MUHAMMED ALI --- The Life Time Of The Great Boxer

The legendary boxer began to retreat from the public eye after he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest US civilian honor - in 2005

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on January 17, 1942, Ali took up boxing at age 12, when his bike was stolen and he wanted to find and whip the culprit.

The boy was introduced to Joe Martin, a police officer who coached boxing at a local gym.



Ali's brother, 68-year-old Rahaman Ali, said the champ was cheerful and happy as a youngster.

'As a little boy he (said) he would be the world's greatest fighter and be a great man,' he said.

Ali flourished in the ring, becoming a top amateur and Olympic gold medalist in Rome in 1960 after beating Zbigniew Pietrzykowski for the light-heavyweight title.

He made his professional debut in Louisville the next year and arranged for a local children's hospital to receive proceeds from the fight.

Ali won his first world title in 1964, beating Sonny Liston on a technical knockout in the seventh round of the heavyweight bout.

Soon after the fight, he changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali and announced his conversion to Islam.

Ali refused to fight in Vietnam - a decision that alienated him from many across the U.S. and resulted in a draft-evasion conviction.

As a result, the heavyweight champion of the world was stripped of his title after every state refused to grant him a boxing license.

Ali found himself embroiled in a long legal fight that ended in 1971, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor and he was allowed to box once more.

He lost his first bid to regain the heavyweight crown when Joe Frazier knocked him down and won the 'Fight of the Century' at Madison Square Garden in 1971.

Ali regained the heavyweight title in 1974, defeating George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle in what was then Zaire.

A year later, he outlasted Frazier in the epic Thrilla in Manila bout in the Philippines.

Ali's last title came in 1978, when he defeated Leon Spinks.

He retired from boxing in 1981 and devoted himself to social causes, before his Parkinson's diagnosis took its toll.

Ali traveled the world on humanitarian missions, mingling with the masses and rubbing elbows with world leaders.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2005.