Muhammad Ali – Cassius Clay Essay, Research Paper

I consider a hero someone that has done great things. Some of the things that I consider great are, accomplished hard goals, stood up for their own rights, done things that would be hard for me to do, and done things that are extraordinary. Muhammad Ali-Cassius Clay is someone that fills my standards of a hero. Muhammad Ali has accomplished hard goals by getting medals in the Olympics. Muhammad Ali had to stand up for his rights when he started to box. He has accomplished things in his life that would be very hard for me to accomplish. Muhammad Ali has done things that I think are very magnificent. The thing Muhammad Ali has done makes him a hero to me.

At first Muhammad Ali had no intension of boxing. After his bike was stolen, in the month of October 1954, when he was twelve, his whole life destiny changed in an instant. Upon finding out that there was a police officer in the basement of a gym, Ali went down in a horrendous state of mind exclaiming a ?state wide bike hunt (http://www.planetpapers.com/jump.cgi?ID=182.html),? and said he was going to beat up the person that sole his bike.

The way his life changed was that the police officer asked him if he knew how to fight and he said ?no.? The policeman offered Ali lessons in how to box so that he could seek on the bike thief. This was the starting point in Muhammad Ali?s boxing career.

In the late fifties, Cassius Clay rules Golden Gloves And the AAU national champion. A quick fight at the Rome Olympics in 1960, Cassius Clay a teenager knocks beats a Polish fighter by the name of Zbigniew Pietrzykowski to a ?bloody pulp.? Muhammad Ali took home the gold. In 1962 Muhammad Ali states that he will knock out Archie More in the forth round. His prediction came true. In 1964, Muhammad Ali became world heavy weight champing by beating Sonny Listen. Although he did not knock him out, Sonny would not enter the seventh round making Muhammad Ali world champion.

After knocking out Zora Folley, he did not fight for three and a half years. During this time he was standing up for his rights during the Vietnam War. He said, ?I have no Quarrel with Viet Cong (www.usatoday.com).? He did not want to fight because the more troops we sent in, the more we lost. His reason for mot going in was religious beliefs. Although they excused him from the war, it wasn?t on very good terms. They stripped him of his world title, fined him ten thousand dollars, and sentenced him to 5 years in prison. Although he didn?t? fall into all that was going on around him, he stood up for his own rights. This is one of the reasons he is a hero to me.

After returning to the ring in 1970, just one month after being granted a boxing license, he knocks out Jerry Quarry in the third round. Evan back in his early years young Muhammad always talked trash to his opponents. In 1971 the most anticipated fight since Louis-Shmeling 33 years earlier, Ali meets fellow Olympic champion Joe Franzier. This was called ?The fight of the century.? Ali losses in the fifteenth round despite all the trash talk and big talking he gave out. Then in 1974, Ali rematches Franzier and wins in the twelfth round. In the same year Ali pulls another stunner by knocking out champion George Freeman, this fight was held in Kinshasa, Zaire; this was referred to as the ?Rumble in the jungle.? The very last fight that Ali was in was in 1981.

His Career ended with a ten-round victory over Trevor Berbick. Later that year Ali began suffering symptoms of Parkinson?s disease. This illness affects his movement and his speech. Ali the things that Muhammad Ali accomplished are very cool and things that would be very hard for me to undergo. Through every victory and every defeat, his motto was, ?Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee (Jammasterprints.com).? People thought that when he was talking trash, he was building him self up or getting psyched out so that he would fight better. This was the ending of his boxing career.

After his boxing career he began getting weaker and weaker from the illness, Parkinson?s disease. In the Olympics on 1996 Ali appears to light the Olympic flame. Many people cried because of the touching moment when he got up out of his wheel chair and lit the flame. One of the people that was not feeling touches by the moment was Joe Frazier, Ali?s worst ring rival. He said, ?I wish I could have pushed Muhammad Ali into the flame (www.usatoday.com).?

Muhammad Ali was a great boxer who did what he told everyone he would do back when his bike was stolen. Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer of all time. He has done a great number of things for the Islam church and helped supported organizations in his area. The illness that he got was from getting hit in the head to many times. Parkinson?s disease is a horrible disease that weakens your body until you cant do anything anymore.

Muhammad Ali made a great contribution to boxing by the way he danced when he fought. All the things that Muhammad Has done make him a hero to me. He stood up for his rights, did something that is cool, done extraordinary things, and did something that would be hard for me to do. Muhammad Ali-Cassius Clay is my hero because he fits my standards of a hero.