Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer, and philanthropist, nicknamed The Greatest, widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century and as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky, he began training as an amateur boxer at age 12, won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics, and turned professional later that year.
After becoming a Muslim in 1961, he won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in a major upset on February 25, 1964, at age 22, and announced his name change from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali on March 6, 1964.
In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the military, citing his religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the Vietnam War, and was found guilty of draft evasion, facing 5 years in prison and being stripped of his boxing titles.
He stayed out of prison as he appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971, but he had not fought for nearly four years and lost a period of peak performance as an athlete.
Ali's actions as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation, and he was a very high-profile figure of racial pride for African Americans during the civil rights movement and throughout his career.
As a Muslim, Ali was initially affiliated with Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam (NOI),later disavowing the NOI, adhering to Sunni Islam, and supporting racial integration like his former mentor Malcolm X.
Ali was a leading heavyweight boxer of the 20th century, and he remains the only three-time lineal champion of that division, with joint records of beating 21 boxers for the world heavyweight title and winning 14 unified title bouts standing for 35 years.
He is the only fighter to have been ranked as the world's best heavyweight by BoxRec twelve times, and has been ranked among BoxRec's ten best heavyweights seventeen times, the third most in history.
He won 8 fights that were rated by BoxRec as 5-Star, the third most in the history of the heavyweight division, and is the only boxer to be named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year six times.
Ali is the only boxer to be ranked the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, and as the greatest athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated, the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC, and the third greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN SportsCentury.
He was involved in several historic boxing matches and feuds, most notably his fights with Joe Frazier, such as the Fight of the Century and the Thrilla in Manila, and his fight with George Foreman, known as The Rumble in the Jungle, which has been called "arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century" and was watched by a record estimated television audience of 1 billion viewers worldwide, becoming the world's most-watched live television broadcast at the time.
