I am the Greatest! were not the merely the touted words of a deluded man.

Muhammad Ali, Born Cassius Clay, was one the greatest boxers of his time, winning the hea yweight !ham"ionshi" belt a re!ord three times. #ot only that he !hanged the fa!e of boxing as well as the so!ial order for his "eo"le. $e was born on %anuary &', &()* in +ouis ille, ,entu!-y. $e began boxing when at the age of twel e, he had his bi-e stolen and had owed to whu" whoe er stole it. to !hannel his aggressi e attitude towards something more "rogressi e, .red /tone began tea!hing him boxing. $e went on to the 0lym"i!s and later amasses great fortune and fame as a boxer. $e was Afri!an Ameri!an who had to deal with the whole segregation in the south and in addition, he was also Muslim whi!h ga e him e en more trouble for both his "ersonal life and !areer. Muhammad Ali defied the !on entionalities of boxing in his time to introdu!e his own uni1ue blend of "ersonal style and beliefs that will be fore er ingrained in history. Muhammad Ali s. /onny +iston Muhammad began his stee" !limb to fame with his infamous fight hea yweight !ham"ion /onny +iston. Ali was a natural entertainer but he was also 1uite aggressi e in his "ursuits. $e bought a bus to tra el to +iston2s home and he made 1uite a media s-e"ti!al about himself right on +iston2s lawn, bragging about his own im"ending win. +iston was 1uiet and silent to many of Ali2s insults, in!luding Ali2s naming him an ugly, old bear, not sur"risingly be!ause of his si3e. Many !riti!s bereted Ali for his la!- of thoughtfulness at the !oming mat!h. +iston "a!-ed a "owerful "un!h but Ali laughed it off in the fa!e of the blin-ing !ameras. $e was !onfident in his own abilities to maneu er around his "un!hes, saying he was 1uite agile and fast. But he wasn2t all 4ust tal-. $e -new what he was about and he followed +iston around, trying o figure to his habit and

diets, but most im"ortantly his wea-nesses. +iston answered the "ress 1uestions with abru"t and "re!ise answers, on!e stating he only wanted to 4am his fist down Ali2s throat to shut him u" while Ali would laun!h into a whole monologue of how inferior +iston was to him and how he !ould beat his so easy, e en ma-ing u" a few "oems. At the weigh5in, Ali wore a 4a!-et bearing the words Bear $unting on the ba!- and began shout /ting li-e a bee, float li-e a butterfly, rumble, young man, rumble, at the to" of his lungs while +iston was in sight. Clay went !ra3y, throwing down the gauntlet right then and there and his managers 6undee, 7obinson, and .a ersham ha ing to hold him ba!-. +iston was silent throughout the entire tirade. Ali, in later years laughed of his anti!s and !ited he merely wanted to "ut off a bra e front and through off +iston as well as to sha-e him. 8hen !ame the fighting night, a twenty5two year old Ali ersus a 555555555 +iston. It was e"i!. %ust as the fight was beginning, Ali -new he was s!ared but he was there under the glaring lights fa!ing the ugly, old bear. 7ound one was ty"i!al and both got in a few "un!hes but Ali was 4ust relie ed that he had sur i ed it, gi ing him the boost to !arry the whole fight through. In the se!ond round, +iston got Ali near the ro"es and "ummeled him with his famous fists. But Ali !ame right round in the third round and in the forth round he got in some i!ious 4abs and managed to ma-e +iston bleed, a $er!ulean effort it had seemed to the !rowd. At the end of the fourth, Ali !ame ba!- to 6undee !om"laining his eyes stinging and wanting to !ut off his glo es but 6undee 4ust ga e him some water and "ushed Ali ba!- into the ring. 9ears later, a few days before another fight that Ali would ha e a "eddler offered Ali some "owder to rub into his glo es to tem"orarily blind his o""onent. Ali too- no "art of it but he always did n:wonder it that same agent had been used on him. 6uring the sixth round, Ali 4us hit +iston o er and

o er again. $e loo-ed beat by the end of it but then the !rowd !heered as they reali3ed that liston refused to go in for the se enth round. Ali was the world hea yweight !ham"ionshi". +ater he admit, +iston was the s!ariest man he had e er fought. 8hen right after that, he !ame out with his biggest announ!ements yet. 7eligion 8he day after Ali beat +iston and be!ame the world hea yweight !ham"ion, he announ!ed "ubli!ly he was Muslim. It !aused him many "roblems but it also guided him into many !hanges. %ust before Ali2s fight with +iston, the news bro-e that Ali was a Bla!- Muslim, neither of those things being all that a!!e"ted in Ameri!a so it was 1uite un!on entional. Bill M!6onald who was "romoting the fight threatened to "ull the "lug as there was mu!h !ontro ersy about it was relu!tant to end su!h a "romising fight. $owe er, Mal!olm ; agreed to lea e town until the night of the fight to ease the tension. 0ther instan!es were when his first marriage ended be!ause his wife would not !on ert to Islam. In his se!ond marriage, Ali used his religion to 4ustify the fa!t that he was !heating on his then wife Belinda with his future wife <eroni!a. $is father did not at first li-e the influen!e the Bla!- Muslims had on his son. $e would remember instan!es where they would !ome o er to his house and surround him in their bla!- suits and somber fa!es, urging him to go one way or another. 9ears later, Ali admit that he had been a young -id easily influen!ed but the other men he thought were right. $e was taught that the white men were all e il but he later learned with time to ma-e the distin!tion from his own ethi!s to that of the "eo"le surrounding him. $e o"enly admit his faith after his fight with /onny +iston, his manager !ommenting that had he not won that fight, he would not ha e been so readily a!!e"ted. $is win did ma-e great headways and brought some "ositi e

light to the Muslims. Ali had been going to their meetings three years ago, snea-ing in through the ba!- door and then snea-ing out before the story !ould brea-. 8hen during the <ietnam war, in &(=', Ali refused going to <ietnam, !iting religious restri!tions and he made great headway for "eo"le against the <ietnam war. In one inter iew he got fed u" and 4ust said that the <iet had done nothing to him so why should he go to war. Ali used his faith and religion to hel" him through the hard times in his life and it hel"ed him ma-e some of the right de!isions in his life. 7umble in the %ungle After Ali2s three years of for!ed !eliba!y from boxing, he regained his hea yweight title from George .oreman, a man who he later re!alled to be the most "owerful. George foreman was a formidable o""onent, with forty wins and no loses, ha ing beat both .ra3ier and ,en #orton, the two men who had beat Ali. 8he #ew 9or8imes made his "un!h out to be the hea iest in the history of boxing. Ali dubbed .oreman to be a mummy sin!e he thought that he mo ed slowly in the ring. 8he fight too- "la!e in >aire, ,inasi, where the ?resident "aid Ali an insurmountable amount to bring "ubli!ity to his small !ountry and e en threatened the two boxers with house arrest when it was rumored that the fight would be !alled off be!ause of a gash on .oreman2s forehead. .or the first few rounds, he ba!-ed himself into the ro"es, using his famous ro"e5a5do"e maneu er, ignoring all !autions yelled from his !orner of the ring and 4ust tried to ta-e the blows .oreman -e"t dealing him. $e threw in a few "un!hes, too, and sur i ed the first eight rounds until he told .oreman in an ominous tone #ow its my turn. In the last round, round eight, Ali sur"rised him with his famous s"eed and hit him with a right hoo- that sent .oreman to the floor. Ali had won and .oreman had

ex"erien!ed his first loss.

8hrill in Manila 8he third and last in a trilogy of fights with %oe .ra3ier, one of the few men who had managed to beat Ali was e"i!. 8he hostility between thwm was feir!e, as ex"e!ted, both with a win o er the other. In a "ress !onferen!e, Ali went out of his way to ma-e fun of .ra3ier2s language. Ali made a "oem about him too, dubbing him to a gorilla and !arrying a miniature small gorilla and beating on, telling the "ress it was .ra3ier. $e was, or !ourse hurt by su!h negati ity, but then that was exa!tly what Ali intended. 6uring the first few rounds, Ali had the u""er hand with well5"la!ed "un!hes that managed to fa3e the !ham"ion but then .ra3ier got his !han!e to get Ali against the ro"es and ga e him a royal beating. 6a e 0bser ed that by the se enth round, the two men weren2t e en mo ing around and the only motion were their boxer !lad fists lashing out in i!ious, 4aw5brea-ing "un!hes. 8he tide turned again by the twelfth round. .rai3er !ould barely see out a bla!- and swollen eye and in one round, Ali had "un!hed the mouth"ie!e into the ra enous !rowd. @ddie .ult!h sto""ed the %oe before the fifteenth round, -nowing they were behind on "oints and that %oe !ould not finish the round, thin-ing Ali would 4ust -no!- him out. But as %oe !alled it 1uits, Ali 4ust feel to the floor, utterly exhausted. +ater he remembers that were 4ust -no!-ed out and %oe was the one to 1uit before him, and he did not -now if he !ould ha e gone the last round. Both of the fighters retained hea y damages to their bodies, Ali ta-ing *) hours for his mind to fully fun!tion again. .ra3ier hated Ali for ma-ing fun of him but he admit Ali fought li-e a man in the ring. But he !alled Ali damaged goods sin!e he fared worst that .ra3ier after the bout. Ale

res"e!ted .ra3ier and was sorry for his male olen!y towards him. In the end, it didn2t matter who won. It was 4ust a great battle between two great warriors. Ali was the fa!e of the =A2s, adding to its illustrious history and !hanging boxing. $e used his feet to dodge, he used straight "un!hes, he mo ed ba!-, all things that were !onsidered foolish mo es in boxing but he made it so that it wor-ed for him. $e im"lemented his famous ro"e5a5do"e mo e to win !ham"ionshi"s, going u" against boxing legends. $e was first and foremost an entertainer in that he ga e the "ress something more than the fight to gush about. $e ga e them animosity, i!iousness, "oems, he ga e them a s"e!ta!le. As he on!e said, was a !ham"ion of the "eo"le. $is faith !aused a lot of !ontro ersy but he "ushed through all that and more to truly be!ome the greatest.