Muhammed Ali grew up in Louisville, Kentucky but he was known as Cassius Clay. He lived a normal life until the age of twelve when his bicycle was stolen during a local convention of the Louisville Service Club. Clay wanted to report the crime and went to find a police officer. He found Joe Martin, an officer and a boxing coach at the Columbia Gym . Clay told Martin "I'm going to whip the person who stole my bike." Martin then proceeded to tell Clay that if he wanted to do that he should come to the gym and learn how to fight properly. Clay was a small man when he started boxing as an amateur; he weighed only eighty-nine pounds. Clay would soon become the man to see at the Columbia Gym. Joe Martin's wife said

Muhammed Ali's final professional fight record was fifty-six wins and five loses. He knocked out thirty-seven of his opponents and his last fight was on December 11, 1981. He was inducted into the boxing hall of fame in 1990. At the age of fifty Ali said "the man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life." Since throwing his gold medal away in Rome, Ali had been gaining fame ever since. After retiring from boxing Ali has been doing charity work for his community in Louisville. In 1986, he was presented with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his lifetime achievements in promoting peace, unity, for his charitable donations and for sports. Ali is now the most recognized athlete throughout the world, and he was given the opportunity to light the Olympic flame at the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta. Also during those Olympics, Ali was given an exact replica of the gold medal he threw away many years ago. Muhammed Ali now has Parkinson's disease, and is battling the disease every step of the way. He was appointed the spokesman for the National Parkinson's Foundation where he brings pride, hope, and faith to others who also battle the disease.

Cassius Clay was a great amateur boxer, and won 100 out of 108 fights. He won consecutive titles in the AAU and the Golden Gloves amateur divisions. Clay started his professional career at age eighteen, and was paid $10,000 up front and then signed a two year contract for $4,000 a year. He went through nineteen opponents, the likes of Archie Moore, Billy Daniels, Doug Jones, Henry Cooper, Dennis Fleeman, and Jim Robinson. He then went on to challenge Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title. Clay was considered the underdog and shocked the world by forcing Liston to stop the fight after the sixth round. After the fight Clay told the world that he had accepted the teaching of Islam and was changing his name to Muhammed Ali. Ali wrote poetry about his opponents, which would describe how he would beat them. He also created one of his famous quotes in his poetry and said "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." Another part of Ali's arrogance was that he boxed with his left hand down and just backed away from the punches of his opponent, both of these are considered cardinal sins of boxing. Even through all of his arrogance, he still had lightning fast reflexes, great mobility, and probably the best jab in boxing. His first title defense was a rematch against Sonny Liston, and again shocked the world wit

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