Muhammad Ali \ Cassius Clay

By Duncan “Champman” Buchanan

Early Life

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17, 1942.  He was named after his father, Cassius Clay,  who was a sign painter. His name was also linked to a white plantation owner named Cassius Clay.  Cassius (the boy) had a little brother named Rudolph Clay. His mother’s name was Odessa Clay and she cooked homemade meals and sold them. Although life was hard growing up, Cassius was a happy boy because of his family and friends. 

For his twelfth birthday Cassius received a beautiful, red Schwin bicycle from his father. One day, the Colombia Stadium was having a free show with free candy, popcorn, and soda pop.  So, Cassius and his buddies rode to the Stadium for the show and goodies. When Cassius & his friends walked out of the theater, Cassius’s bike was gone! Cassius was so mad; he said he’d whip whoever stole his bike. A nearby police man told him that if he was gonna whip someone; he’d better learn how to fight. The policeman’s name was Joe Martin, the host of a local TV show called Tomorrow’s Champions. Joe owned a gymnasium for young boxers. Cassius rushed home to ask his parents if he could learn to box and they gave him permission to visit Mr. Martin’s gym

Training

Cassius started running five miles every morning & racing the bus to school. He went to the gym every chance he got & worked hard. One of the most important things he did while training was to jump rope every chance he got. Cassius ate only healthy foods and no junk food at all!  Then Cassius started participating in amateur bouts. By the time he was 18, he had won 100 Amateur bouts. He had made it to the Golden Gloves tournament and won first prize in his hometown of Louisville, KY in 1960.  He also won that title again in Chicago soon after. This was the first time Cassius had seen himself in a newspaper before. He was very excited. He told his mom he was the greatest! Cassius thought about going pro, but first he decided to try out for the 1964 Olympic Games in Rome.                                                    

Career as a Boxer

Cassius tried out for the Olympic Boxing Team and he made the team!  The team had to travel from America to Europe for the games, but Cassius was afraid to fly in an airplane.  Cassius was so scared, that he bought a parachute just in case they crashed into a hillside or mountain.  He made it safely to Rome and there he won the Olympic Gold Medal for Men’s Boxing.

After that, he entered Professional Boxing. During his career, he fought many champs, such as Sonny Liston, an ex-convict, backed by the Mafia, & George Foreman, one of the many kings of boxing, & Henry Cooper, in Cassius’s first fight overseas. Out of all of these, Cassius says that the hardest was George Foreman. Cassius fought Foreman 3 times. He lost the first fight, & won the last two.

Cassius Clay is the only man on earth to have won the Heavyweight champion of the world title three times. He won it the first time in his fight against Sonny Liston. He won it the second time in his fight against George Foreman. He won it the last time against George Foreman before Cassius retired.

Struggles (Religion)

After snatching the Heavyweight Champion of The World title from Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay announced that he had become a Muslim, & that he had changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Ali had become a Muslim because of their toleration towards blacks & their refusal to fight in wars. When Muhammad Ali was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, he said no because it was against his religion. Muhammad Ali was banned from professional boxing for 3 1\2 years because he was convicted of evading induction into the military which made him a criminal.  Ali lost a lot of his speed during that period of time because he was kept from boxing professionally. When he came back, many people thought it was over for him. But no, he won the Heavyweight Champion of the World one more time before his body was taken over by Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a disease that slowly but sadly surely takes over your body. Muhammad Ali would never box again.

Life after Boxing

Muhammad Ali is still alive and well.  In 2001 has opened the 31 million dollar Muhammad Ali Center, a medical center in Louisville devoted to treating and curing Parkinson’s Disease.  In 1996, Muhammad Ali made a surprise appearance as the final torch bearer for the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics.  It was a surprise that made everyone cheer and many get tears in their eyes.  Muhammad Ali has won peace awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Otto Hahn Peace Medal, and he was named the Messenger of Peace by the city of Louisville.  These awards were given to him for recognition of his life of service as a role model and advocate for peace among all people.

Muhammad Ali is married to Yolanda Williams. They have nine children, each one healthy and praying five times a day according to Muslim religious tradition.  Muhammad Ali is a great influence on all young boxers and Muslims everywhere.