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}} Muhammad Ali (;〔("Ali" ). ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.〕 born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is an American former professional boxer, generally considered among the greatest heavyweights in the history of the sport. A controversial and polarizing figure during his early career, Ali is now highly regarded for the skills he displayed in the ring plus the values he exemplified outside of it: religious freedom, racial justice and the triumph of principle over expedience.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Muhammad Ali – Biography of Muhammad Ali – Page 2 )〕 He is one of the most recognized sports figures of the past 100 years, crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by ''Sports Illustrated'' and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC. Ali began training at 12 years old and at the age of 22 won the world heavyweight championship in 1964 from Sonny Liston in a stunning upset. Shortly after that bout, Ali joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name. He converted to Sunni Islam in 1975. In 1967, three years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War. He was eventually arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges and stripped of his boxing title. He did not fight again for nearly four years—losing a time of peak performance in an athlete's career. Ali's appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where in 1971 his conviction was overturned. Ali's actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation. Ali remains the only three-time lineal world heavyweight champion; he won the title in 1964, 1974, and 1978. Between February 25, 1964 and September 19, 1964 Muhammad Ali reigned as the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion. Nicknamed "The Greatest", Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these were the first Liston fight, three with rival Joe Frazier, and one with George Foreman, where he regained titles he had been stripped of seven years earlier. At a time when most fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali, inspired by professional wrestler "Gorgeous" George Wagner, thrived in—and indeed craved—the spotlight, where he was often provocative and outlandish. He controlled most press conferences and interviews, and spoke freely about issues unrelated to boxing.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=among many examples )〕 He transformed the role and image of the African American athlete in America by his embrace of racial pride and his willingness to antagonize the white establishment in doing so.〔See where he stated that the United States was the most racist country in the world; see also Joyce Carol Oates article reprinted in http://www.usfca.edu/jco/muhammadali/〕〔see quotes on Ali's influence on African Americans in essay by Thomas Hauser reprinted in www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/civil-rights-movement/essays/importance-muhammad-ali〕 In the words of writer Joyce Carol Oates, he was one of the few athletes in any sport to "define the terms of his public reputation".〔Joyce Carol Oates, On Boxing〕 ==Early life and amateur career== Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky.〔 The older of two boys, he was named for his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., who himself was named in honour of the 19th century abolitionist and politician of the same name. He had a sister and four brothers, including Nathaniel Clay. Clay's paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne Clay; Clay's sister Eva quoted that Sallie was a native of Madagascar.〔Egerton (1991), p. 134〕 His father painted billboards and signs, and his mother, Odessa O'Grady Clay, was a household domestic. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed Odessa to bring up both Cassius and his younger brother Rudolph "Rudy" Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali) as Baptists. He is a descendant of pre-Civil War era American slaves in the American South, and is predominantly of African-American descent, with Irish, English, and Italian ancestry.〔(【引用サイトリンク】first=Williams Adams )〕 He was first directed toward boxing by Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin, who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over a thief taking his bicycle. He told the officer he was going to "whup" the thief. The officer told him he better learn how to box first.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring05/Shaffer/clay.html )〕 For the last four years of Clay's amateur career he was trained by boxing cutman Chuck Bodak.〔("GODFATHER" OF CUTMEN-CHUCK BODAK SUFFERS STROKE ) September 2, 2007 by Pedro Fernandez, ringtalk.com〕 Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.〔(Nathan Ward ) "'A Total Eclipse of the Sonny'" , ''American Heritage'', Oct. 2006. 〕 Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses. Ali claimed in his 1975 autobiography that shortly after his return from the Rome Olympics he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after he and a friend were refused service at a "whites-only" restaurant and fought with a white gang. The story has since been disputed and several of Ali's friends, including Bundini Brown and photographer Howard Bingham, have denied it. Brown told ''Sports Illustrated'' writer Mark Kram, "Honkies sure bought into that one!" Thomas Hauser's biography of Ali stated that Ali was refused service at the diner but that he lost his medal a year after he won it. Ali received a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Muhammad Ali」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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