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N0KFQ > TODAY 25.02.08 13:00l 84 Lines 4406 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 25
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February 25, 1964
Clay knocks out Liston
On February 25, 1964, 22-year-old Cassius Clay shocks the
odds-makers by dethroning world heavyweight boxing champ Sonny
Liston in a seventh-round technical knockout. The dreaded Liston,
who had twice demolished former champ Floyd Patterson in one
round, was an 8-to-1 favorite. However, Clay predicted victory,
boasting that he would "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee"
and knock out Liston in the eighth round. The fleet-footed and
loquacious youngster needed less time to make good on his
claim--Liston, complaining of an injured shoulder, failed to
answer the seventh-round bell. A few moments later, a new
heavyweight champion was proclaimed.
Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in
1942. He started boxing when he was 12 and by age 18 had amassed
a record of over 100 wins in amateur competition. In 1959, he won
the International Golden Gloves heavyweight title and in 1960 a
gold medal in the light heavyweight category at the Summer
Olympic Games in Rome. Clay turned professional after the
Olympics and went undefeated in his first 19 bouts, earning him
the right to challenge Sonny Liston, who had defeated Floyd
Patterson in 1962 to win the heavyweight title.
On February 25, 1964, a crowd of 8,300 spectators gathered at the
Convention Hall arena in Miami Beach to see if Cassius Clay, who
was nicknamed the "Louisville Lip," could put his money where his
mouth was. The underdog proved no bragging fraud, and he danced
and backpedaled away from Liston's powerful swings while
delivering quick and punishing jabs to Liston's head. Liston hurt
his shoulder in the first round, injuring some muscles as he
swung for and missed his elusive target. By the time he decided
to discontinue the bout between the sixth and seventh rounds, he
and Clay were about equal in points. A few conjectured that
Liston faked the injury and threw the fight, but there was no
real evidence, such as a significant change in bidding odds just
before the bout, to support this claim.
To celebrate winning the world heavyweight title, Clay went to a
private party at a Miami hotel that was attended by his friend
Malcolm X, an outspoken leader of the African American Muslim
group known as the Nation of Islam. Two days later, a markedly
more restrained Clay announced he was joining the Nation of Islam
and defended the organization's concept of racial segregation
while speaking of the importance of the Muslim religion in his
life. Later that year, Clay, who was the descendant of a runaway
Kentucky slave, rejected the name originally given to his family
by a slave owner and took the Muslim name of Muhammad Ali.
Muhammad Ali would go on to become one of the 20th century's
greatest sporting figures, as much for his social and political
influence as his prowess in his chosen sport. After successfully
defending his title nine times, it was stripped from him in 1967
after he refused induction into the U.S. Army on the grounds that
he was a Muslim minister and therefore a conscientious objector.
That year, he was sentenced to five years in prison for violating
the Selective Service Act but was allowed to remain free as he
appealed the decision. His popularity plummeted, but many across
the world applauded his bold stand against the Vietnam War.
In 1970, he was allowed to return to the boxing ring, and the
next year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Ali's draft evasion
conviction. In 1974, he regained the heavyweight title in a match
against George Foreman in Zaire and successfully defended it in a
brutal 15-round contest against Joe Frazier in the Philippines in
the following year. In 1978, he lost the title to Leon Spinks but
later that year defeated Spinks in a rematch, making him the
first boxer to win the heavyweight title three times. He retired
in 1979 but returned to the ring twice in the early 1980s. In
1984, Ali was diagnosed with pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome and
has suffered a slow decline of his motor functions ever since. He
was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
In 1996, he lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremonies of
the Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Ali's daughter, Laila, made
her boxing debut in 1999.
At a White House ceremony in November 2005, Ali was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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