'I can't keep food inside for some reason,' he said. In 2005, he was bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.In a video posted to Instagram on February 28, McMillan laid out in great detail the struggles his body was going through. Despite few years of break from boxing, when he returned, his reflexes were still superb and he was regarded as a courageous fighter.Įven though Ali’s record of 56 wins and 5 losses with 37 knockouts has been matched by other boxers, what makes him one of the greatest fighters of all time is the competence of his opponents and how he dominated the boxing fraternity during his hey days. He refused induction in the US Army because of which he was stripped off of his championship and prohibited from fighting. Like any other renowned personalities, Ali’s life was not one without controversy. In 1964, soon after Clay defeated Sonny Liston, he announced that he had adopted Islam and two years later, he was rechristened as Muhammad Ali. During his entire career as a professional boxer, Clay has had 56 wins out of a total of 61 fights. Other legendary boxers against whom Clay won include Floyd Patterson, George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Brian London and Cleveland. In 1964, Clay challenged Sonny Liston, one of the most powerful fighters of that era and astonishingly, the veteran boxer was defeated. His professional boxing career began after he won a gold medal in the 175-pound division at the 1960 Olympic Games. He started boxing by chance at the age of 12 soon after which he started learning it under the training of a Louisville policeman.

Muhammad Ali was born on Januas Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr, in a middle class family when discrimination and segregation was widely prevalent in American society. Let’s take a look at how he went on to become one of the greatest boxers of all time.Įarly life and initial boxing career of Muhammad Ali Other than his ring skills, he was highly regarded for his charm and personality. There are people who achieve success at a much later stage in their life, however, Ali was someone who quickly became a great boxer. Speaking of sports, Muhammad Ali is one such figure whose name is quite ubiquitous, especially in the boxing fraternity. January is special not only because of it being the first month of the year, but also because many of our favourite personalities from literature, entertainment, sports and politics were born during this month.

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