Muhammad Ali was a famous pro boxer winning many fights and becoming very successful, thats not the only reason he was famous though...

Muhammad Ali was not always born with the name Muhammad Ali, he was born on January 17th, 1942 in Louisville Kentucky as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr named after his father Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. Clay would later change his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Sunni Islam in the early 1960s.

Cassius Clay Jr first discovered boxing after his bike was stolen. Clay went to the local police station to report that his bike was stolen. An officer asked Ali if he ever boxed before. Clay said no but he wanted to learn how to so if he found the person who stole his bike he could beat them up and teach them a lesson.

Clay began his heavy weight boxing career as a 6'3 18 year old kid with a 78 inch reach. He boxed in his first ever professional boxing match on October 29th, 1960 in a six round decision against the police chief of Fayetteville West Virginia, Hunsake.

Clay had a different style of boxing compared to most boxers. Instead of relying on the traditional style of boxing of guarding the face with his hands he relied on his feet to dance around the ring and dodge punches he also had an insanely strong punch. His fast feet and strong punches were the main reasons he started his professional career off 19-0 with 15 knockouts.

In 1964 Muhammed failed his military qualification test. In 1966 however his tests were revised and he was selected to the U.S army for the war in Vietnam. At this point Clay changed his name to Muhammed Ali and converted himself to Sunni Islam. Muhammad did not go to Vietnam to fight, instead he said it was against his religion.

As a result of not joining the army in 1966 Ali was punished severely. Many Americans were angered with Ali. Ali was banned from fighting for most of 1966. At the end of 1967 Alis title was stripped away from him and he was banned from fighting for another three years. Muhammad Ali was also sentenced to 5 years in prison. He spent lots of his time fighting his conviction and going to rallies on college campuses speaking to anti-war supporters.

In 1970 Ali was allowed to fight again and in 1971 the Supreme Court set Ali free. In his first fight back he fought Jerry Quary on October 26th, 1970 He won. In his next fight he fought against Oscar Bonavena on December 7th, 1970 He also won that fight. After that Ali was going after Joe Frazier to get his title back. The fight was labeled the fight of the century. Both fighters were unbeaten and it came to a unanimous decision and Joe Frazier prevailed and kept his title. However after a couple more fights Ali got his rematch with Frazier and won regaining the title on January 28th, 1974. He then set up a fight against George Foreman in Africa to give the continent an economic boost.