Muhammad Ali: Hero

I consider a hero someone that has done great things. There are different opinions in what a hero is but to me , being a hero is one who accomplishes hard goals, standing up for their own rights, doing 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 was set. Upon finding out that there was a police officer in the basement of a gym, Ali went down to the officer in a shocked state of mind demanding a "state wide bike hunt" for hsi stolen bicycle. But all the cop told him to do was to learn to fight. and that

s what he went out and did. Althoguh int eh end, he enver got his bike back, but much more. including six Kentucky Golden Glove titles, two National Golden Gloves, two Amateur Athletic Union championships, a Gold Medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Rome Olympic games, and the world professional heavyweight championship, three times.

In the beginning of his career, he stood at 6' 3" and he had a highly irregular style for a heavyweight boxer btu that didn't mean he wasn't good. Rather than the normal boxing style of carrying the hands high to defend the face, he instead relied on his ability to avoid a punch. The person who first introduced him to boxing was the police officer who started it all. Joe E. Martin. Martin lead Clay to his first trainer, Fred Stoner, who trained with Cassius during his entire amateur career. With the aid of Stoner, Clay went on to win 6 Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, 2 national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

Barely graduating from Lousiville Central High, he finished 369th out of 391 in his class

of seniors in 1960. He usually traveled on weekends to fight so his principal argued for him to receive

a Certificate of Attendance saying that "...one day he'll be making more money than everyone in this room." As you can see, from the beginning he started to build up the commotion that led to his reign as a boxer.

After he won the gold medal for the Light Heavyweight in 1960, he went back to Lousiville and began his professional career. His first fight was on October 29, 1960; winning ove ra six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker,who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia. Between 1960 and 1963, he came out with a record of 19-9, including 15 knockouts on Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones and Henry Cooper.

In the year 1963, the year the "Fight of the Year" took place, he won a 10 round fight over Doug Jones. Following this fight was the draw between him and Henry Cooper, who knocked Clay down with a left hook near the end of the fourth round. The fight was stopped in the 5th round due to a deep cut on Cooper's face.

Although he had many close calls, he became the top contender for Sonny Liston's title. In spite of his amazing record he was not expected to win this

fight. On feburary 25, 1964 in Miami Florida, Clay began the fight with a a plan. He avoided liston's punches with quick movements and used his height to lay down the first hit. As the fight went back and forth and fluctuating between each fighter, Clay came out on the top, disproving what many people thought was going to be a loss in his streak of wins.

My next theory has to do a lot with fictional super heroes that we see on television. His name change. His name change relates a lot with fictional characters because every super hero that

we see on television has a secret undercover name. For example, Batman has a a name that he uses when he's walking the strets of the city (Bruce Wayne) but when he's out with doin ghis thing, he uses the name Batman. Similar to Cassius Marcellus Clay, he chagnes him name to Muhammad Ali.

In 1964, he was assigned and tested on goin gto war in vietnam to but failed the test which allowed him to stay back. However in 1966, the tests were revised and he passed. He refused to go sayign that "War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. I'm not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared