Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. He lived a normal life until the age of twelve when his bicycle was stolen during a local convention. Clay wanted to report the crime and found Joe Martin, a police officer that taught young boys how to box. Pledging to never be victimized again, young Clay spent his teen years at the gym, constructing both his mind and body into a champion caliber. During his high school days, Clay became two time Golden Gloves champion, won six Kentucky champion, and two-time Amateur Athletic Union Champion. Clay had fought and won thirty-six consecutive fights by May 1, 1959, before his winning steak was broken when Amos Johnson beat him at the Pan-American Games

Unfortunately, all the punches he suffered had taken an effect. In 1984, Ali learned he had Parkinson's disease. While the disease has left him a shadow of his former self, he still attempts to spread good will. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ali again stood alone in the spotlight lighting the Olympic torch.

Clay's professional career began at age 18 and with a victory over Tunney Hunsaker on October 29, 1960 and would end some twenty-one years later with a loss to Trevor Berbick on December 11, 1981, only his 5th loss in more than two decades of professional boxing. Clay went through nineteen opponents, before getting a chance to challenge Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title. Clay was considered the underdog of the match but when the two men got into the ring Clay battered the older fighter with hard rapid punches for six rounds and when Liston failed to answer the seventh round bell, Clay knew he had become the new world heavyweight champion. But the hype and attention worth of the fight was not solely based on the victory but rather on his lyrics and rhymes both in and out of the ring. Some of them were; "Float like a butterfly sting like a bee" and he also predicted in rhyme the round in which he would knock out his opponent which was "They all fall/in the round I call". His first title defense was a rematch against Sonny Liston, and again he shocked the world with a first round knockout. After his victory over Zora Folley, Ali's career came to a halt from March 22,1967 to October 26, 1970 as a result of the Vietnam War. In 1970 Ali made his triumphant return to the boxing world remarkably defeated Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena. With those two wins under his belt he then felt it necessary to challenge Joe Frazier to one of the most highly acclaimed fight. This was considered by man

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