Muhammad Ali Boxer: What Inspired| What’s Wrong| Disease| Family

Muhammad Ali Boxer was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer, poet and philanthropist. Nicknamed The Greatest, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. He is frequently ranked as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.

Muhammad Ali Boxer: What Inspired| What’s Wrong| Disease| Family

https://youtu.be/y1LDmeNPZgA

What Inspired:

At the age of 12, Clay discovered his talent for boxing through an odd twist of fate. After his bike was stolen, Clay told a police officer, Joe Martin, that he wanted to beat up the thief. “Well, you better learn how to fight before you start challenging people,” Martin reportedly told him at the time.

Two days later Clay shocked the boxing establishment again by announcing that he had accepted the teachings of the Nation of Islam. On March 6, 1964, he took the name Muhammad Ali, which was given to him by his spiritual mentor, Elijah Muhammad.

What’s Wrong:

In 1984, he made public his diagnosis of Parkinson’s syndrome, which some reports attribute to boxing-related injuries, though he and his specialist physicians disputed this.

Slowly and with great effort, Muhammad Ali eased himself onto a couch in a quiet corner of the museum that commemorates his remarkable life. His once-magnificent body, now withered by age and illness, was virtually swallowed up in the soft leather pillows. 

Disease:

A study to be released Wednesday of Muhammad Ali’s public speaking from 1968 to ’81 found that when he was in his early to mid-30s, he began exhibiting signs of slowed and slurred speech, several years before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome at age 42.

Dad has taken a particular interest in Muhammad Ali, who was one of history’s most accomplished boxers. His legacy persisted, even when he was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease.

Family:

He had one brother. He was named after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., who had a sister and four brothers and who himself was named in honor of the 19th-century Republican politician and staunch abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay, also from the state of Kentucky.

Clay’s father’s paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne Clay; Clay’s sister Eva claimed that Sallie was a native of Madagascar.