Mohammad Ali
In many people’s eyes, the greatest boxer of all time is Mohammad Ali however he’s not just a fighter inside the ring but outside the ring too, he prevented suicide and helped the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and overall is just an amazing person. Mohammad Ali’s original name is Cassius Clay adopted from the slavery days. He changed his name to Mohammad Ali after converting to Islam and he was known to fight anyone who called him Cassius Clay.
Back in the day he was a light in the darkness to people and a lot of people around the world looked up to him. He said he was the greatest of all time and back then many agreed. Though he died at the age of 74, he was still the greatest of all time to many, it has been a bit more than 5 years without him and the world seems darker every time a year passes.
He was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He started boxing at the age of 12 and at 18 he won his first gold medal in 1960 then went professional around the age of 19. His dad who was a painter who loved to sing, act and dance and his mother was a cleaner.
Mohammad Ali was drafted by the US military in 1966 but he refused to take the oath and he was arrested because of it. He explained that he is not going to go 10 thousand miles away from home to drop bombs and shoot bullets on people that did nothing to him. Knowing that he might never fight again, he still did not want to go to war, and many people respected him for that. He was in jail for 5 years because he refused to go to war.
The fight that changed the world was in 1971 when Mohamad Ali lost for the first time to Joe Frazier and people everywhere in the world were devastated. Mohammad Ali could not get over the losing, and had a rematch with Joe Frazier in 1974 where he won back the title.
Every chance Mohammad Ali got, he would prove people wrong and he did it many times. Mohammad Ali was a down to earth person and if anyone asked him any question, he would give you a logical answer, he always stayed positive even during hard times.
Mohammad Ali was growing old and started losing many fights in his late 30s, later on in his career Larry Holmes beat him and changed boxing forever. A couple of years later a kid Mohammad Ali fought Larry Holmes and avenged the senior Mohammad Ali, and the kid is now known as Mike Tyson another boxing legend who also changed boxing forever.
Mike Tyson always respected Mohammad Ali and they were always there for each other. Mohammad Ali always had a sense of humor but also a sense of respect, he was one of the people who could see the line he couldn’t cross.
Saying Mohammad Ali was the greatest person who ever walked this planet is a bold statement however in my view it is a true statement, great people have to be good at something, respectful, nice and Mohammad Ali has all of these things.
Mohammad Ali once said “I shook up the world” and he really did, he changed boxing and how people treat people of different color, race and religion. He made an album called “I Am the Greatest” he released it in August 1963 and back then it was very poplar.
Mohammad Ali announced he was retiring in 1979, but came back in 1980 and left for the last time in 1981 with a record of 56-5. He was 39 years old when he retired and people were in shock that Mohammad Ali quit boxing.
As a kid Mohammad Ali always experienced racism and discrimination, once his bike was stolen and he told a police officer he wanted to beat up the kid who stole his bike, funny enough that’s how he started his boxing career at the age of 12.
Mohammad Ali always stood for his black brothers, he once said “I am not fighting for me, I am fighting for my brothers sleeping on rocks” later on in his life when he converted, Mohammad Ali and Will Smith spread the news of Muslims being good people, and not how the media portrays them to be.
Mohammad Ali was fearless attacking anyone who stood in his path to glory, Mike Tyson was also was the same, which led to many people believing Mohammad Ali was teaching Mike Tyson more than just boxing, possibly his mindset when he was younger and new to boxing.
In conclusion Mohammad Ali is a great human being willing to do anything for fellow humans and especially those that are down on their luck, he puts others before himself and to me he is a Hero.
