June 6, 2016

Muhammad Ali, right, slugs Joe Frazier during their 1975 title bout in Manila, the Philippines. Ali was often referred to as “the Champ,” or, simply, “the Greatest.”
CREDIT: AP Photo

Late on Friday, June 3, former U.S. heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali died at an Arizona hospital. Ali was perhaps the most colorful and controversial boxing champion in the history of the sport. Prior to becoming a three-time professional world champ, Ali won gold at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games. He was also a giant cultural figure, standing up for political, religious, and social causes regardless of their popularity. In the 1960′s, Ali refused to be drafted into the army during the Vietnam War. He rejected racial integration at the height of the civil rights movement. He joined the Nation of Islam (later converting to traditional Islam), and changed his name from Cassius Clay (what Ali called his “slave” name) to Muhammad Ali. Conservatives considered Ali a serious threat to the establishment at the time, while liberals often saw courage and nobility in his acts of defiance. Ali became an icon of the 20^th century itself, and was well known throughout the world. After a long fight with Parkinson disease, a chronic nervous ailment that inhibits movement and speech, Ali died at the age of 74.

Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay on Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. He became a professional boxer after winning the 1960 Olympic light heavyweight title. Ali’s famous ring opponents included Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Larry Holmes. Ali last fought professionally in 1980, and he was diagnosed with Parkinson disease in 1984. In 1999, Ali was named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated magazine and Sports Personality of the Century by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Ali’s daughter Laila became a professional boxer in 1999, fighting other women. In 2005, Ali received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the country’s highest civilian honors. Also that year, the Muhammad Ali Center opened in Louisville. This museum and cultural center is dedicated to Ali’s life in and out of boxing.