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Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay on January 17th 1942 and died on June 3rd 2016.
In 1954, at 12 years old Cassius Clay began boxing after his bicycle was stolen. He told a policeman Joe Martin who was also a boxing trainer, he’s gonna whup the thief who stole his bike. Martin said, ‘you better learn how to box.’ Clay never found the thief but he won the 1960’s Light-heavyweight Olympic Gold medal.
On February 25th 1964, he “Shook up the World” when he beat the awesome Sonny Liston and winning the WBC and WBA World Heavyweight Championship. After the fight Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He already signed a contract to fight Liston for a second time which was against the WBA’s wishes, they stripped him from their version of the title. On March 5th 1965, Ernie Terrell and Eddie Machen fought for the vacant WBA title which Terrell won and became Champion.
On May 25th 1965, Muhammad Ali fought Sonny Liston. This fight became one of the most controversial fights in the history of boxing. Ali connected with a right-hand punch, Liston went down onto his back, he rolled over, got up to his right knee then fell to his back again. The referee Jersey Joe Walcott tried to get Ali to a neutral corner but he insisted standing over Liston telling him to get up. Liston got to his feet, Walcott wiped Liston’s gloves. He then left the fighters to go over to the timekeeper Francis McDonough who was waving both his hands and shouted, ‘I counted him out, the fight is over.’ Walcott rushed back to the fighters and stopped the fight. Ali won by a knockout. After the fight Liston said, ‘it was a good right hand punch, it made me groggy. I got to my knees but fell the second time because I was off balance, I could’ve got up, but I didn’t hear the count.’
After the Liston fight, Ali had good wins against Floyd Patterson, George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Brian London, Karl Mildenberger and Cleveland Williams. Now he has his chance to fight Ernie Terrell for the WBA Championship. The fight took place on February 2nd 1967. Ali beat Terrell on points, won back the WBA Title and unified the Championship for a second time.
Because of Ali’s refusal to be inducted into the US Army and fight the war in Vietnam, he was banned from boxing, he was stripped from his titles, his boxing license and passport were suspended. My Father, Paddy Monaghan felt a big injustice was done so he started an “ALI IS OUR CHAMP” campaign to help get Muhammad’s license re-instated. Without him knowing at the time he also started the very first Muhammad Ali Fan Club. Paddy named Muhammad “The Peoples Champion”, that title became famous all over the world. After nearly four-years, he collected 22, 224 signatures world-wide, sent copies to the WBA and WBC and took the original signatures to the American Embassy in London along with a letter to President Richard Nixon. A short time after, Muhammad was given a license to fight in Georgia. Muhammad and Paddy’s unique friendship soon developed in 1971.
On October 26th 1970, Muhammad had his comeback fight against the tough Irish Jerry Quarry. Teddy Bentham, Quarry’s chief cornerman stopped the fight due to a badly cut eye at the end of round 3. On December 7th 1970, Muhammad fought Oscar Bonavena and stopped him in the 15th round. On March 8th 1971, “The Peoples Champion” fought the reigning World Heavyweight Champion Smokin’ Joe Frazier in what’s known as “The Fight of the Century”. Both fighters were undefeated, the whole world were sitting on the edge of their seats as they watched the two great warriors battle it out which truly lived up to all the pre-fight hype with none stop action from start to finish. Ali showed some ring rust from the ban but Frazier was relentless, he piled on the pressure and knocked Ali down in the 15th round. Frazier won the fight on points.
On January 22nd 1973, Big George Foreman became the World Heavyweight Champion when he stopped Joe Frazier in the 2nd round. Ali fought the awesome Ken Norton on March 31st 1973. Norton broke Ali’s jaw in the second round and won on a 12-round split decision. Just over five months later on September 10th 1973, Ali got his revenge over Norton by 12 round a split decision.
On January 28th 1974, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought again in a title eliminator known as “Super Fight II”. There was no ring rust this time for Ali, he handled Frazier much better than in their first showdown but none the less it was another tough fight and Ali won on a unanimous decision. On October 30th 1974, Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman for the World Heavyweight Championship. This fight is known as “The Rumble in the Jungle”. Because of the way Foreman beat Frazier and Norton, two of Muhammad’s biggest rivals, most people thought Foreman was going to have an easy win over Ali. Muhammad leaned on and fought off the ropes for most of the fight which is known as “The Rope a Dope” with Foreman being the dope. Ali came off the ropes in the 8th round and knocked out Big George Foreman and winning the World Championship.
On October 1st 1975, Muhammad Ali fought Smokin’ Joe Frazier for a 3rd time. This is known as “The Thrilla in Manila”. They threw everything they had at each other, through the heat and the fast pace of the fight they were both totally exhausted. Muhammad Ali was the victor when Joe Frazier’s trainer Eddie Futch wouldn’t allow him to go out for the 15th and final round. Muhammad got off his stool, raised his arm in the air then collapsed, they both nearly killed each other. This fight has gone done in history as the most brutal heavyweight gloved fight of all time.
Muhammad fought Ken Norton for the 3rd time on September 28th 1976 winning by a split decision. On September 29th 1977, Ali won a hard-fought unanimous decision against the hardest puncher of all time, Earnie Shavers.
Muhammad lost his title on a split decision on to February 15th 1978 when he fought Leon Spinks. Spinks signed a rematch with Ali against the WBC’s wishes so they stripped him from their version of the title and gave it to Ken Norton, who lost it to Larry Holmes by a split decision on June 9th 1978. Ali won back the WBA Championship when he beat Spinks on a unanimous decision on September 15th 1978. A lot of people say Ali was three times world heavyweight champion when in fact he was four times. He unified the Championship three times but after defeating Spinks, he won the WBA Championship which makes him four times WBA Champion.
Muhammad retired from boxing but his retirement didn’t last long. He made his return to the ring on October 10th 1980 and fought the great Larry Holmes for the WBC Championship. Ali’s illness, old age amongst other things was too much for him as Holmes pilled on the pressure and won when Muhammad’s trainer Angelo Dundee called a stop to the fight in the corner after the 10th round. Muhammad had his last professional fight on December 11th 1981 against Trevor Berbick. Berbick won on a unanimous points decision but many people thought Muhammad done enough to win but the decision was probably the right one because many believe if Ali would have got the winning decision, he would have carried on boxing.
In 1984, Muhammad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome but those who were close to him say he showed symptoms back in 1976. Muhammad is the only boxer to be named “The Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year” six times. Ali has travelled the world helping others and donating millions of dollars to charity organizations. It’s been estimated, he’s helped to feed more than 22 million people afflicted by hunger around the world. He has been honored with so many awards with his achievements. He has been ranked the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.
Muhammad Ali aka “The Louisville Lip” – “The Greatest” – “The Peoples Champion” there’ll never be another like him.
