Birth Name Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr
Nickname The Greatest, The Champ, The Louisville Lip
Height 1.91 m (6ft 3in)Reach 2 m
Weight division Heavyweight
Birth Date January 17, 1942
Birth Place Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
On this day in 1964 a young black boxer by the name of Cassius Clay was crowned heavyweight champion of the world. His defeat of Sonny Liston caused the biggest upset in boxing history. Liston, who had two first round knock-outs against Floyd Patterson, looked invincible. Clay, from Kentucky, was announced the winner after the hot favourite retired at the end of the sixth round, when the bell rang for the seventh round Liston said he did not wish to continue. Such was the shock of Liston's defeat, Florida state attorney Richard Gerstein launched an inquiry into the fight. Such was the hype surrounding the contest that Clay had been fined £900 for disgraceful conduct as he ranted at 32 year old Liston at the weigh-in, chanting "I wanna rumble...I wanna rumble!" before saying "You're a tramp, I am going to eat you up. Somebody's going to die at the ringside tonight. Are you scared?" He then went on to make a predication that was to be proven right over the next few years "I was born to be great. I am great and I will be greater - the greatest Cassius Clay." On the night of the fight only half the seats had been sold in the Convention Hall in Miami. It was generally felt that Clay would be no match for Liston and the odds on Clay winning were a massive 7-1. Liston started the fight well and pinned Clay to the ropes in round two, but in round three he was forced to retreat with blood pouring from his left eye. By the end of round six Liston had been completely demoralised by his young upstart opponent. The fight was over and Clay was crowned world champion. Clay went on to become the only man to win the world heavyweight title three times, and few who saw him fight would doubt him to be the greatest boxer of all time. In a move that surprised everyone, Cassius Clay announced, in 1964, that he had joined the Nation of Islam and had changed his name to Muhammad Ali, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975, and then Sufism. Ali became famous for his unique fighting style, displaying amazing footwork, for a man of his stature, and incredibly fast with his fists. He would taunt his opponents with rhymes, predicting in which round he would win the fight. His most famous saying was "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." In addition to having the ability to hurt his opponents with razor sharp punches, he was fit and strong enough to take punches, especially to the chin, and would often show off to the spectators by allowing his opponents to take free shots at him. His boxing career lasted 20 years, during which time he won 56 frights and scored 37 knock-outs. Ali retired from the ring in December 1981 and was later diagnosed as having Parkinson's disease.
