Muhammad Ali Trivia | 160 facts about the professional boxer

Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer and philanthropist. His nickname is The Greatest.

He is currently one of the four figures that appear in the new film “One Night in Miami” which explores his friendship with Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke.

1. Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer and philanthropist
2. He was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.
3. He was born on January 17, 1942
4. He died in June 3, 2016
5. He was nicknamed The Greatest
6. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century
7. Ali is one of the greatest boxers of all time
8. Ali was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky
9. He began training as an amateur boxer at age 12
10. At 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics
11. He turned professional later that year
12. He became a Muslim after 1961
13. He won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in a major upset on February 25, 1964, at age 22
14. On March 6, 1964, he announced that he no longer would be known as Cassius Clay but as Muhammad Ali
15. In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the military, citing his religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the Vietnam War
16. He was found guilty of draft evasion so he faced 5 years in prison
17. Then, he was stripped of his boxing titles
18. He stayed out of prison as he appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971
19. He had not fought for nearly four years and lost a period of peak performance as an athlete
20. Ali’s actions as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation
21. He was a very high-profile figure of racial pride for African Americans during the civil rights movement and throughout his career
22. As a Muslim, Ali was initially affiliated with Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam (NOI)
23. He later disavowed the NOI, adhering to Sunni Islam
24. He was also supporting racial integration like his former mentor Malcolm X
25. He was involved in several historic boxing matches and feuds
26. Most notably his fights with Joe Frazier
27. One example is the Fight of the Century, which has been called “the biggest boxing event, if not the biggest sporting event, of all time”
28. And the Thrilla in Manila, and also his fight with George Foreman, known as The Rumble in the Jungle
29. This event was watched by a record estimated television audience of 1 billion viewers worldwide
30. It became the world’s most-watched live television broadcast at the time
31. Ali thrived in the spotlight at a time when many fighters let their managers do the talking, and he was often provocative and outlandish
32. He was known for trash-talking, and often free-styled with rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry, anticipating elements of hip hop
33. Ali was a leading heavyweight boxer of the 20th century
34. He remains the only three-time lineal champion of that division
35. His joint records of beating 21 boxers for the world heavyweight title and winning 14 unified title bouts stood for 35 years
36. He is the only fighter to have been ranked as the world’s best heavyweight by BoxRec twelve times
37. He has been ranked among BoxRec’s ten best heavyweights seventeen times
38. The third most in history
39. He won 9 fights that were rated by BoxRec as 5-Star
40. This is the most in the history of the heavyweight division
41. Ali is the only boxer to be named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year six times
42. He has been ranked the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time
43. He was named as the greatest athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated, the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC
44. And the third greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN SportsCentury
45. Outside the ring, Ali attained success as a musician, where he received two Grammy nominations
46. He also featured as an actor and writer, releasing two autobiographies
47. Ali retired from boxing in 1981 and focused on religion, philanthropinism and activism
48. In 1984, he made public his diagnosis of Parkinson’s syndrome, which some reports attribute to boxing-related injuries
49. Though he and his specialist physicians disputed this
50. He remained an active public figure globally
51. In his later years made fewer public appearances as his condition worsened, and he was cared for by his family
52. Ali died on June 3, 2016
53. He had one brother
54. He was named after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., who had a sister and four brothers
55. His father was named in honor of the 19th-century Republican politician and staunch abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay, also from the state of Kentucky
56. Clay’s father’s paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne Clay
57. Clay’s sister Eva claimed that Sallie was a native of Madagascar
58. He was a descendant of slaves of the antebellum South, and was predominantly of African descent, with some Irish and English family heritage
59. Ali’s maternal great-grandfather, Abe Grady, emigrated from Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland
60. DNA testing performed in 2018 showed that, through his paternal grandmother, Ali was a descendant of the former slave Archer Alexander, who had been chosen from the building crew as the model of a freed man for the Emancipation Memorial, and was the subject of abolitionist William Greenleaf Eliot’s book, The Story of Archer Alexander: From Slavery to Freedom
61. Like Ali, Alexander fought for his freedom
62. Clay made his professional debut on October 29, 1960
63. Winning a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker
64. From then until the end of 1963, Clay amassed a record of 19-0 with 15 wins by knockout
65. He defeated boxers including Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, LaMar Clark, Doug Jones and Henry Cooper
66. Clay also beat his former trainer and veteran boxer Archie Moore in a 1962 match
67. Ali was married four times
68. He had seven daughters and two sons
69. Ali was introduced to cocktail waitress Sonji Roi by Herbert Muhammad
70. He asked her to marry him after their first date
71. They were wed approximately one month later on August 14, 1964
72. They quarreled over Sonji’s refusal to join the Nation Of Islam
73. The marriage was childless
74. They divorced on January 10, 1966
75. Ali’s brother Rahman said that she was Ali’s only true love and the Nation of Islam made Ali divorce her and Ali never got over it
76. On August 17, 1967, Ali married Belinda Boyd
77. Born into a Chicago family that had converted to the Nation Of Islam
78. She later changed her name to Khalilah Ali
79. Though she was still called Belinda by old friends and family
80. They had four children: author and rapper Maryum “May May”, twins Jamillah and Rasheda, who married Robert Walsh and has a son, Biaggio Ali and Muhammad Ali Jr.
81. Ali was a resident of Cherry Hill, New Jersey in the early 1970s
82. At age 32 in 1974, Ali began an extramarital relationship with 16-year-old Wanda Bolton
83. With whom he fathered another daughter, Khaliah
84. While still married to Belinda, Ali married Aaisha in an Islamic ceremony that was not legally recognized
85. According to Khaliah, Aaisha and her mother lived at Ali’s Deer Lake training camp alongside Belinda and her children
86. In January 1985, Aaisha sued Ali for unpaid palimony
87. The case was settled when Ali agreed to set up a $200,000 trust fund for Khaliah
88. In 2001 Khaliah was quoted as saying she believed her father viewed her as “a mistake”
89. He had another daughter, Miya, from an extramarital relationship with Patricia Harvell
90. By the summer of 1977, his second marriage was over due to Ali’s repeated infidelity and he had married actress and model Veronica Porché
91. At the time of their marriage, they had a baby girl, Hana, and Veronica was pregnant with their second child
92. Their second daughter, Laila Ali, was born in December 1977
93. By 1986, Ali and Porché were divorced due to Ali’s continuous infidelity
94. On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda (“Lonnie”) Williams
95. They had been friends since 1964 in Louisville
96. Together they adopted a son, Asaad Amin, when Asaad was five months old
97. Kiiursti Mensah-Ali says she is Ali’s biological daughter with Barbara Mensah, with whom he allegedly had a 20-year relationship, citing photographs and a paternity test conducted in 1988
98. She said he accepted responsibility and took care of her, but all contacts with him were cut off after he married his fourth wife Lonnie
99. Kiiursti says she has a relationship with his other children
100. After his death she again made passionate appeals to be allowed to mourn at his funeral
101. In 2010, Osmon Williams came forward claiming to be Ali’s biological son
102. His mother Temica Williams (also known as Rebecca Holloway) had launched a $3 million lawsuit against Ali in 1981 for sexual assault, claiming that she had started a sexual relationship with him when she was 12, and that her son Osmon (born 1977) was fathered by Ali
103. She further alleged that Ali had originally supported her and her son financially, but stopped doing so after four years
104. The case went on until 1986 and was eventually thrown out as her allegations were deemed to be barred by the statute of limitations
105. According to Veronica, Ali admitted to the affair with Williams, but did not believe Osmon was his son which Veronica supported by saying “Everybody in the camp was going with that girl”
106. Ali biographer and friend Thomas Hauser has said this claim was of “questionable veracity”
107. Ali then lived in Scottsdale, Arizona with Lonnie
108. In January 2007, it was reported that they had put their home in Berrien Springs, Michigan, which they had bought in 1975, up for sale and had purchased a home in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky for $1,875,000
109. Both homes were subsequently sold after Ali’s death with Lonnie living in their remaining home in Paradise Valley, Arizona
110. Lonnie converted to Islam from Catholicism in her late twenties
111. Ali’s daughter Laila was a professional boxer from 1999 until 2007, despite her father’s previous opposition to women’s boxing
112. Ali still attended a number of his daughter’s fights and later admitted to Laila he was wrong
113. Ali’s daughter Hana is married to Bellator middleweight fighter Kevin Casey
114. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a disease that sometimes results from head trauma from violent physical activities such as boxing
115. Ali still remained active during this time, later participating as a guest referee at WrestleMania I
116. Ali was hospitalized in Scottsdale, Arizona, on June 2, 2016, with a respiratory illness
117. Though his condition was initially described as fair, it worsened, and he died the following day at the age of 74 from septic shock
118. Ali’s funeral had been pre-planned by himself and others for several years prior to his actual death.
119. The services began in Louisville on June 9, 2016, with an Islamic Janazah prayer service at Freedom Hall on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center
120. On June 10, 2016, the funeral procession passed through the streets of Louisville ending at Cave Hill Cemetery, where his body was interred during a private ceremony
121. A public memorial service for Ali at downtown Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center was held during the afternoon of June 10
122. The pallbearers included Will Smith, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, with honorary pallbearers including George Chuvalo, Larry Holmes and George Foreman
123. Ali’s memorial was watched by an estimated 1 billion viewers worldwide
124. Muhammad Ali defeated every top heavyweight in his era, which has been called the golden age of heavyweight boxing
125. Ali was named “Fighter of the Year” by The Ring magazine more times than any other fighter
126. Also, he was involved in more Ring “Fight of the Year” bouts than any other fighter
127. He was an inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and held wins over seven other Hall of Fame inductees
128. He was one of only three boxers to be named “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated
129. In 1978, three years before Ali’s permanent retirement, the Louisville Board of Aldermen in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, voted 6–5 to rename Walnut Street to Muhammad Ali Boulevard
130. This was controversial at the time, as within a week 12 of the 70 street signs were stolen
131. Earlier that year, a committee of the Jefferson County Public Schools (Kentucky) considered renaming Ali’s alma mater, Central High School, in his honor, but the motion failed to pass
132. In time, Muhammad Ali Boulevard—and Ali himself—came to be well accepted in his hometown
133. In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Ali was tied with Babe Ruth as the most recognized athlete, out of over 800 dead or living athletes, in America
134. The study found that over 97% of Americans over 12 years of age identified both Ali and Ruth
135. He was the recipient of the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award
136. In 1999, Time magazine named Ali one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century
137. He was crowned Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated
138. Named Sports Personality of the Century in a BBC poll, he received more votes than the other contenders combined
139. On September 13, 1999, Ali was named “Kentucky Athlete of the Century” by the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the Galt House East
140. On January 8, 2001, Muhammad Ali was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton
141. In November 2005, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush
142. Followed by the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold of the UN Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin for his work with the civil rights movement and the United Nations, which he received on December 17, 2005
143. On November 19, 2005 (Ali’s 19th wedding anniversary), the $60 million non-profit Muhammad Ali Center opened in downtown Louisville
144. In addition to displaying his boxing memorabilia, the center focuses on core themes of peace, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth
145. On June 5, 2007, he received an honorary doctorate of humanities at Princeton University’s 260th graduation ceremony
146. Ali Mall, located in Araneta Center, Quezon City, Philippines, is named after him
147. Construction of the mall, the first of its kind in the Philippines, began shortly after Ali’s victory in a match with Joe Frazier in nearby Araneta Coliseum in 1975
148. The mall opened in 1976 with Ali attending its opening
149. The 1976 Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki fight played an important role in the history of mixed martial arts
150. In Japan, the match inspired Inoki’s students Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki to found Pancrase in 1993
151. In turn it inspired the foundation of Pride Fighting Championships in 1997
152. Pride was acquired by its rival, Ultimate Fighting Championship, in 2007
153. The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act was introduced in 1999 and passed in 2000, to protect the rights and welfare of boxers in the United States
154. In May 2016, a bill was introduced to United States Congress by Markwayne Mullin, a politician and former MMA fighter, to extend the Ali Act to mixed martial arts
155. n June 2016, US senator Rand Paul proposed an amendment to the US draft laws named after Ali, a proposal to eliminate the Selective Service System
156. In 2015, Sports Illustrated renamed its Sportsman Legacy Award to the Sports Illustrated’s Muhammad Ali Legacy Award
157. The annual award was originally created in 2008 and honors former “sports figures who embody the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership and philanthropy as vehicles for changing the world”
158. Ali first appeared on the magazine’s cover in 1963 and went on to be featured on numerous covers during his storied career
159. On January 13, 2017, seven months or so after Ali’s death, and 4 days before what would have been his 75th birthday, the Muhammad Ali Commemorative Coin Act was introduced into the 115th Congress (2017–2019), as H.R. 579 (House of Representatives) and as S. 166 (Senate)
160. However, both “died” within 10 days

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