By Fedia Lafortune
On January 17,1942, the author F.M.Milverstedt wrote a book called “In This Corner: Muhammad Ali”, he talked about Muhammad Ali’s early life. Muhammad were born as Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. Ali started boxing when he was 12 years old, he was winning amateur fights in gyms and clubs around Louisville, Kentucky, the town where he grew up.
Thomas Hauter, an American author who wrote a biography of Ali “Muhammad Ali: His Life In Times” tells that after Muhammad Ali have been advanced in boxing he was ready to participate in the Olympics Games in Rome. And he won a gold medal in the 175-pounds division in 1960 and began a professional career since then. After starting getting more and more professional in boxing, Clay challenged Sonny Liston for the heavyweight Championship of the World. Everyone was saying that Liston is the most powerful fighter of his era.
According to Thomas Hauter, he said that the boxer competing Ali was named Liston and he was 8 years older than him. Everybody was saying that Ali will never knockout Liston because he is older and his chest is bigger than Ali’s. Ali insult Liston by saying that Liston is nothing but a ugly old bear. Actually Ali showed them fallos they were wrong, and he knockout after six rounds on February 25, 1964, he called himself the “I’m the Greatest of all time” since then. On March 6, 1964 announced the nation that he is no longer Cassius Clay Jr. but Muhammad Ali because now he is muslim.
According to Richard Durham in the article “Muhammad Ali and The Draft”, he explains that the draft was a law in the 1960s in America that was forcing teens who were 18 years old to participate in Vietnam war. The vietnam war with the American started in 1964 and it ended in 1975. Many Athletes expressed their support toward the war, but Muhammad Ali refused to be part of the war.
On April 28, 1967, Ali was ask to participate in the Vietnam war, however he refused because of religious beliefs. Furthermore his refusal cost him a lot, because he did not want be part of the U.S army force. He was take away from his championship title and the government did not allow him to box. They also seized his passport so he won’t leave the country because they said Ali was breaking the law and he was sentenced years of prison.
In the biography of “Muhammad Ali: His Life In Times” writing by Thomas Hauter explains how Ali stood up for himself by saying that he have nothing to do the Vietcong and he also said that if someone don’t have a good reason for killing it consider like a wrong action toward human life.
In 1971 the court declared that he was not guilty and was put out in jail. After all those years going through conflict with the government in the draft law, Ali lost a lot of his ability of boxing, but he still tried to gained his title as a champion by knocking out George foreman with a eighth-rounds on Oct. 30, 1974, in Kinshasa.
In the history of boxing Ali is the champion of all time, no one in his time was never that courageous and ready to fight for what he believe in. Ali sacrificed almost his career for his religion. Ali shown the nation that he did not choice boxing to be famous or to have money, he shown it not than that, boxing is a way to shown the nation what he like and also a way to stand up for his people.
In the book “In The Corner: Muhammad Ali” by F.M.Milverstedt talked about Ali’s victories and losses. Ali won 56 times, lost 5 games with 37 knockout. Ali fought with Sonny Liston,Floyd Patterson in Europe, Ali defeating George Foreman in Kinshasa
In 1979 Ali announced his retirement, Ali had brain damage caused by blow to the head, slow movement, and other symptoms of parkinson syndromes, Ali married his fourth wife Yolanda Williams and had nine children. In the mid-1970s, he began to study the Qurʾan seriously and turned to Orthodox Islam and got more involved in his religion.
Works Cited
“Film Shows Ali’s Battles Outside The Ring.” NPR. NPR. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=214494628>
“Muhammad Ali and the Draft.” American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 7: 1960-1969. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 644-649. Biography in Context. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Milverstedt, F. M., Sonia Katchian, and Heinz Kluetmeier. In This Corner, Muhammad Ali. Milwaukee: Raintree Editions, 1976.
“Muhammad Ali.” Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/5713>.
“Muhammad Ali.” – Wikipédia. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali>.
Muhammad Ali. Digital image. Http://i.huffpost.com. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://i.huffpost.com/gen/468703/thumbs/r-MUHAMMAD-ALI-large570.jpg>.
Muhammad. Digital image. http://catalog.scpauctions.com. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://catalog.scpauctions.com/ItemImages/000023/23653a_lg.jpeg>.
BINcA Writes! 
