Why is Muhammad Ali famous?

Why is Muhammad Ali famous?

Muhammad Ali was a heavy weight boxing champion called as The Greatest”. He was born on January 17th 1942 at Louisville, Kentucky. His earlier name was Cassius Marcellus Clay. Muhammad Ali was a dominant heavy weight fighter during 1960s and 1970s. He is heavy weight contestant who can maintain high speed. With his name Cassius Clay, he participated and won gold medal at the Olympics competition in 1960 held at Rome. Muhammad Ali claimed his first title in 1964 by defeating Sonny Liston. Later Clay has joined Islamism and the country which follows that. Here Clay changed his name as Mohammed Ali. Muhammad is extremely devoted to Islam.

His achievements in boxing and heavy weight championships are great. He has won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, won national Golden Gloves title in 1959-60, won world heavy weight championship in the years 1964-67; 1974-79, won US Olympic Hall of fame in 1983, and known as world’s all time greatest heavyweight champion by the Ring Magazine in 1987. He was an inductee of international Boxing Hall of Fame in the year 1990. He was crowned with life time achievement award by Jim Thorpe pro sports award in the year 1992. A museum on his name was opened at Louisville Galleria in 1995. He further bagged Essence award in 1997 and Sportsman of the year award in 1999.

Muhammad Ali was known to have defeated many heavy weight champions, common wealth and British kings and tough fighters like Sonny Banks and Billy Daniels. He was able to defend his title 9 times in between 1965 and 1967. Hence, he was recognized universally as world heavy weight champion. When he refused to be part of the United States army in the Vietnam War, his title was taken off. He was not allowed to participate in boxing competitions and was not allowed to enter the fighting ring for another 3.5 years. He could manage to reinstate his boxing license in 1970. He could defend his titles again between 1974 and 1978 for 10 times. He lost to Leon in 1978 and later gained his title back after 7 months. He retired in 1981 from the Boxing. His achievement record displays 56 wins and 5 losses which made him so famous.