Global sports icon and boxing legend Muhammad Ali passed away today at the age of 74 in Phoenix, Arizona. Ali was battling Parkinson’s disease since 1984. The boxer, arguably the greatest sports icon of the 20th century, was named the world heavyweight champion by the World Boxing Association three different times, in 1964, 1974, and 1978. Besides, he was also an Olympic gold medalist.
Apart from his feats in the ring, what added to Ali’s aura were the principled stands he took against racism and the Vietnam War. Later, he became a global figure as he used his fame from boxing to enter the world of philanthropy as he actively engaged in various causes including Human Rights violations, hunger, and HIV among others.
Today, as the world mourns the death of a legend, Sportskeeda presents to you some little-known stories about the man and the legend that Muhammad Ali was.
1. A stolen cycle was what got Ali to start boxing
Muhammad Ali’s boxing career wouldn’t have even started had it not been for a stolen bicycle and a chance meeting with a certain Joe Martin. As the story goes, a 12 year Cassius Clay was attending an annual convention of the Louisville Service Club at the Columbia Auditorium with a friend. On returning from the convention, Clay couldn’t find his new red and white Schwinn bicycle. A tearful Clay was directed to the basement of the auditorium by onlookers.
The basement happened to be a boxing gym where a certain Joe Martin, a policeman manning the gym met a crying Clay and asked him one question that would turn his life around. “Well, do you know how to fight?” Clay quipped back, “No, but I’d fight anyway.” To this Martin suggested, “Why don’t you learn something about fighting,” Martin suggested, “before you go and make any hasty challenges?” And Clay followed his advice and hence started his journey to boxing glory. Martin went on to become Clay’s first trainer.
#2 Muhammad Ali was briefly known as Cassius X
In 1964, Muhammad Ali announced that he would join the Nation of Islam and just as Malcolm X, he would rechristen himself as Cassius X. The rationale behind this decision of adopting X as a surname was explained by Malcolm X in a TV interview “The last name of my forefathers was taken from them when they were brought to America and made slaves. And then the name of the slave master was given which we refuse, we reject that name today. We refuse to acknowledge it, whatsoever.” Later, on March 6, 1964 Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad bestowed upon him the holy name Muhammad Ali.
Ali later himself said, “Cassius Clay is a slave name. Clay means dirt. I didn’t choose it and I didn’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name — Muhammad means ‘worthy of praise’ and Ali means ‘most high’ — and I insist people use it when people speak to me and of me.”
#3 The boxer refused to serve in the forces during the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War of 1967, Ali like most Americans was asked to join the army. But as a member of Nation of Islam, Ali refused to serve in the army. Ali, then known as Cassius Clay issued a statement saying: "It is in the light of my consciousness as a Muslim minister and my own personal convictions that I take my stand in rejecting the call to be inducted. I do so with the full realisation of its implications. I have searched my conscience.”
#4 Ali’s boxing license was suspended
Ali was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to the maximum of five years in prison and fined $10,000. The New York Boxing Commission, which suspended his license, said his refusal to enter the service was detrimental to the best interests of boxing.
In 1970 the New York State Supreme Court ordered his boxing license reinstated, and he returned to the ring by knocking out Jerry Quarry in October 1970. The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Ali’s conviction in a unanimous decision.
#5 Ali was nominated for a Grammy
In 1963, Ali released a primarily spoken-word comedy album on Columbia Records and titled it I Am the Greatest. On it, he collaborated with comedy writer Gary Belkin on the material, performing it live at before an audience of 200 people.
The phenomenon was real, and Ali's album was nominated for a Grammy. Ali even went on collaborate in 1976 with Frank Sinatra, Ossie Davis, Howard Cosell and others to record an album called Ali and His Gang Vs. Mr. Tooth Decay.
#6 Ali was awarded a replacement medal at the 1996 Olympics
After the 18-year-old fighter won the light heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, he wrote in his autobiography that he threw his gold medal off a bridge and into the Ohio River to protest against racism that he still encountered in his hometown. Well, that is how the story goes, which Ali later came to deny.
He said that he had misplaced the medal and lost it and didn’t throw it away in a river. During the 1996 Summer Olympics, at which he lit the cauldron in the Opening Ceremonies, Ali received a replacement gold medal by the IOC.
#7 The greatest boxer also met the greatest cricketer of his era
The greatest boxer once traveled across the Atlantic to see the greatest cricketer in action when he attended a match between England and West Indies in 1966 to watch Sir Garfield Sobers in action. There are glorious photographs of Muhammad Ali trying his hand at cricket in the Lord’s dressing room as well as photos of him sitting with Sir Garfield Sobers and in the famed balcony of Lord’s.
#8 Ali predicted his own greatness
Much before he became popular for predicting the results of his fights, Ali predicted his own greatness. In January 1964, before his bout with Liston, at the end of a workout, the 22-year-old Ali removed his gloves and wiped off the sweat. Then he reached for a pen and autographed one of his training gloves for posterity. “From Cassius Clay,” he wrote, and capitalized the first letter of the following words for emphasis: “Next Heavyweight Champion of the World.” Then he underscored it.
Today the gloves, acquired from the Dundee family by curator Paul Gardullo, reside in the collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, scheduled to open in 2015.
#9 Ali was turned away by his idol Sugar Ray Robinson
To say a young Cassius Clay was a fan of Sugar Ray Robinson would be an understatement. Muhammad Ali called Sugar Ray "the king, the master, my idol." However, he got a rude shock when he was turned away by his idol on their first meeting in 1960.
Later, Ali reminisced “At that moment, I vowed never to turn a fan away.” And he remained the same throughout and later quipped, “I’m the people’s champion. You can walk up to me and say ‘hello’ without paying.”
#10 Ali was also the pioneer of MMA as we know it today
In 1976, Muhammad Ali took on Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki at Nippon Budokan arena in Tokyo on June 26, 1976. The reigning WBC/WBA Heavyweight Champion was given a tough fight by Inoki who had been staging exhibition fights against champions of various martial arts, in an attempt to show that pro wrestling was the dominant fighting discipline. This fight fought under special rules was seen as a precursor to modern Mixed Martial Arts.
