Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was a legendary boxer, renowned around the globe because of his victories and unique fighting style and was born on 17^th of January, 1942. His real name is Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. Muhammad has unified the Heavyweight title and has won many matches, he was known the nicknames The Greatest, The People’s Champion and The Louisville Lip. Here are some of the details about his life:

Personal Basic Information

Full Name	Muhammad Ali Clay
Nick Name	The Greatest, The People’s Champion and The Louisville Lip
Father’s Name	Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr.
Mother’s Name	Odessa Grady Clay
Date of Birth (Born)	January 17, 1942
Birth Place	Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Current Age	Age: 84 years, 2 months, and 0 days as of today. Time left for next birthday: 10 months and 0 days.
Height	6 feet 3 inch (1.91 meters)
Weight	210-215 pounds (95-98 kg)
Net worth	Approx. $50 million dollars as of March 2025
Marriage Status	Married
Wife’s Name	Yolanda “Lonnie” Williams
Kids Name	Maryum “May May” Ali, Jamillah Ali, Rasheda Ali, Miya Ali, Hana Ali, Khaliah Ali, Laila Ali, Muhammad Ali Jr. and Asaad Amin.
High school	Central High School, Louisville, Kentucky
Nationality	American
Zodiac Sign	Capricorn
Current Team Name	Retired from boxing on December 11, 1981, at the age of 39 years

Muhammad Ali’s Net Worth

During the time of his in the year 2016, it was speculated that professional boxer, Muhammad Ali has accumulated a wealth of $50-$80 million dollars and this net worth comes from various sources such as:

Athletic Career Earnings: In his entire professional career Muhammad Ali has earned $60-$70 million dollars from his boxing career, where he used to get paid for every event. Some of the events where he has participated and won are Fight of the Century where he made $2.5 million, Rumble in the Jungle where he made $5.45 million and Thrilla in Manila where he made $6 million dollars.
Endorsements and Sponsorships: Muhammad was also involved with many known brands such as Apple, Pizza Hut and many more, through these brands he earned millions of dollars. He also used to get separate appearance fees for the appearances and Muhammad was amongst the one of the first Black athletes to get sponsorship deals.
Books and Biographies: Muhammad has even written books such as The Greatest: My Own Story and Soul of a Butterfly. He used to earn through the book sales and royalties.
Film and Media Rights: An autobiography film called Ali was made in the 2001, in which Will Smith played Muhammad and a documentary called When We Were Kings. Through these sources he earned a significant amount of income.
Licensing & Merchandising: In the year 2006, he earned around $50 million dollars from selling his 80% of rights of image and name, the company Authentic Brands Group (ABG) uses his image in various video games, merchandises and etc.
Investments and real estate: Muhammad has also invested his money in real estate all over USA, some of the places where he owns properties are Michigan, Arizona and Kentucky.
Public Speaking: He has also been an active public speaker and spoken at various types of events such as charity events, award shows and he did not used to get any kind of fee from these events.

Muhammad Ali Early Life and Childhood

Muhammad Ali was born on 17^th of January in 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, his father Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. used to work as a sign painter and a mural artist and his mother Odessa Grady Clay was a domestic worker. Muhammad also had a brother who also used to do boxing previously known as Rudolph “Rudy” Clay and Rahman Ali after converting to Islam.

Muhammad’s family were humble family and used to reside in an African-American neighbourhood, when he tittle he used to have trouble in reading and studies but had a great love for comic books and superheroes.

Education and the Beginning of Sports Career

As a child, Muhammad went to an all-black elementary and middle school in Louisville, Kentucky, when he was little, he was particularly interested in drawing and was very good at it. Ali went to Central High School situated in Louisville and started his boxing career at the age of 12 years old. When his bicycle was stolen and after reporting it to the police, little Ali wanted to beat the thief himself but the police recommended him to first learn how to fight.

Then he got introduced to Columbia Gym and then started training under same police officer named Joe Martin and later on, a different trainer named Fred Stoner, took in charge of him. By the time he reached the age of 14 years old, he started participating in local and regional tournaments.

Professional Career

1960-1964: After making his professional debut at the age of 18 years old, where his opponent was Tunney Hunsaker. After this he started participating in several boxing championships and at the 1964, World Heavyweight tournament Muhammad claimed the win by defeating Sonny Liston and in the same he converted to Islam and changed the name to Muhammad Ali.

1965-1971: In the Defences and Dominance tournament, Muhammad defeated several playing in his unique boxing style in which some of them are Floyd Patterson in 1965, George Chuvalo in 1966, Brian London, Henry Cooper, Karl Mildenberger, Ernie Terrell in 1967. After his refusal to join the U.S Army in the Vietnam War, Muhammad was banned for 3.5 years from boxing and had to go to the court to revoke it and in 1971, Muhammad won his case at Supreme Court and then made his comeback. After making his comeback he competed with Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena and defeated them.

1971-1975: At the “Fight of the Century” where Muhamma fought with Joe Frazier and lost, making this his career’s first loss. During the 1972 to 1974, Muhammad defeated many players like George Chuvalo, Floyd Patterson, Joe Bugner and Ken Norton. At the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle, Muhammad again claimed his World Heavyweight Title after defeating the undefeated player, George Foreman. In the year 1975, at the Thrilla in Manila competition, Ali won after Joe Frazier’s side accepted their defeat after 14^th round.

1976-1981: After defeating several players like Jean-Pierre Coopman, Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers and Alfredo Evangelista, Muhammad defended his title, but eventually lost the title to Leon Spinks in the year 1978. But in the same year, the two of them had a rematch and Muhammad defeated him and again gained his title of World Heavyweight for the 3rd time. He decided to retire in 1979 but made a comeback in 1980 and after playing a few fights where he lost to Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick, Muhammad finally retired in 1981.

Achievements / Awards / Medals

In the professional boxing journey of Muhammad Ali, he has a long list of achievements and here are some of them:

International Achievements

1960: During the Italy Olympic, Muhammad earned the gold medal of Light Heavyweight upon defeating Zbigniew Pietrzykowski during the finals.
1974: At the World Heavyweight Champion, Muhammad claimed the title by competing against George Foreman in a very famous boxing championship called Rumble in the Jungle.
1978: Muhammad became the Messenger of peace by the United Nations for preaching peace around the globe.
1970-2000: He honoured by countries like Middle East, Pakistan and Africa for being a respectful and honourable figure as a Muslim.

National Achievements

1964: In this year, Muhammad earned the World Heavyweight Championship title for the first time upon defeating Sonny Liston at the Miami Beach in Florida.
1978: He again claimed the World Heavyweight Championship for the 3rd time, where he defeated Leon Spinks in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1956-1960: Muhammad has claimed the Golden Gloves Championship a total of six times, where he has competed and defeated several players.
1960: At the AAU National Light Heavyweight Championship, Ali won and qualified for the Olympics.
2005: Muhammad was honoured with the highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the president of America at that time George W. Bush.
1999: Muhammad got selected by the U.S panel which consisted of journalists and experts and was honoured with the title of Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Century where his other competitors were Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson.

Married Life and Family

1^st Marriage: Muhammad’s first marriage was to Sonji Roi, where they got married on 14^th of August, 1964, Sonji used to work as a cocktail waitress and was a model during her time in Chicago and was introduced to Muhammad by his manager. Shortly after meeting Sonji, Muhammad decided to get married to her and had their wedding ceremony but because of personal disputes over religion, since during that time Muhammad was a newly converted Muslim and wanted Sonji to follow Islamic rules. Sonji disagreed to it and in January of 1966, they decided to get a divorce, in two years of marriages they didn’t have any children.

2^nd Marriage: Muhammad’s second marriage was to Belinda Boyd who later converted to Islam and even changed her name to Khalilah Camacho-Ali. Her parents used to follow Islam but she converted after her marriage to Muhammad Ali on 17^th August, 1967. Belinda was just 17 years old, when she got married to him and while two of them were married to each other, Muhammad Ali used to have extra marital affairs with other women. The two of them have four children:

Maryum “May May” Ali: She was born in 1968 and works as a social worker, public speaker, author and former rapper.
Jamillah Ali: She was born in the 1970s and is the twin sister of Rasheda Ali, she is active in the public relations and real estate industry.
Rasheda Ali: She was born on 1970s and is Jamillah’s twin sister, she was a public speaker and is the author of I’ll Hold Your Hand So You Won’t Fall.
Muhammad Ali Jr.: He was born in the year 1972 and often speaks about religious issues and his father’s legacy.

3^rd Marriage: Muhammad Ali had his third marriage with Veronica Porché Ali, she used to work as an actress and was also active as a model. The two of them had their first meeting during one of Muhammad’s match in Zaire, Muhammad was seeing Veronica while he was still married to Khalilah. After his divorce from his wife he quickly got married to Veronica on 19^th of June in 1977 but after 9 years of their marriage, they divorced each other in the year 1986. They have two daughters together:

Hana Ali: She was born in 1976 and has authored two books about Muhammad Ali’s life and boxing legacy; the books are At Home with Muhammad Ali and More Than A Hero.
Laila Ali: She was born in the year 1977 and just like her father, she was also a professional boxer.

4^th Marriage: Muhammad Ali had his 4^th and last marriage to Yolanda “Lonnie” Williams Ali, she has known Ali since his childhood, the two had their marriage on 19^th of November in 1986. Muhammad and Yolanda didn’t have any kids of their own so they adopted a son.

Asaad Amin: He was adopted in the year 1986, when he was still a little baby and works as baseball scout and coach.

Muhammad Ali has two more daughter from his affairs outside of his marriage:

Miya Ali: She was born in the early 70s from Muhammad and Patricia Harvell’s extramarital affair and she works in the hospitality industry.
Kiiursti Mensah Ali: She was born during the early 70s from Muhammad’s affair with Barbara Mensah and she is an active public speaker but unfortunately, she was never acknowledged by Ali as his daughter.

Death

On 3^rd June, 2016, in HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Centre, in Scottsdale, Arizona, Muhammad Ali passed away due to septic shock, which became more severe due to his Parkinson’s disease.

A Janazah (Islamic prayer ritual) was organized in his name which was attended by 14,000 Muslims. After his death, many sportspersons, foundations and political figures have paid tribute and expressed their condolences to him.