Muhammad Ali Greatest of All Time. Why He Refused to Serve in Vietnam War
The Great Personality Who Lost All His Titles For The Sake Of His People
Muhammad Ali was an American boxer born in 1942. His previous name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. later he changed it to Muhammad Ali and stood for his belief.
Muhammad Ali called himself the greatest, and everyone agreed. In his 21-year career, he won the title of heavyweight champion of the world three times. Ali was known as the greatest boxer as well as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th Century.
He was also known for his refusal to serve in the Vietnam War. Ali paid the price for this denial and was found guilty of violating laws and sentenced to five years in prison, but freed on bail. But his passport had been taken away and banned from boxing.
Muhammad Ali’s legendary career
Following are the leading achievements of the greatest of all time Muhammad Ali:
- He was the winner of the light heavyweight Olympic Championship in 1960. He faced European champion, Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland in a final, won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Rome. He became the youngest winner of the boxing heavyweight championship against Sonny Liston at the age of 22.
- On 8th March 1971, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought for the heavyweight title. Both undefeated boxers fought at Madison Square Garden. Muhammad Ali lost this fight, his first professional failure.
- Ali defeated Frazier at the same venue on 28th January 1974, and this failure set the stage for Ali to fight George Foreman. This fight at Kinshasa, Zaire, on 30th October 1974 was the infamous Rumble in the Jungle. Ali defeated Foreman and won the World Heavyweight Championship for the second time.
- Muhammad Ali again defeated Joe Frazier for the title of Heavyweight Championship of the world in 1975. Joe Frazier challenged Ali, he accepted his challenge, and on 1st October 1975, this fight took place. The nickname “the Gorilla” was given to Frazier by Ali, he used it as a rhyme “It will be a killa a and a thrilla and a chilla when I get the Gorilla in Manila”
- In 1978, Ali was defeated by Leon Spinks in the heavyweight championship. But on 15th September 1978, Ali won the title of Heavyweight Championship against Leon Spinks. This success made him the first man to win this title three times.
- He was known as the greatest athlete of the 20th Century. “The Ring Magazine fighter of the year” title was given to him by Ring Magazine which ranked him number one greatest heavyweight champion. He was the number one heavyweight champion of the 20th century by the Associated Press in 1999.
- Civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy awarded Muhammad Ali with the annual Martin Luther King Award in 1970.
- He was a proud black American. He showed resistance against the dominance of white people during the civil rights movement.
- He received the award from the UN Association of Germany in Berlin, in December 2005, for the civil rights movement.
Why He Refused to serve Vietnam War
Muhammad Ali was a human rights hero and anti-war. He surprised many people by refusing to serve in the Vietnam War.
Ali was against the involvement of the US military in the Vietnam War. He said that “Black men were disproportionally enrolled and killed in Vietnam”, while those who returned safely faced racism.
US jury found him guilty of draft evasion, at the trial on 20th June 1967. He was banned from boxing and removed from his boxing titles because of this refusal.
Muhammad Ali’s position against the war was considered a brave decision and made him an icon for black Americans. He was also a high-profile individual who stands for civil rights for African Americans. After four years, the U.S. Supreme Court of reversed Ali’s conviction.
Ali was a famous activist and humanitarian, he helped people by providing food for them. He provided food for over 22 million people affected by starvation. Ali also donated charity in millions of dollars to organizations.
He contributed to a walk for the rights of Native Americans known as “The Longest Walk”. He visited Iraq in 1990, to protect against the taking of 15 US hostages by dictator Saddam Hussein during the First Gulf War.
He also visited Sudan in 1988, to educate people about the problems of starvation patients. Ali was also involved in fundraising for the awareness of Parkinson’s disease. He delivered medicines to Afghanistan and Cuba and visited Afghanistan in 2002, for three days mission as a “UN Messenger of Peace”.
Ali died on 3rd June 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. He died from Parkinson’s disease and spinal stenosis. Ali’s boxing style was paraphrased by his tagline “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. He always remembers as a great athlete, humanitarian, activist, and philanthropist.
