On February 25, 1964, 22-year-old Muhammad Ali won his first world heavyweight boxing title. Liston was an overwhelming favorite, with the odds being 8-1. However, Ali remained confident, exclaiming he would “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” After the match, Ali called himself “the greatest” boxer in the world.
During the fight, Liston struggled with a shoulder injury and failed to answer the bell in the seventh round, giving Ali a technical knockout victory. It was the last match Ali would win under his birth name, Cassius Clay. Shortly after the flight, he joined the Nation of Islam and adopted the name Muhammad Ali. He was a close friend of civil rights leader Malcolm X.
Ali was born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, and began boxing at age 12. By his late teens, he found great success in boxing, winning the International Golden Gloves heavyweight title in 1959 and earning a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics. In 1965, Ali faced Liston in a rematch, knocking him out in the first round. He went on to defend his heavyweight title multiple times, solidifying his dominance in the sport. However, in 1967, Ali’s career was interrupted when he refused induction into the United States Army during the Vietnam War, citing religious beliefs and opposition to the conflict. He famously declared, “I Ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.”
As a result, Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title, fined $10,000, convicted of draft evasion, and banned from boxing. Although he was sentenced to five years in prison, he remained free while appealing the decision. In 1971, the United States Supreme Court unanimously overturned his conviction, allowing him to return to professional boxing.
Ali regained the heavyweight championship by defeating George Foreman in 1974, then again in 1978 against Leon Spinks in a rematch, becoming the first boxer to win the heavyweight title three times. After nearly thirty years in boxing, Ali retired in 1979.
His impact extended past the ring. In 1990, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and in 2005, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984, Ali remained a global figure for his courage, strength, and activism until his death in 2016 at 74 years old. His legacy continues as one of the most influential figures in sports and civil rights history.
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