Cassius Clay Research Paper

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. Was born January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. His father, Cassius Clay Sr. worked as a sign painter while his mother, Odessa, worked as a maid. Cassius had a younger brother whose name is Rudy. The Clay family weren't affluent, but the family weren't impecunious either. Growing up at a young age, southern states such as Kentucky were racially segregated leading to different facilities such as schools, restaurants, swimming pools, and restrooms for black and white people. Laws such as Jim Crow Laws which were laws made in the south based on race. The laws enforced segregation between white people and black people in public facilities. This also made life difficult for African Americans and for them to also vote.
Jim Crow Laws were planned to keep black and white people apart. At the age of twelve, someone stole Cassius’ bike causing him to be very indignant at what had happened. Vexed twelve year old Cassius then told the police officer he was going to assault the thief who stoles his bike. The officer who turned out to be a boxing coach named Joe Martin informed Cassius that he better learn how to fight before he tries to beat up someone. Cassius agreed with Joe’s statement and was soon learning the game of boxing. Later on Cassius then knew he had a real talent for boxing. He was speedy, he could throw a quick punch and get out of the way before his opponent could react. As an amateur Cassius fought the total of 105 games. He with a record of 100 wins and only 5 losses. Cassius also accomplished several of Gold Glove championships and was considered one of the best amateur light-heavyweight boxer in the universe. After his outstanding performance from his amateur year, he then made it on the U.S. Olympic boxing team in 1960. He won his first gold at the event after defeating his opponents in the first three matches and led on to win the final match he won against Zbigniew Pietrzkowski, a boxer from Poland. The win at the Olympic built him a “hero” status. Majority of his heroic wins were though knockouts making him the top contender for Sunny Liston’s title. The fight was scheduled on February 1964 in Miami. While Liston was the current champion of the title making Cassius to be an underdog despite on his last couple of fights displayed a lot of lack of skills. Unlike other light-heavyweight Clay’s style was based on more quickness and skill then power He defeated Liston in the six round of the match and became the youngest boxer to presumed the title from a reigning champion. A rematch between the two boxers but however the results were the same outcome in the but this time, Cassius beat Liston with with a knockout two minutes into the fight. After defeating Liston for the heavyweight championship, Cassius changed his name to Cassius X but then later on changed it to Muhammad Ali since the leader of Islam Elijah Muhammad grant him a holy name on March 6, 1964. 1964, he also changed his from Cassius Marcellus Clay to Muhammad Ali adopting the religion of Islam.