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MUHAMMAD ALI, "The Greatest of All Time" Dies at 74 - Jan. 17, 1942 - Jun. 3, 2016 (HISTORY TRIBUTE)

658 views · Published 4 June 2016 · 6:31 · Indexed 17 October 2026

Channel: CelebrityTV · 2016 · Entertainment

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MUHAMMAD ALI, "The Greatest of All Time" Dies at 74 (Jan. 17, 1942 - Jun. 3, 2016)

UPDATE (JUN 4 2016, 5:42 PM ET):  Ali's family released a statement that Muhammad Ali died of septic shock due to unspecified natural causes.   Boxing great and the man deemed as "The Greatest of All Time", Muhammad Ali, has passed away.  He was 74 years old.  Recent reports say that he was hospitalized for a respiratory complications and the more recent updates said that he was on life support.  Ali passed away on Friday, June 3rd at a Phoenix-area hospital where he spent the past two days being treated for respiratory complications. He battled Parkinson's disease for 32-years, a progressive neurological condition that slowly robbed him of both his legendary voice and physical capacities.  A funeral service is scheduled to be held in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

Muhammad Ali was one of the great ones.  He ws the silver-tongued boxer and civil rights champion who famously proclaimed himself "The Greatest" and then spent a lifetime living up to that.  He was also the three-time World Heavyweight Champion of the world.

The remark bookended the life of a man who burst into the national consciousness in the early 1960s, when as a young heavyweight champion he converted to Islam and refused to serve in the Vietnam War, and became an emblem of strength, eloquence, conscience and courage. Ali was an anti-establishment showman who transcended borders and barriers, race and religion. His fights against other men became spectacles, but he embodied much greater battles.

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on Jan. 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky, to middle-class parents, Ali started boxing when he was 12, winning Golden Gloves titles before heading to the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he won a gold medal as a light heavyweight. He turned professional shortly afterward.

That came the following year, when heavyweight champion Sonny Liston agreed to fight Ali. The challenger geared up for the bout with a litany of insults and rhymes, including the line, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." He beat the fearsome Liston in a sixth-round technical knockout before a stunned Miami Beach crowd. In the ring, Ali proclaimed, "I am the greatest! I am the greatest! I'm the king of the world."

The new champion soon renounced Cassius Clay as his "slave name" and said he would be known from then on as Muhammad Ali — bestowed by Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. He was 22 years old.

Toward the end of his legal saga, Georgia agreed to issue Ali a boxing license, which allowed him to fight Jerry Quarry, whom he beat. Six months later, at a sold-out Madison Square Garden, he lost to Joe Frazier in a 15-round duel touted as "the fight of the century." It was Ali's first defeat as a pro.

That fight began one of boxing's and sport's greatest rivalries. Ali and Frazier fought again in 1974, after Frazier had lost his crown. This time, Ali won in a unanimous decision, making him the lead challenger for the heavyweight title.

He took it from George Foreman later that year in a fight in Zaire dubbed "The Rumble in the Jungle," a spectacularly hyped bout for which Ali moved to Africa for the summer, followed by crowds of chanting locals wherever he went. A three-day music festival featuring James Brown and B.B. King preceded the fight. Finally, Ali delivered a historic performance in the ring, employing a new strategy dubbed the "rope-a-dope," goading the favored Foreman into attacking him, then leaning back into the ropes in a defensive stance and waiting for Foreman to tire. Ali then went on the attack, knocking out Foreman in the eighth round. The maneuver has been copied by many other champions since.

The third fight in the Ali-Frazier trilogy followed in 1975, the "Thrilla in Manila" that is now regarded as one of the best boxing matches of all time. Ali won in a technical knockout in the 15th round.

Ali successfully defended his title until 1978, when he was beaten by a young Leon Spinks, and then quickly took it back. He retired in 1979, when he was 37, but, seeking to replenish his dwindling personal fortune, returned in 1980 for a title match against Larry Holmes, which he lost. Ali lost again, to Trevor Berbick, the following year. Finally, Ali retired for good.

Story Credit: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/muhammad-ali-greatest-all-time-dead-74-n584776

Music by: "Rain Through The Window" by Erich V by Square Peach Music http://square-peach.com/.

Rest In Peace, Muhammad Ali, "The Greatest."

Yours truly,

CelebrityTV
"BIZZY B" and "ZOLA"

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