Muhammad Ali, The world's Greatest
... He had a lot of goals met throughout his young career but the most impressive was probably the Gold Medal he won at the Olympic Games in 1960. He competed in the light heavy weight division .He would use rude remarks to distract and frustrate his opponents. This was a great strategy. After his victory in the Olympics, he returned to Kentucky and signed a contract .He was ranked only ninth, but he began to attract attention early because he was bragging about his ability to win the world heavy weight title. In 1964, he wrote sports Illustrated saying that “Cassius Clay is a boxer who can throw the jive better than anybody”. In this same year he showed them how true that was. His next battle was against the great Sonny Liston. The match was in Miami, Florida and attracted a lot of people because of Ali’s insults toward Liston. During the battle with Liston, he combined grace and power into one impressive show. He used his quick feet to get out of the reach of Liston, while throwing some of his jabs in the process. When the bell for the eighth round rang, Liston stayed on his stool in his corner and forfitted the fight. It was then that Ali won the title at the age of 22. This was the start for his amazing career as the “prince of boxing”. In June of 1965, he was set for a rematch against Liston. He decided to unleash a hard-hitting first round knockout blow. The blow was so stunning that it lifted Liston’s left foot off the mat. Ali’s next big fight was on February 6, 1967 against Ernie Terrell, who had the boxing association championship. Ali was pumped from the start due to Terrell’s harsh remarks at the press conference previous to the fight. The fight ended with Ali’s victory by decision. This was a big accomplishment; Ali was the undisputed Heavy Weight Champion of the world. No one knew Ali’s life was soon to change. After meeting Malcolm X in Miami, he was inspired to join the black Muslims. Eventually he changed his name to Muhammed Ali. . He began to focus a lot of his attention on religion. He protested racism and got very angry after being denied service at soda fountain. He tossed his Olympic gold medal into the river because of his rage. He said, “That gold medal didn’t mean a thing to me if my black brothers and sisters were treated wrong in a country I was supposed to represent.” Many fans hated Ali when they found out that he joined the Muslim nation. In May of 1967 the selective service called for his draft number and he was going to be sent to Vietnam. When they called his name to get in line, he refused. He was convicted of not following the Selective Service act, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison and was later let off on appeal. The national boxing association took away his title. Ali was ready to put all this behind him and return to boxing. His next fight was against Joe Frazier in New York City on March of 1971. Frazier won and kept the title for now. Ali was given a rematch after Frazier was defeated by George foreman. The win went to Ali, and he got his title fight against George Foreman. Ali set the match to be held in Kinshasa Zaire. The match was called “The Rumble in the Jungle”. He would run through the village for training He felt like he was a leader to his fellow African people. George Foreman was the favorite because of his young age and power. Ali was an older and more experienced fighter. ...