By comparison, Ali only earned $630,000 for his victory.

22. Tribute to Muhammad Ali

The Greatest of All Time: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali, published by Benedikt Taschen, weighs 34 kilograms. Moreover, it is covered with silk and leather from Louis Vuitton. The book has 780 pages, its size is 50x cm. It contains 600,000 words and more than 3,000 images.

Muhammad Ali freed hostages in Iraq.

On November 27, 1990, Muhammad Ali met with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad to negotiate the release of American hostages in Iraq and Kuwait. The following month, Ali personally escorted fifteen freed American hostages from Iraq, which only added to his respect throughout the world.

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