Fun Fact 2 Born in Louisville, Kentucky in the United States of America, Muhammad Ali is a famous American former professional boxer who is often classed as one of the best heavyweight boxers in the history of sport.
Fun Fact 3: On November 19th, 1996 Muhammad Ali married Yolanda Williams. Yolanda is also known by the name Lonnie. The couple had been friends for more than 20 twenty years before they married.
Fun Fact 4: Muhammad Ali has nine children. Their names are Laila, Rasheda, Maryum, Miya, Hana, Jamillah, Khaliah, Asaad and Muhammed Ali Jr.
Fun Fact 5: Muhammed Ali joined a boxing club at a local gym to learn how to fight. The boxing club was ran by Joe Martin. Joe told Muhammed Ali that he needed to know how to fight if he was going to beat up the thief who stole his bike.
Fun Fact 6: Muhammad Ali had his first debut amateur boxing match in 1954. He won the match by a split decision.
Fun Fact 7: Over a career of decades, Muhammad Ali has won many awards, the biggest of them was in 1959 when he won the National Golden Gloves Champion, and in 1960 when he was became an Olympic gold medalist when he beat Polish boxer Zbigniew Pietrzykowski.
Fun Fact 8: Muhammad Ali is known for banter and boasting about his skills before he gets in the ring, he has come up with many famous catchphrases and quotes that are used and heard widely today, one of his most famous quotations is 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'.
Fun Fact 9: After experiencing a lot of racial discrimination growing up in the South, Muhammed Ali decided to convert to Islam in 1964. He joined the Black Muslim group, Nation of Islam and became a practicing Muslim Minister.
Fun Fact 10: Muhammad Ali refused to acknowledge that he had been drafted up for the military for the Vietnam War, he said that as he was a practicing minister so he was not able to go and fight. As a result of this, he ended up in court and was banned from fighting for three years and stripped of his title.
Fun Fact 11: Returning to boxing in the 1970s, it was during these years that Muhammad Ali competed in some of his most famous fights, against the biggest star boxers like George Foreman and Joe Frazer. The fights were known as the Rumble in the Jungle and Thrilla in Manilla.
Fun Fact 12: Ali won the Heavyweight Boxing Championship three times, by 1963 his record was 19-0 and 15 of those were knockouts.
Fun Fact 13: Muhammad Ali accounted his retirement from boxing in 1981, after losing his title against Trevor Berbick.
Fun Fact 14: Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1984, he has devoted much of his time to helping different charities and was awarded the Presidents Award for public services by Barack Obama in 2009.
Fun Fact 15: In 2001, Will Smith starred in a biographical movie about the life of Muhammad Ali. Will Smith originally turned the role down but Ali personally requested he take the part after joking that he wasn't handsome enough to play him. |
