On November 15th, 1962 Cassius met his former trainer Archie Moore in the ring. Moore claimed that he had developed a 'lip buttoner' punch to finally silence the Louisville Lip, as Cassius had come to be known. In response, Clay predicted a fourth round knockout. And that is precisely how the fight went down. Cassius was now a sixteen win, zero loss pro. He felt he had earned a shot at the heavyweight world champ, Sonny Liston. He engaged upon a campaign of taunting Liston into taking the challenge. He began referring to the champ as a big ugly bear, and even once traveled to his hometown of Springfield, Colorado and banged on his door at three in the morning to call out the champ. Clay made sure that TV cameras were recording every second of the charade. Finally, Liston had had enough and agreed to take on the upstart. The heavyweight champ made a prediction of his own – pain! It was no idle threat. Liston was a mountain of a man who had a killer punch. He was considered by many boxing experts to be unbeatable. Cassius trained hard for this, the biggest fight of his life. But he didn't give it his absolute focus.

Both Cassius and his brother Rudy were becoming increasingly interested in the Nation of Islam. They started attending meetings and Cassius became enamored with leader Elijah Muhammad, along with the group's spokesman Malcolm X. As the brothers spent more and more time at their local mosque in Miami, Malcom told Cassius to wear his Nation of Islam membership proudly. When the title fight sponsors learned that the challenger was associating with the Nation of Islam, they threatened to cancel the event unless he disavowed the group. But Clay would not abandon his newfound faith. He was prepared to walk away from boxing to stay true to himself. The sponsors backed down and the fight went ahead. Liston was used to knocking opponents out in the early rounds, but Clay was too fast. His quick feet danced around the ring and Liston was unable to touch him. After a grueling six rounds, Liston refused to come out for the seventh. The twenty-two year old Cassius Clay was now the youngest heavyweight champ in history. As great a shock as his win was, it was superceded the very next day when he officially announced that he was a member of the Nation of Islam and that he was changing his name to Cassius X. A week later the name evolved into Muhammad Ali. The Nation of Islam were very unpopular with most of America. It was predicted that, if he fought Liston again, there wouldn't be anyone rooting for him.

The two did meet again – on May 25th, 1965. Many in the anxious crowd expected to see Liston win back the title he had lost to Ali. Instead they were stunned to see the former champ get knocked out in the first round. On November 22nd, 1965, Ali successfully defended his title against former champ Floyd Patterson. Patterson had spoken out against the Nation of Islam and refused to call Ali by his Muslim name. Ali made him pay for the sleight, mercilessly pounding him while yelling, 'What's my name?' In 1966, Ali defended his title 5 times, four of those defenses being held outside the United States. On February 6th, 1967 he fought Ernie Terrell in Houston, Texas. Terrell had enraged Ali by, just like Floyd Patterson before him, refusing to call Ali by his name. The result was what many believe to be the worst beating every dished out in a professional boxing match. The champ tortured Terrell for the full 15 rounds, bringing him just short of a knockout and then backing off, only to wallop him again with further combinations. Ali won a unanimous points decision.

Taking a Stand

Ali's next battle would pit him against the might of the United States government. On April 28th, 1967, he turned up at the Houston Induction Center for the US Armed Forces. When the time came for him to take one step forward, signifying his induction, Ali didn't move. He explained that his religious believes prevented him from joining the army and killing people with whom he had no quarrel. He further stated that he could not, in good conscience give support to a war that he felt to be morally wrong. Within 24 hours Ali had been stripped of his heavyweight title as well as his license to box in every state in the country. In an instant the title that he had worked so hard for was gone. When the US Government took away his passport he couldn't even box overseas. They had effectively taken away his livelihood.

Coming Back

To get to Frazier, Ali had to first defeat Oscar Bonavena. The fight almost went the full 15 rounds, with Bonavena taking a great deal of punishment. But he also dished out a level of abuse that Muhammad had never had to withstand before. Still Ali won in a last round TKO. The fight of the century – the first ever between two undefeated heavyweight champs – took place on March 8th, 1971. Frazier and Ali traded blow after blow. Five years before, Ali would have easily dodged some of Frazier's punches. But now he could only take the hits and fight through the pain and abuse. The fight went the distance. It could have gone either way, but in the end it was a unanimous decision to Frazier. Muhammad Ali had suffered his first profession loss. Still, he was determined to get back on top.

He followed up his loss by winning ten fights in a row. But in his 11th he was stopped by the formidable Ken Norton who broke Ali's jaw. But Ali came back in a rematch, knocking out Norton in the sixth round. Next came the rematch that he really wanted. He fought Joe Frazier, who had lost his title to George Foreman, for the second time on January 28th, 1974, winning in a twelve round unanimous decision. But Ali still didn't have his title back. To claim it, he would have to defeat the new champ. The twenty-four year old Foreman had so far won forty fights, and his last eight hadn't gone past the second round. On paper it looked like the thirty-two year old Ali didn't have a chance. The fight took place in Kinshasa, Zaire on October 30th, 1974. Over the early rounds it appeared as if Ali was out of his depth, with Foreman apparently pounding him at will. What Ali was actually doing was allowing Foreman to punch himself to exhaustion. In the eight round, Muhammad came to life and delivered a devastating series of blows that put Foreman on the canvas. The champ had reclaimed his heavyweight title. A year later he faced Joe Frazier for the third time. Many believe that this was the hardest fought heavyweight clash of all time. Round after round, the stunned crowd watched in awe as the battered boxers somehow fought beyond exhaustion. In the end, Ali was declared the winner in the fourteenth round. He was so exhausted that he couldn't even stand up to celebrate.

A Waning Career

An aging Ali defended his title seven more times before squaring up to an unknown challenger by the name of Leon Spinks on February 15th, 1978. Ali underestimated the challenger, training lightly and not taking the fight seriously enough. That night he lost his title to a man who didn't even deserve to be in the ring with him at his prime. Eight months later, despite obvious signs of developing Parkinson's Disease, he avenged the loss to claim an unprecedented 3rd world heavyweight championship. Nine months later he retired from the ring. But his time out of the ring would last for less than a year. On October 18th, 1980 he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of his former sparring partner, Larry Holmes. A year later, he was dispatched by a far less impressive Trevor Berbick. Time had finally caught up with Muhammad Ali. Over the next decade his Parkinson's Disease got steadily worse. The body that had served him so well was giving up on him. Still, he wasn't done yet. In the late 1980's Muhammad Ali embarked on a new career as a humanitarian, statesman and promoter of tolerance and peace worldwide. By the time he left us on June 3rd, 2016, he was recognized as one of the great men, and certainly the greatest athlete of the 20th century.

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