Muhammad Ali: The Louisville Lip

Back in 1954, twelve year old Cassius Clay was upset over getting his bicycle stolen and reported the incident to police. According to wikipedia.org, he told the officer he wanted to beat up the culprit. The officer, Joe E. Martin happened to be a boxing coach and trained Clay, who we all know as Muhammad Ali, for the following six years. In 1960, the world was introduced to arguably the greatest athlete the world has ever seen, at the Olympic games in Rome. Clay won the gold medal in the light heavyweight division and a legend was born.

After posting a 100-5 record and winning the gold in Rome, Clay began his pro career on October 29, 1960 with a 6 round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, a police chief from West Virginia. He worked his record to 19-0 with 15 knockouts over the next three years before he got a shot at the heavyweight title. On February 25, 1964, in Miami Florida, Clay became the WBA/WBC Heavyweight Champion as Sonny Liston could not answer the bell beginning round seven. Clay opened a cut under Listons left eye in the third round. After the fourth round, Clay complained that he couldn't see and his eyes were burning. His trainer, Angelo Dundee sponged his eyes and within two rounds Liston complained about a shoulder injury and the fight was called. Clay " shook up the world", as he said he would. He did a lot of smack talking over the course of his career. So much that he earned the nickname the "Louisville Lip".

The day after Clay won the title, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted his religion to Islam. During the days leading up to the fight, he was seen with Malcolm X in Miami. Of course Malcolm X was known to be of Islamic faith, so people were already talking before the fight.

The rematch with Liston was set for November of 1964, but Ali suffered a hernia and the fight was pushed back until May 25, 1965. This match was historic in more ways than one. This would be the first time Clay would fight as Muhammad Ali. It was also the smallest audience to witness a heavyweight championship fight. There were only 2,434 people in the crowd. The fight was moved to Lewiston, Maine from Boston because there were rumors that Ali would be assassinated in the wake of Malcolm X's assassination.

Ali knocked Liston out in the first round with what is known as the "phantom punch". The reason it was called the phantom punch is because nobody at ringside saw the punch connect. The replays show that there was a solid punch that landed.

After the Liston rematch, Ali beat Floyd Patterson and a host of others before crossing paths with Ernie Terrell, who was champ when he backed out of an earlier scheduled fight two years earlier. The fight took place in Houston three years after Ali had changed his name. Terrell kept referring to Ali as Clay and Ali took this as a sign of disrespect. All through the fight as Ali was pounding on Terrell, Ali would ask, " what's my name?" Ali had Terrell where he wanted him but refused to knock him out, instead, punishing him as a way of teaching him a lesson.

In April of 1967, Ali refused to enter the armed forces and had his boxing license revoked by the New York State Athletic Commission and was forced to give up his title. He was sentenced to five years in jail and levied a $10,000 fine, but he appealed to the Supreme Court and won, but still missed out on three long years of his fighting prime. He was allowed to fight again in 1970 in Georgia because Georgia was the only state that had no boxing commission.

Ali got his boxing license back after beating Jerry Quarry in three rounds in his return bout in October of 1970. He stopped Oscar Bonavena in the 15th round two months later to set up a showdown at Madison Square Garden against Joe Frazier for the title that Ali once held. He would lose for the first time as Frazier floored him in the 15th round and retained his title with a unanimous decision. However, Frazier had some kidney damage and was hospitalized for three weeks.

In March of 1973 Ali fought Ken Norton, who broke Ali's jaw in the 2nd round. Ali continued to fight and lost a 12 round decision. In September of 1973, after the jaw had healed, Ali won a close decision over Norton in a controversial rematch that many think Norton may have won. That set up a rematch with Frazier in January of 1974 at Madison Square Garden. Frazier had just lost his title to George Foreman. Frazier and Ali got into a wrestling match after arguing during an interview before the fight. Ali won the actual boxing match with a 12-round unanimous decision, giving him a shot at the title once again. This time it was against big George Foreman in October of 1974.

The fight known as the " Rumble in the Jungle", held in Zaire in Africa, pitted Ali against Foreman, who knocked out both Ken Norton and Joe Frazier in the second round. Ali faced each of them twice and didn't fare nearly as well, struggling to win only two of the four fights. But this would be different, as Ali would play with Foreman letting him pound on Ali along the ropes, and tiring himself out. This technique would become widely known as "rope-a-dope". Ali then turned it on in the eighth round and knocked the younger Foreman out to regain the heavyweight title.

One year later, in October, Ali gave Frazier his chance at regaining the title in the Philippines in a grueling brawl known as the " Thrilla in Manila". The weather was nearly triple digits and the fighting was furious. Ali dominated the first half of the fight before Frazier started making it a contest again. By the time the 13th round was to begin it was obvious that these two fighters were wearing down, with the pounding they were taking combined with the heat. After the 14th round, Fraziers trainer Eddie Futch refused to let him come out because his eyes were swollen shut. Ali had said it was the closest to death as you can get.

In September of 1976, Ali beat Ken Norton in their third fight, another close 15 round decision, before losing the title to Leon Spinks in February of 1978. Spinks won a split decision in 15 rounds. Ali would get his title back seven months later in a unanimous 15 round decision. Ali then retired for two years before coming out of retirement to try and win the title a fourth time. It wasn't to be as Larry Holmes dominated Ali for 10 rounds. Ali sat there after round 10 and couldn't answer the bell for round 11. A year later Ali was out-pointed in his final fight, losing a ten round, unanimous decision to Trevor Berbick. The greatest fighter ever to lace up the gloves retired after that fight with a 56-5 record, 37 by knockout.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=17235&more=1

http://www.boxing-memorabilia.com/biofrazier2.htm

http://www.boxing-memorabilia.com/bioliston2.htm

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