50 Fun Facts About Muhammad Ali

Under what name was Muhammad Ali born on January 17, 1942?

His father was named after a 19th-century Kentucky abolitionist politician of the same name.

In which city was Muhammad Ali born and raised?

The city's main airport was renamed Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in 2019.

What childhood incident led the 12-year-old Ali to a boxing gym run by police officer Joe Martin?

Fuming over the theft, he told Martin he wanted to whip the thief; Martin suggested he learn to fight first.

At the 1960 Rome Olympics, the 18-year-old Clay won gold in which division?

He turned professional later the same year, with an amateur record of 100 wins and 8 losses.

What did Ali claim in his 1975 autobiography he did with his Olympic gold after a whites-only restaurant snub?

Friends including Bundini Brown later disputed the tale; a biographer says he simply lost the medal a year after winning it.

Who was Ali's trainer for almost his entire professional career, from 1960 to 1981?

Clay had first met him in 1957 as an amateur, and hired him after leaving Archie Moore's camp over a refusal to do chores.

Which champion did the 22-year-old Clay upset for the heavyweight title in Miami Beach in 1964?

He went in as an 8-to-1 underdog and had dubbed the champion 'the big ugly bear'.

How did the first Clay–Liston title fight end?

Late in the fight a temporarily blinded Clay begged Dundee to cut off his gloves; the trainer refused.

What did the press call the barely visible first-round blow that floored Liston in the 1965 Lewiston rematch?

Referee Jersey Joe Walcott botched the count, and Neil Leifer's photo of Ali standing over Liston became one of sport's most famous images.

What interim name did the new champion adopt after the first Liston fight, before settling on Muhammad Ali?

He denounced Clay as a 'slave name' upon joining the Nation of Islam.

Which broadcaster was one of the very few journalists to accept and use the name Muhammad Ali right away?

The pair's combative on-air chemistry became a fixture of 1960s and 70s television.

Which 1967 opponent did Ali taunt with 'What's my name?' for insisting on calling him Clay?

Ali won a unanimous 15-round decision; the opponent claimed Ali had deliberately thumbed him in the eye.

Ali's 1966 fight against Cleveland Williams drew a record indoor crowd of 35,460 at which venue?

Williams had been shot by a Texas policeman two years earlier and lost a kidney.

In 1967 Ali was stripped of his titles and banned from boxing after refusing to do what?

He was convicted of draft evasion after a jury deliberated for just 21 minutes.

By what margin did the US Supreme Court overturn Ali's draft-evasion conviction in June 1971?

Thurgood Marshall recused himself, having been Solicitor General at the time of the conviction.

How long was Ali kept out of the ring during his exile over the draft?

Dundee said he was 'robbed of his best years, his prime years'.

Who beat Ali by unanimous decision in the March 1971 'Fight of the Century'?

It was Ali's first professional defeat; a 15th-round left hook put him on the canvas.

Where was the Fight of the Century held?

Frank Sinatra, unable to get a ringside seat, took photographs for Life magazine instead.

Which boxer broke Ali's jaw in their first fight in 1973 and handed him the second loss of his career?

Ali wore a 'People's Choice' robe given to him by Elvis Presley for that bout.

From 1972 until the end of his career, Ali trained at a camp he built in which Pennsylvania village?

He carved it out of a five-acre site on a country road after finding the countryside near Reading to his liking.

The Rumble in the Jungle on October 30, 1974, took place in which country?

President Mobutu Sese Seko was persuaded that the publicity would help his regime; the country is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

What tactic, later nicknamed the 'rope-a-dope', did Ali use to beat George Foreman in Kinshasa?

Writer George Plimpton, at ringside, thought the fight had to be fixed; Foreman was knocked out in the eighth round.

Why was the Rumble in the Jungle postponed by five weeks?

An accidental elbow from sparring partner Bill McMurray needed 11 stitches; the three-night music festival went ahead anyway.

Which promoter staged the Rumble in the Jungle, first billed 'From Slaveship to Championship'?

The fight was scheduled for 4 a.m. local time so it could air live at 10 p.m. on the US East Coast.

Which 1996 documentary about the Rumble in the Jungle won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature?

It sat unfinished for over two decades before its release.

Ali's 1975 fight against journeyman Chuck Wepner, 'the Bayonne Bleeder', inspired which film?

Wepner floored Ali in the ninth round; Ali said he had tripped on Wepner's foot.

How did the Thrilla in Manila end on October 1, 1975?

Trainer Eddie Futch would not let his near-blind fighter come out for the last round; Ali called it the closest thing to dying he knew.

What insulting animal nickname did Ali give his opponent before the Thrilla in Manila?

He chanted a rhyme about it while punching a toy gorilla; the bitterness on the other side lasted for decades.

Ali fought a 15-round draw under special rules in Tokyo in 1976 against which wrestler?

The wrestler spent most of the bout on his back kicking Ali's legs, 107 times; the fight is seen as a forerunner of MMA.

Ali lost his title in February 1978 to which Olympic champion who had only seven professional fights?

Ali won the rematch that September at the New Orleans Superdome, becoming the first three-time lineal heavyweight champion.

Ali's ill-advised 1980 comeback against Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace ended how?

Ali blamed his sluggishness on overuse of the thyroid drug Thyrolar; it was the only stoppage loss of his career.

Who was the last man to fight Muhammad Ali, beating him by decision in the Bahamas in December 1981?

He is the only boxer to have fought Ali, Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson.

In 1984 Ali made public his diagnosis of which condition?

Some attributed it to boxing injuries; Ali and his doctors disputed that.

At which Olympic Games did a trembling Muhammad Ali light the cauldron?

He also received a replacement for his lost 1960 gold medal at the Georgia Dome during those Games.

In 1990 Ali travelled to Iraq and met which leader to negotiate the release of American hostages?

He secured their release, but drew criticism from President George H. W. Bush for making the trip.

Which broadcaster named Ali Sports Personality of the Century in 1999?

Several of his fights drew an estimated one to two billion viewers each between 1974 and 1980.

Which US president presented Ali with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005?

Bill Clinton had given him the Presidential Citizens Medal in January 2001.

Ali's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is unique in what way?

He asked that the name Muhammad, shared with the Prophet, not be walked upon.

Which of Ali's daughters became a professional boxer, undefeated from 1999 to 2007?

Ali had previously opposed women's boxing.

How many times was Muhammad Ali married?

He had seven daughters and two sons; his final wife, Lonnie, had known him since she was six.

Who played Ali in Michael Mann's 2001 biopic, earning a Best Actor Oscar nomination?

Ali reportedly told him: 'Man, you're almost pretty enough to play me.'

In the 1977 film 'The Greatest', who played Muhammad Ali?

The film introduced 'The Greatest Love of All', later a number one hit for Whitney Houston.

In 1964 Ali recorded a cover version of which rhythm and blues standard?

His 1963 spoken-word album on Columbia had already earned him a Grammy nomination.

In 1978 DC Comics published a special in which Ali fought which superhero?

The following year he guest-starred as himself on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.

Ali died on June 3, 2016, aged 74, in which Arizona city?

The cause was septic shock after a respiratory illness; Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson were among the pallbearers.

Roughly how much did the Muhammad Ali Center, opened in Louisville in 2005, cost to build?

The 93,000-square-foot centre stands in downtown Louisville.

How long did Ali's records of beating 21 boxers for the heavyweight title and 14 unified title wins stand?

He held the Ring magazine title from 1964 to 1970 and was undisputed champion from 1974 to 1978.

Which martial-arts film star studied Ali's footwork and cited him as an influence?

Ali's 1976 bout with a Japanese wrestler also inspired the founders of Pancrase and Pride.

Which basketball giant challenged Ali to a fight in 1971, then backed out after Ali taunted him with 'Timber!'?

Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had offered him a record contract on condition he dropped 'this boxing foolishness'.

In 1995 Ali was guest of honour at a record-attendance wrestling event in which country?

He led a sports-diplomacy delegation of Japanese and American wrestlers, including Ric Flair, to the 'Collision in Korea'.