Bad Dog Needs Rotten Home

THE NEW HOME FOR THE BEST STUFF ON THE WEB.

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT MUHAMMAD ALI

Added on: 9th Dec 2016

 

MUHAMMAD ALI WAS ORIGINALLY NAMED

CASSIUS CLAY IN HONOUR OF A

NINETEENTH-CENTURY WHITE FARMER

AND ABOLITIONIST WHO EMANCIPATED THE

FORTY SLAVES HE INHERITED FROM HIS FATHER

Muhammad Ali was originally named Cassius Clay in honor of a nineteenth-century white farmer and abolitionist who emancipated the forty slaves he inherited from his father.

 

 

MUHAMMAD ALI MIGHT BE ONE OF THE MOST

FAMOUS AFRICAN AMERICANS IN HISTORY,

BUT HE ALSO HAD IRISH ROOTS. HIS

GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS AN IRISHMAN

NAMED ABE GRADY WHO IMMIGRATED TO

THE UNITED STATES AND SETTLED IN

KENTUCKY IN THE 1860’S, WHERE HE MARRIED

A FREED SLAVE. THE REST IS HISTORY

Ali and George Bush Jr.

 

 

THE THING THAT MOTIVATED HIM TO BECOME

A BOXER WAS HIS BELOVED RED-AND-WHITE

SCHWINN BICYCLE. WHEN IT GOT STOLEN IN

1954, A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD ALI REPORTED

THE THEFT TO A POLICEMAN WHO GAVE

BOXING LESSONS AT A LOCAL COMMUNITY

CENTRE. THE OFFICER, WHO WAS ALSO A

BOXING TRAINER, SUGGESTED THAT ALI LEARN

HOW TO FIGHT AND SIX WEEKS LATER ALI WON

HIS FIRST AMATEUR BOXING MATCH BY

A SPLIT DECISION

bicycle

 

 

AS AN AMATEUR BOXER ALI WON 100 OF 108 FIGHTS,

INCLUDING SIX KENTUCKY GOLDEN GLOVES

CHAMPIONSHIPS AND AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL

AT THE 1960 ROME OLYMPICS

ali_1438615a

 

 

MANY STORIES HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT HIS

OLYMPIC MEDAL. ALI HIMSELF WROTE IN HIS

1975 AUTOBIOGRAPHY THAT AFTER RETURNING

TO LOUISVILLE, HE THREW HIS GOLD MEDAL

OFF A BRIDGE INTO THE OHIO RIVER TO PROTEST

THE RACISM HE STILL ENCOUNTERED IN HIS

HOMETOWN. HOWEVER, HIS STORY HAS BEEN

DISPUTED BY SOME OF THOSE CLOSEST TO

HIM WHO CLAIM HE MADE UP THE STORY AFTER

HE ACCIDENTALLY LOST THE MEDAL. ONE WAY

OR ANOTHER, DURING THE 1996 SUMMER OLYMPICS,

ALI RECEIVED A REPLACEMENT GOLD MEDAL

Muhammad Ali Olympics

 

 

ALI WAS KNOWN FOR TALKING TRASH. HE EVEN

COMPOSED HIS OWN VERSES IN WHICH HE

TAUNTED HIS OPPONENTS AND PRAISED

HIMSELF. PEOPLE AT COLUMBIA RECORDS

WERE SO IMPRESSED BY HIS TAUNTS THAT

THEY DECIDED TO RELEASE A 1963 SPOKEN-WORD

ALBUM CALLED I AM THE GREATEST, IN WHICH

THE TWENTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD PERFORMED HIS

“TRASH TALKING,” BACKED MY MUSICAL

ACCOMPANIMENT

Columbia Records

 

 

AFTER HE DEFEATED SONNY LISTON FOR THE

HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD TITLE IN 1964, THE NEW

CHAMP CONFIRMED REPORTS THAT HE HAD

BECOME A MEMBER OF THE NATION OF ISLAM.

INSPIRED BY MALCOM X, ALI CHANGED

HIS NAME TO CASSIUS X

After he defeated Sonny Liston for the Heavyweight World Title in 1964, the new champ confirmed reports that he had become a member of the Nation of Islam. Inspired by Malcom X, Ali changed his name to Cassius X.

 

 

MUHAMMAD ALI REFUSED TO JOIN THE U.S. ARMY

AND TAKE PART IN VIETNAM, WHICH HE

CONSIDERED UNJUST. HE FAMOUSLY STATED,

“NO VIETCONG EVER CALLED ME NIGGER.”

do-you-remember-muhammad-ali-refuses-vietnam-draft-136397797085503901-150427214140

 

 

AS A RESULT OF HIS REFUSAL, HE WAS

SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON BUT

WAS ABLE TO STAY OUT ON APPEAL. HE WAS

ALSO STRIPPED OF HIS WORLD TITLE AND

BANNED FROM THE RING FOR THREE YEARS

DURING HIS PRIME

Muhammad Ali

 


View by Month