Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is a boxer, born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky (he was known in the early days of his career as "the Louisville Lip"). Ali is widely regarded as one of the best boxers of all time, perhaps the best, and certainly one of the most politically-active sportspeople in history.

Biography

Cassius Clay was born into the racially segregated American south. He began boxing at age 12, initially tutored by policeman Joe Martin.

Boxing career

Ali is generally regarded as the greatest heavyweight champion in the history of boxing (although for most of his amateur career he fought as a light heavyweight). His style was unusual for a heavyweight, particularly his habit of carrying his hands at his sides (as opposed to the orthodox boxing style of carrying the hands high so as to easily defend the face). He was able to do this because he could rely on his extraordinary speed to get him out of trouble. Jose Torres, himself a World Champion in the middleweight division, wrote in his definitive biography of Ali Sting Like a Bee that Ali never threw punches with his whole body, but instead punched from the shoulder, implying less power.

Torres also writes that Ali punched to the head much more than most boxers -- a good way to knock an opponent out, but generally a high-risk strategy since over the duration of a long fight punches to the body can be much more effective in tiring an opponent out.

These idiosyncracies are typical of Ali's image as a wayward genius; it appears impossible to decide if he got away with such unorthodoxies because of his physical gifts (a long reach and very fast reactions), or if the traditional techniques of boxing that he ignored were themselves at fault. Early in his amateur career he was close to being trained by the legendary Cus D'Amato, mentor of Mike Tyson and many others, who was famously authoritarian on matters of technique; it is interesting to speculate about what kind of boxer he would have become under D'Amato's supervision.

Please add something about his amateur career

As Cassius Clay, he won the gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, after a glittering amateur career including six Kentucky State Golden Gloves titles, two National Golden Gloves titles, and two National Amateur Athletic Union titles.

He turned professional under the tuition of Angelo Dundee, a trainer who had handled many great boxers including Willie Pastrano.

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Since retirement

Ali was portrayed in the movie Ali by Will Smith. Smith received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the part.

Books:

Sting Like a Bee, by Jose Torres (with significant contributions from Bert Randolph Sugar and Norman Mailer). ISBN 0071395881

Please finish this off - there are some good links on about.com to provide source material, and also on http://www.top-biography.com/9118-Muhammad%20Ali/ an excellent source. Don't copy and paste from them.