Muhammed+Ali

Muhammed Ali (Cassius Clay)
Cassius Clay was born January 17, 1942 in Kentucky, USA. He changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali in 1964. He is a famous boxer. He used to tell other boxers to 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'. This meant 'move lightly around on your feet, and hit hard.'

He won his first gold medal as a light heavyweight at the 1960 Summer Olympics at Rome in Italy. After that he turned professional.

Until 1986, he was the youngest boxer ever to take the heavyweight title from a reigning champion.

Later he was the first to win the lineal heavyweight championship three times. (This is like a world championship). In 1970 he fought Joe Frazier in //The Fight of the Century//.

Troubles
Sometimes people in America were racist to Ali because he was black. He says that he threw his 1960 Olympics gold medal away when people would not serve him in a restaurant (but some people say this is not true).

He could not read or write very well, and failed US army tests.

In 1967, Ali refused to join the US army because of his religion and because he disagreed with the war in Vietnam. This was illegal. He was arrested and found guilty. His boxing titles were taken away he was not allowed to fight for nearly four years. He appealed to the courts to change these decisions and eventually won.

In 1976 Ali hurt his legs in a kick-boxing match and he could not move as well as he used to, After that he started losing fights and retired in 1981. He lit the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, USA.

In 1999, Ali was crowned //Sportsman of the Century// by a magazine called //Sports Illustrated// //[|Sports Illustrated]// and //Sports Personality of the Century// by the BBC ( a TV station in Great Britain).

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