Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and reared there. At the age of 12, he began training as an amateur boxer. At the age of 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight class at the 1960 Summer Olympics and became pro the following year. After 1961, he converted to Islam. In 1964, he married Veronica Gentry. They had three children together: Marrianne, Maryum, and Malika. In 1971, he divorced Veronica after she failed to meet his financial requirements. He never remarried.
Before becoming world-famous for boxing, Ali worked at various jobs including truck driver, shoe shiner, gas station attendant, and waiter.
He started his professional career in January 1962 with a win by KO/TKO in 1 round against John Tate. In 1963, he went 16-0 and in 1964, he went 15-1 scoring 14 KOs. In 1965, he lost for the first time, but still finished with a record of 44-4. In 1966, he regained his title with a win by KO/TKO in 10 rounds over Sonny Liston. In 1967, he lost the title to Liston again by KO/TKO in 9 rounds. In 1968, he retired after being knocked out by Liston for a second time.
After his retirement from boxing, Ali worked as a paid promoter and managed several boxers.
17 January 1942: Muhammad Ali, born in Louisville, Kentucky, broke down racial boundaries in the segregated South to become the greatest boxer of all time, earning an Olympic gold medal in 1960 and the heavyweight title in 1964. An icon of the civil rights movement, he was named one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.
Ali came from a family of boxers: his father, Charles "Chuck" Ali, was a successful fighter in his own right, while his mother, Odessa Grady, helped raise him along with his two older sisters. When he was 12 years old, Ali lost his father when he died during surgery. His mother then married a local man who had several children of his own. This new family moved to Detroit where they would live for several years while Chuck Ali's boxing career took off. When he became world-famous, he brought money home that helped support his wife and children.
When Ali was 18 years old, he joined his uncle in Detroit and began training to become a boxer himself. He quickly turned professional and started earning large sums of money. In 1955, at the age of 24, he won the World Heavyweight Championship from Sonny Liston by knockout in the ninth round. He held on to the title for nearly a year before losing it to Joe Louis.
On Saturday, January 17, 1942, he was born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Muhammad Ali portrays himself as a spiritual person who is both a seeker and a seeker of truth. He says that he reads many books about religion to satisfy his curiosity about other people's beliefs. He also says that he wants to know what happens after we die.
Muhammad Ali grew up in Louisville, where he learned how to box at the local gym. He became interested in boxing at an early age and decided to pursue this career full-time when he was only 16 years old. In 1963, he became the first boxer to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Three years later, he returned the prize in protest against the Vietnam War. After retiring from boxing in 1981, he worked as a minister and preached around the world. He died on January 17, 2016 at 75 years old.
During his lifetime, Muhammad Ali has received many awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. He has also been listed among many other famous people by Gallup to be one of the most important persons in history.
After he died in 2016, it was revealed that Muhammad Ali had converted to Islam several years before he passed away. He married three times and had six children with four different women.
Boxing. Ali immediately rose to prominence as a brilliant fighter, and he represented the United States in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. There, he won the light-heavyweight gold medal and rose to prominence as a boxer. He became the world heavyweight title in 1964!
Muhammad Ali attended Louisville's Central High School. Ali, a D student, graduated 376th out of 391 in 1960, the same year he won the light-heavyweight boxing gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens. He did not attend college. Ali, born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. on January 18, 1942, began boxing training at the age of 12.
Childhood Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., the first of Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. and Odessa Grady Clay's two sons, was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. His father was a sign painter who also liked to perform, sing, and dance; when money was tight, his mother worked as a cleaning lady. Ali began boxing when he was twelve years old. He had always wanted to be a boxer since watching Jack Dempsey beat Jess Willard in 1919 at Madison Square Garden. That same year, Odessa died of tuberculosis.
After losing his mother, he found another to take care of him. His trainer, Charles Brewer, helped raise him along with his wife, Lucille. They had three children together: Linda, Maryam, and Muhammad Ali.
Clay started off his career badly when he attacked a rival fighter after a loss. He got six months in prison. After getting out, he decided to change his style of fighting and start giving credit to other fighters such as Jake LaMotta, Joe Louis, and Henry Cooper for teaching him how to box. This made people believe in him again and he regained their trust. In 1952, at the age of nineteen, he won the gold medal at the Helsinki Olympics. After the success at the Olympics, he decided to turn pro. His first fight against Sonny Liston was for the title of world heavyweight champion. It took place in Louisville, Kentucky on February 25, 1964.
Timeline of Muhammad Ali
Ali grew up at 3302 Grand Avenue in Louisville's West End and was exposed to boxing at an early age by a local police officer when the boy's bicycle was stolen. He went to Central High School, but his schoolwork deteriorated as a result of his boxing responsibilities. He turned to sports betting to pay for his training and finances.
After high school, he worked as a delivery man for a bakery before turning pro in 1964. He became the Heavyweight Champion of the World in 1974 at age 28 with 30 wins by knockout. In 1975, he lost that title to Larry Holmes. In 1978, he regained the title from Holmes with a 12th-round TKO victory. In 1981, he lost the title to James "Bonecrusher" Smith. In 1984, he retired after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He came out of retirement in 1989 for one final fight at the age of 42. It was a loss to Michael Dokes but it made Ali only the third boxer in history (after Joe Louis and George Foreman) to win the world heavyweight championship in each of its various divisions (heavyweight, light heavyweight, and cruiserweight).
After retiring for good, he returned to Louisville where he married three times and had seven children. He worked as a color commentator for ESPN until 2001 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He died on January 7, 2016 at the age of 74.
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