Mohammed Ali

1. Mohammed Ali By Walter Dean Myers Power pointed by Andy Gao

2. Introduction • Muhammad Ali came out of his mother’s Stomach of the evening if January 17,1942 in Louisville city Hospital. • Muhammad is most famous for his boxing career and the opponents he fought like Joe Frazier and George Foreman. • I chose Muhammad Ali because he was one of the best fighters in boxing history and he was the fastest puncher anyone ever seen.

3. Adolescence Years • At the age of twelve, Muhammad rod his Schwinn bike with his friend to Columbia Auditorium were there was a home show only for blacks and were blacks got free popcorn and candy. When the show was over he saw his bike was missing and it will be hard for his family to get a new bike. Muhammad reported that his bike was missing to Joe Martin; Joe was a officer in the police force for years and taught boxing in the Columba Gym. Muhammad was angry and wanted to beat someone up. Joe taught Muhammad some boxing skills. Muhammad started boxing lessons. • Muhammad was skinny and awkward and a lot of boys beat him up in the ring but Muhammad would always show up one hour earlier than the other boys and he was training six days a week with Joe and a black man named Fred Stoner. • Muhammad trained long hours at the grace community center in Louisville with Fred. • By the age of sixteen Muhammad was still thin and light hitter but be had relaxes and coordination that professionals had never seen. • Muhammad used more and more time in boxing and his mid was set in boxing career. He dropped out of high school in March 1958. • On Muhammad’s eighteenth birthday there was no doubt about his skills. There was still some problems with his skills. Most fighters in boxing would move away from punches but Muhammad would lean back and try to punch but sometimes if he misses he could have been hit hard. • Muhammad wanted to join the Olympics but he was to light to play as a heavyweight, instead he entered the light- heavyweight division. • When Muhammad won the Olympics and came back from Rome .Muhammad got to meet sugar Ray Robinson for the first time . Robinson was considered the greatest fighter.

4. Adulthood • In the 1960s Muhammad began with a gold medal and international fame by 1962 he had already won 10 professional fights with carefully selected opponents • Two months later Muhammad fought his former teacher and Muhammad won at the fourth round. • A week after Muhammad's twenty-first birthday he fought Charles Powell in Pittsburgh. The fight seem easy to Muhammad and knocked him out in the third round. • Muhammad was in the ring again and fought Doug Jones in March 13 1963 at new York. Muhammad predicted he was going to knocked him out in the fourth round but he didn’t until the sixth round came and Muhammad knocked him out. The crowed was disappointed because he couldn’t decide when he will be knocked. • Arrangements were made to Muhammad to fight with sonny Liston on February 1964 in Miami Beach Florida. Liston was a unbeatable boxer in boxing. Liston had good foot speed but Muhammad was faster. At the fourth and fifth round Muhammad was blind but Liston couldn’t hurt him. When the sixth round came Liston was out and couldn’t go on. No one believed that Muhammad (loud mouth) won. • Muhammad was in a draft on April 18, 1965 to see if he could go into the military but he scored below the qualifying scores. • On April 28, 1965 Sports Illustrators asked Ali about the Vietnam War and he said why we have to put on uniforms and go thousands of miles away from home and drop bombs and bullets in Vietnam and black people in Louisville are treated like dogs. • When Ali didn’t step up forward when the officials of the draft board called his name Muhammad got to trail in June 1967 and witch he was guilty and had 5 years sentence and had a fine of 10,000 dollars and had his passport taken away. • Ali was popular in campuses and he made more and more sense to young audiences and in some states with State Athletic commissions was necessary to have a state granted license to fight so a license that could denied Ali of committing a crime. • In the 1960-1970s Muhammad Ali made more money than any boxer in history has and Ali hired a entertainer Named Ailing Stepin Fetchit. Muhammad allowed the fighters he faced in the ring to make more money than they had ever dreamed of. • On March 8, 1971 it was that night fans around the world were waiting for. It was Ali’s first professional fight with Joe Frazier and there was a lot of American reporters was open to hostile Ali because he never faced a fighter with the skills and determination like Joe Frazier .When the game started they used their own styles, Frazier moving ,bobbling, relentlessly aggressive. Ali jabbed and moved and jabbed. At the End it looked like Frazier was winning but was he? When the judges finally decided Ali had lost to Frazier. • Ali’s first fight after Frazier was Jim Ellis his old friend back in Louisville. Ellis was a good boxer with a good strong left jab. What Ellis feared was Ali would have a right hand over that jab. Ali won in the twelfth round on a technical knockout.

5. Adulthood (continued) • The Next fight was held in Houston, Texas against Buster Mathis. Mathis had beaten Frazier but he injured himself shortly he was about to participate in the 1964 Olympics games . The sluggish Mathis was a easy target, and Ali took an easy decision. • Ali fought in Tokyo on April 1972 fighting Mac Foster winning by a lackluster decision in fifteen rounds. • On the First day of May, exactly a moth after the Foster fight, Ali fought a twelve rounder with George Chuvalo in Vancouver. • A rematch was made on Monday with Frazier and Muhammad but Muhammad won. • When Ali arrived at Zaire Ali fought George Foreman in Wednesday 30, 1974. George Foreman was twenty-five and he was a man who would destroy anything in his way. When the bell rang the fight started, Ali rushed across the ring and throws a right hand and surprisingly it hit the big man. Each time Foreman would bring his fist back to attack Ali but Ali would hit him once, twice, three times. At the end of the fight Muhammad won and had knocked out the Young champion, George Foreman. • In 1974 Muhammad Ali beaten Joe Frazier and then in a stunning upset Defeating seemingly invincible George Foreman. • Ali decline as a fighter was inevitable. The man, who loved boxing held to the sport too long, gave to much credence to the will that had substance him for so long. • The 1996 summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia Muhammad was holding the flaming torch. Who had first came to the world’s attention at the Olympic Games some thirty-six years earlier. • This man was known for the greatest. He had once held the heavyweight championships of the world, now a disease held him. Parkinson disease is a chronic neurological condition Named after Dr. James Parkinson. It was possible that Ali’s long fight career could have triggered the disease.

6. President • Franklin D. Roosevelt • 32nd president •   1933-1945

7. Contributions • Muhammad's famous Phrases “Float like a butterfly sting like a bee. • In 1967 Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S army calming conscientious objector status as a minister of the religion of Islam • Ali was a participant and symbols a self-dramatist and heroic party. • Ali made the most money in boxing so he allowed the fighters he faced in the ring to make more money than they even dreamed of • Ali gave 100 million dollars towards research for a cure for the Parkinson's discuses.

8. Most Interesting Story • The most interesting thing about the book was how Muhammad boxing skills. He had reflexes and coordination that professionals had never seen. Muhammad was boxing over then 20 years and he wasn’t ever badly hurt .

9. Questions • Did you ever have a wife or kids? • When your skills slowed down, how did you tried to make it better? • Questions • Had you ever thought of marring?

10. Bibliography • Walter, W. D. (2001). The Greatest Muhammad Ali. New York city, New York : Scholastic press.