'''Muhammad Ali''' ({{IPAc-en|ɑː|ˈ|l|iː}};<ref>{{cite LPD|3|Ali |quote=the former boxer Muhammad Ali pronounces {{IPA|ɑːˈliː}}}}</ref> born '''Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.'''; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American [[professional boxer]] and activist.{{efn|"boxing champion and '''activist'''";<!ref>{{Cite news |last=Diaz |first=Johnny |date=2024-06-NOTE04 |title=Muhammad Ali’s Childhood Home Goes on the Market |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-childhood-home-sale.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604214318/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-childhood-home-sale.html |archive-date=2024-06-04 |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=[[The leadNew sentenceYork shouldTimes]]}}</ref> stick"one toof whatthe hecountry’s wasmost primarilyrecognized knownanti-war '''activists'''"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gorsevski |first=Ellen forW. |last2=Butterworth |first2=Michael L. |date=2011-02-01 |title=Muhammad Ali's Fighting Words: The infoboxParadox isof thereViolence in Nonviolent Rhetoric |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00335630.2010.536563 |journal=Quarterly Journal of Speech |volume=97 |issue=1 |page=57 |doi=10.1080/00335630.2010.536563 |issn=0033-5630}}</ref> "professional boxer and social '''activist'''";<ref>{{Cite EBO|title=Muhammad Ali|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad-Ali-boxer|access-date=2024-12-01|first=Thomas|last=Hauser}}</ref> "the professional boxer and '''activist'''";<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ahmed |first=Shanzeh |date=2024-02-22 |title=Daughter of Muhammad Ali celebrates suburban mosque’s 50th anniversary with a ceremony to includehonor additionalthe occupationsboxing legend |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/02/22/islamic-foundation-muhammad-ali/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301165803/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/02/22/islamic-foundation-muhammad-ali/ |archive-date=2024-03-01 |access-date=2024-12-01 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref> "Muhammad Ali serves as reminder that radical '''activist''' athletes can become mainstreamed."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Townsend |first=Stephen |last2=Osmond |first2=Gary |last3=Phillips |first3=Murray G. |date=2018-07-24 |title=‘Where Cassius Clay Ends, Muhammad Ali Begins’: Sportspeople, Political Activism, and Methodology |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09523367.2018.1523146 |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport |volume=35 |issue=11 |page=1150 |doi=10.1080/09523367.2018.1523146 |issn=0952-3367}}</ref>}} Nicknamed "'''the Greatest'''", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century. Widely regarded as one of the greatest [[heavyweight]] boxers of all time, he held the ''[[The Ring (magazine)|Ring]]'' magazine heavyweight title from 1964 to 1970. He was the undisputed champion from 1974 to 1978 and the [[World Boxing Association|WBA]] and ''Ring'' heavyweight champion from 1978 to 1979. In 1999, he was named [[Sports Illustrated#Sportsman of the Century|Sportsman of the Century]] by ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' and the [[BBC Sports Personality of the Year#Sports Personality of the Century Award|Sports Personality of the Century]] by the [[BBC]].
Born and raised in [[Louisville, Kentucky]], he began training as an amateur boxer at age 12. At 18, he won a gold medal in the [[light heavyweight]] division at the [[1960 Summer Olympics]] and turned professional later that year. He joined the [[Nation of Islam]] in the early 1960s, but later disavowed it in the mid-1970s. He won the world heavyweight championship, defeating [[Sonny Liston]] in [[Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston|a major upset]] on February 25, 1964, at age 22. During that year, he denounced his birth name as a "[[slave name]]" and formally changed his name to Muhammad Ali. In 1967, Ali refused to be drafted into the military, owing to [[Religious views of Muhammad Ali|his religious beliefs]] and ethical [[opposition to the Vietnam War]], and was found guilty of [[draft evasion]] and stripped of his boxing titles. He stayed out of prison while [[Clay v. United States|appealing the decision]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], where his conviction was overturned in 1971. He did not fight for nearly four years and lost a period of peak performance as an athlete. Ali's actions as a [[conscientious objector]] to the Vietnam War made him an icon for the larger [[counterculture of the 1960s]] generation, and he was a very high-profile figure of racial pride for [[African Americans]] during the [[civil rights movement]] and throughout his career.
