2

\Vho is -luharnrna A]J~ Why i') he famous? Why did he

h.1\'c [,,\"0 narncv, (~;a;~iu!~Clay in his early years, and later
i\1uhaJ111nad Ali: And vhat is he doing now?
Iuharnrnad AlJ \V;}"> , of course, a famous boxer, a
world champion. But he f()ught for black Americans,
too. He stopped boxing 111 1<JR1 because he was sick.
But today he is fighting for peace in the world.
>

The Red and '\Vhite Bike

The story starts vith a boy's new red and white bike.
It is 1954, Joe Martin is a policeman
in Louisville
Kentucky; but he teaches boxing in a gym in the
.

evcrnngs, too,
One day two young

black boys come into the gym.

One of them,. sees Joe.

"Excuse me," he says. "Are

you Joe

Martin,

the

policeman T'

"That's right," Joe says. "What's

your problem?"
"It's my new bike," the boy says. "It's red and white. It
was in front of this building, and now it's not there."
The young boy j'; unhappy and ve,ry angry.
, "Fm going to find the boy with Jny bike. Then 1'n1
going to whup' him!" he says again and again.
Joe Martin

smiles The boy is about twelve years old.

He is t-111 with long legs, and he is thin.

"Can you box?" Joe asks.
"No, j can't box," the boy says. "But I want to whup
that boy"
+Ulhup~to

'w)1t and h~~f.'

p~fm O~h(k American English)

4
.J~_)("

smiles

l\ll) tl'.ll'h

.l~.litl."

"o mc here tl the gynl first. tvLl'ybe

vou ....

"l)l,:- the hoy. ~.l Y:,."l\i like th.ir."

.
"(~cH'"i."l.(..)l' s.ivs. "\''/11.1(':, v., our n.uue?"

"

. ., t 1ll\ 1)(_) Y
.

"l.,l :'Sll1: '

.

S,lY

. "C'

..lSS1tlS

--."'1a"v .
.

:'.

JnL' d~'L'sn't ku. \Y it. but in only ten yC'~lrs rh.it y ung
bLICk bov. is ~t)itl~ to l-c ~1world hoxinu champion!
'"
:\ttt'r th.it. Cussiu went to Joe Martin's gyl11 six days
.1 week. l-11' \Y~lS stnJug and quick on his teet. .md he
starred boxiui; wirh the other bovs in the srvm.
He
didn't box tor 1110tlC\', of course. I-Ie boxed because he
"-

'-

.,

'--

'-

liked it. He usuallv. \\'011 his ti~~ hts. He w,is g~ ood!

at school. He had a lot
Gut he \Y,1511't a .u. ood student
of problems, He \\ ,1S a good boy from a good tamilv;
1-1t' wns friendly . and his teachers liked hi111. But scho 1
work was ve ry difficult for hi111. The only important
thine~ in the world for him then was boxinu .
~

In six v,eurs he had l08 fig~ hts and he won

tOO Then in 1(60 he went to Rome and
boxed

f them.
for the

United States.

The Olympic

In 1960 Cassius \\ as only eialireen years old. Ht' \\ us

.. in Rome for the Olympic Carnes." He beat e\-ery
opponent and he won an Olympic medal for the United
States. He was an Olympic boxing ch.uupic ll. And he
didn't take otfhis Olympic medal tor \Yl'cks-night
or day.
J

'

Games

.,

*
O
/
)
'
I
I
I
)
'i
c

C
a
m
c
s
:
p
e
o
p
l
e
f
r
o
m
e
v
e
r
y
c
o
u
n
t
r
y
~

") to

thC.'Sl'

~,\1\lt'severv f -ur years and some win medals

Et~htccll-)'C(lr-(l/d Cassius (,'If I) 1 '1'0:';

(III

G/Yllipic c/tal1lpion.

At home ill Louisville he was EU11011S. But he "vas

black. And in Louisville ill the 1960s there were places for
white people and places fc)r black people.
In many hotels, theaters, stores, and buses, black people
didn't sit with white people. One day Cassius wanted to

buy a drink in a "white"

store. I t was a problem.

"Whites

only," they said.

"But 1'111 the Olympic boxing champicn+-l'm famous,"
Cassius said.
"Whi tes on 1y," t 1ley answcrco. I "G 0 away.I"
\iVaS, vcry unhappy about
that. "I'm going
to be the World Champion," he said. "I'm going to be
Cassius

important. Then white people are going to sit down with

me and listen to me,"
After the Olympic Carnes Cassius started to fight for
money. Boxing wasn't a game now. 'It was his vvork. He
moved fronl Louisville to Miami. He went to a new gym
in Miami, and he had new friends. One of them was

Anc~clo
the

with Cassius in

1. un i 'c. I-I " worked

\\<1~ .1hYJ\~
,

_a~~ius Clay was

\Y~l11tt':1

t\\

fight the world

Clay ah\.lYs
danced
big,

here

strong

usually

"

and

tall and strong. ~,\fter nineteen

he

. nl

vvitli liu n tor his ti~hts.

The First Fight with

In 1964

~gy

III

.111<.i

men.

ved
there
But

very

Sonny Listotl

cntv-two

year~ ol L I-Ie \\~as

fights and nineteen wins,

champion.
Sonny Liston.

quickly

in his tights. He

in the ring. His opponcurs

they

lost because

their

were

punches

didn't hit him.

But Liston

\\-3S

the \\ odd champion

and a YL'ry strong

boxer. The ne\yspapers in the U.S. said. "Liston is ~()ing

to \\ in this fight. Clay is very young. Liston is ~ )lng to

kill him," Only three ne\vspapers said. "Maybe Clay

beat the champion,"

He danced here and there ill the till

C;ltl

.~. .

rh .'. tl~:lll\\,1

t1

;,.-\'11l.'rll111
\. I

11_)l:11~

.l

l,

. '
1'.
(,,1

Il,'

..( "'Ill'
'-

,j'

kl. u.

il1(H.lth \\.1~

')tB t. rc

1\1.11111,

it" as Oil television in a lot

,IIHI

(\)(),

,
\.,

:-L-l.

\lh\.lY~

'\' l'\'\'

to

\V,ltllt'd

I'll

)C

Jl110llS

an

make a

" l' ,I' rl' hi~ l'i~.d1t~Ill'

l
"
111v hO~I.:r:-; \VCrL

tillI..11t\.

" n.:

I
'\l~'I"

'\..'

',_

II

O~"'l.'ll.

hl' s;,id

IIPht
;-.

1
H
game. e talked
P aycc
a
,
quiet men, but Clay's

to the people and the

quick and
11);111 111 t\VO, or three, or four
rOUl1~:." \T'llitc pc )pk were angry with him. They didn't
like this ':Lung black 11l~.\11 with the big 111011th."Kill hun!"
thev s.u tro his l ppoucnts. "(Jose that big 1110uth for him,"
Bu~ then. of c ursc, a lot of people wanted to see the fight.
Bef re the tight with Sonny Liston, Clay played this
. ~l111e gc.Hl1C. Liston was very strong, but he wasn't very quick.
The tight is au February 25. In round l Clay starts
(0 dance. Liston can't hit him.
Sometimes Clay hits his
opponent' face--one, two very quick punches. Then be
1110VC- J\\ay. Li ton goes after him, but slowly, He is big and
. trong, but he can't hit the young Clay.
Clay goc back to his chair. He smiles at his friend,
Angelo Dundee. "That's the Erst round, and he didn't
kill 111e,' he says. "1 can win this." Liston is on his feet. He
doe 11 t \\ ant to sit down. I-Ie wants to start round 2.
But it is the same story in rounds 2 and 3 and 4. Clay
dances across the ring and Liston can't catch him. Sometimes
he hits Clay, of course, but Clay is always moving away. And
he is hitting Liston's face and eyes all the time.
~'.;
Mter six rounds, Liston sits down. His face is red and ~ - .

"
Ilc""papl'l~ . "1"11) hl"ltlLilld.
1'11
<T( iuu to bL':lt that
:-.tl01L",.
1 ~
~

I'll I

_.

good.

1'111

l"l'

one eye is closing. Suddenly

can hit!" he says,

he

IS

very tired. "That

man .:}
'

0J t) \ v 1tis ro 111) I 7 a 11d ( ~];1y is. r a 11 ii 11g II P 011 hi, f<.:

c l. l lr i" xv.iitiruz; but hi. opponcnr i u't moving ftonl
his lh.lir. Cas: ius Clay is the new Ch~llllpioll of'--the
world
.111

I he i: only twcnr,

-t\VO

YC3rs old.

l-lc ca1ls, to the newspaper

till' .h.unpi
n. 1'111 beautiful.
\\'t

'

1'1L And you

ncar the ring. "1 am

1'111 number
one in the

men

were all wronc

b'

wronc
b'

wronz
b'

A New Name and New Problems

The day after that first fight with Liston, Cassius Clay
had a new name. "M Y name is not Cassius Clay now,"
he said. "It's Muhammad
Ali."
Ali's family was unhappy about this. His father, "Cash"
Clay, and his mother were good Christian people. Their
two sons were always good Christians, too. They loved

their mother

and father and had a happy horne.

..
..W I1;ll

S \ VI

"()lltT

\vith

t">

t I ic
,

'19

.; C'1 ay.'?" 111S" f.'ltl1'~r . .... '.

name

_J

,.

'"' .

I "It 's :1 It 0 () d n :1111C. Its 0 11r 11~u n C .

.
.
~
,. AI'
"1
,.
.
"C:1.1V i~ :1 \ hire man s name,
1 sam.
We have that
t~l111i1y worked for 1\11r.Clay, a \~hite
.. I; .."lust; our
11,1111<.. l)l(.,
.
,I. ,

.lSl\.l(

Our fnmily

Afiica, and I would like a

11("1\1 name, a 'black.' na111C. And fi'0111 today, I'n1 going
to be a Muslill1, beC:lllSC ill the U.S. white people are
Christi::lllS. My black brothers
arc Muslims and 1'111
11l:1I1.

carne

fi'Oll1

.,

going to be a Muslim, too."

Later that year Ali visited Egypt and Africa. He talked
to M uslims there. "There are M uslims of all colors in
the world," he said. "I know

that

now, Our

problem

in the U.S. is only with the bad white people there."

But he liked his new Muslim name and he stayed
a Muslim,
Fifteen months later he and Sonny Liston fought
again. This time Liston was on his face on the floor in
the first round. Muhammad
Ali was the world boxing

champion.
In 1967 the U.S. Army was in Vietnam. Thousands of
young Americans, white and black, went into the U.S.
A.rmy and fought
called Muhammad

the Vietcong. The U.S. governnlent

Ali and said, "Your country wants

.. .

you in the army. You have to go to Vietnam."

Ali answered, "I'm a Muslim

and Muslims

They don't fight and kill people. Who

They

don't

want

to kill me, and

want peace.

are the Vietcong?

I don't

want

to kill

them. I'm not going to go into the army!"

This

was

a big

problem.

The

u.S.

governn1ent

.~

~r\
,
....

said, "Go into the army, or go to jail." The Alnericari

people were angry with Ali, and they .really didn~~,. "?;:

10

"Co ill to the arl1l)~ or go to jail. "

like him. "You can't box in the u.s. You can't be world
champion," the gover nment said. "And you can't go
;lnd box in other countries." But Ali didn't go into the
:1rIlly.

"1'111 a boxer,"
Illy

he said. "I fight people because that's

job. But I don't kill people."

Ali didn't box for t\VO years. He talked to students in

schools and got a litt1e money. He talked about peace in

Vietnam. "The

fighting

in Vietnam

is wrong," he always

S:1 id.

The govcrnn1ent didn't send him to jail, but he didn't

have much nloney. Then in 1970 the U.S. governn1ent
b. OX agaI.n".
sal id, "'IIOU
can
But there
Frazier.

was a new

world

champion

now, Joe

'F r.t i il' r \v a s ~1 go 0 d box l' r. I It' \\. b 'l( I 1I1 ~', .111 d (l' Ih.k .
11' \\ ..lS .111 Olympic cli.n npiou. tl)\). l h- \ (III 111', III('(l.d
.1( til,
()lyll1pi' G~l1l1CS in 'n kyo ill 1<)(\1 /\1,\ III',' figllt
\\'ith him \\'.lS in New York ill I ()7 I.
l lur t\\~) yeJrs a\vay from hoxillg i\ .\ I,)ll~!,111111' 'IIII'
fi~.. ht \Y,lS
difficult for Ali. l l c d.ll)(ld. 11111 lH' \. ',1'1
t

vcrv.
sloxv .in i tired.
r )tll1Lis

1h It

l-le fought

\\,(,11, but

.lIlt'l

11(1('1'11

Frazier won.
t\1i did 11 ' t stop fi gh t i11 g. A f[ c r [h 1 rt l 'l'

long

I II~

i,l, t t,

, II H I

rwclv w ius. he foughtJoe

Frazier ~lg;lil1ill N<'\\' Vorl: ill
1t)7-L Fr.izicr fought well, but after :\ ll)llg .Illt I c lifllcull
fl~hr
. this time Ali was the wi 11 ncr.
.....

This time, Ali 1I1as the

''';'IIIC1~

But Ali wnsn;

At thar rime

th

the
'IT

world
.\S ,1

champion
after that fight.
ncvv world charnpi on , George

again," Ali said.

HAnd only C~corge F':ore111;l11 can stop 111C now, When
and where 'a n I figh t hi In?"
F()rl'111~nl."l want

to b ' world champion

Ali and Foreman-The

Big Fight

The Ali+Foreman
fight wasn't in the U.S. It was in
Kinshasa in Zaire." Ali loved Africa. Zaire was J black
country. The government
was black. Ali stayed in a
beautiful big hotel, and the people there loved him.
He was on the streets of Kinshasa every day, and
people called to hi m, " 'Ali! Botnavc! Ali! BOIIIQ}'C l' "
"Bouiavc? What are they saying?" Ali asked a man.
The man had a big smile. "They're saying, "Ali! Kill him!"
, Of course, George Foreman
was a black Amer ican,
too. But Africans loved Ali because he wanted peace in
Vietnam. And he was very famous because he didn't go
into the U.S. Arn1Y.
But George Foreman was a very big, strong boxer. He
\va~' twenty-five
years old and Ali was thirty-two. And
Foreman wasn't slow and heavy.
At four o'clock on the morning of October 30 1974,
Ali and Foreman start the big fight. It is very hot in
Kinshasa. There is going to be heavy rain later in the day.
In round 1 Ali starts to move and dance across the
ring. Foreman comes after him. In the first round there
IS no winner.
*' Zaire: an 'African country,

now the DCI110Cratic Republic

of Congo

.'

J\ II ~1 t~ ((.

. k

t/IIJl

~,lllll

"It '

\,

,"nOt
J:-;

vcrv

III rntlllli

"I
IJ(,{,

(roil)"

:->

)\\'1)

d.mcc

"'I

...-...

.d1d
,.

to

.2 /\Ii

wor k .

tt){'

ti1~~.?1 -

l-orc m.m
.

'itop" d.ll1Clng.

-.

.-

: \.fU':~:.-

H'

(-'t?,

.t

'::3'
o

is going

Ill'

to

11l;11'l'

hi", oppon .nr c::- ',-~.

hl' only t.ind rl It"

him wirl: hig. heavy puur hcx, People
Ali! 1)(l11CC! J)Oll't stop moving. He's !:do\\ Iy.

,"'Ol11ctllllCS

-.

r- '\:-~:-:

',1..'

iji~:y;

:.._..

hits Ali .1gai;l J::,-~ ~!-:- .. ' .. _

;::.. A Ii St~lyS 011 his fee t. r n ro u nd c.). Forc'-::::_:-:';; "". --.
xlovv Ie is \'Cry hot and tired. Hi" h,i: \.~ ,~:-.:~::."~For six rounds. Foreman

'-

...

",

- ...

_-.'~;:

slovv Suddenly Ali is quick and

tr ng

: :-, '_.'

~l~.l~::-::~.

opponent agdin and agdin. And sud 1 i iv

.._"::-'"":::.':::.
the Aoor. He can't stand up. Ali is :tli .. :::.:.
.:-:~:

\ orld champion

again,

...

'-

'..

...

14

. -.. ' .',:"~\1i 'I\'~'t'd Iht

~':"'HJ.,ii;\
.

11,11111111",

illl\\.\llil.llll

lq'.ll(

,I

'"of..'

ii

p"ui.'

})t~ J:,.,j7,.j(>r

;,H',d

ntjhL

,ltd.~~.fri'{d'!(i;uh

db"

Il)/f~

' lit ,1trhi /\11 l(lq

fn1

"',lIn,

f /

('I,

'.

tr~':"}~ j~J L;}!lVega.J,

J.htl tll~'Il, ~l'\' 'II 1Illllllipi Irlt(,. I. J,I ;:" ;,,1'1

11('\ \' \\',) rid l' h" III J IPI' f III n' ti 11 " " rt) f
I I

.. ~

Ali
A

'''NJS

the

r ~j ~/e;.n,

111 19HO Ali In\(

I <)HI hl'

lost

(it~~hr vl1d: L~~{r/ 1>jJ;J)"~s, aod in

tI

,,!,.dll

o 'I',

'v()r

l~lfrL;(

~ i~~'/:;:!')

')jo\'\'

well, ,tlld I)e VI"!jr ti, ;~''>,' ~;()L

"You're very sick," the doctJJr <',~,~I;, HJ..:.d vou're not
going to get wcl]. It's not g(],ing t{J l:'~! /(,1U~ but you're
going ro get tired very quickly (:r/e~'/ ~k)"; Y~)u're going
to, walk slowly and talk slowly. rrn :L/rr/ but we can't
stop it. And, of course, you can 1[ b()z:'
and tired. I-Ie

\\;lSIl',

Ali stopped boxing. Now he Ii /:._ f~Ujs:t1y with his

family ill a big house in the country i Michigan. In
the U.S. today, there arc no places i()r "whites only.' On
. television and in movies theft: an: :2C'':''> of
colors.
People are people. Ali is happy because he was one of
., - the first t11110USblack Americans.

an

And. now Ali is working for peace in the world, He

~ makes 1110ney with his famous name. He meets and talks
. "with governments and other famous people, He gets
:..:', .rnedals these days, too. He is a worker for peace in
the
'~. ,world, peace for all people-blacks
and whites, Christians
,.,'

,f.:, and ..Muslims. In the U.S. they now say. ;~.;. was right: .
~:. w,e. were wrong about Vietnam. He fought for his people
:~~;~_~-~d"fbr
peace ..He is, our American Nelson ivlandel?:~
.. ..

~ ... ,.
, .I.. ...

. ....

, ._

..

\.

15

III; (fl.lili),

or

1/J;I" his.fall/il)'.

of the world.
I-Ie loves chiklrcu. II, ahvays loved children. There arc
J) j 11(.' chi J d re I) j J) J) is (;")) iJ y.
Ali givL'~

I-I \

;t

1l1()Ve~

lot

JIlOIH':Y

very slowly

to the children

110\V.

I-Ie sits

at

horne. I-It'

~l't~

tired very qlJickly. I-Ie likes watching

his old hghts 011
television.
Ill' is ;1 good Muslim and a good 111~ln. Peoplc
visit hill) ;111(1 talk wit]: hill),

Ali talked and worked tor bl.uk

AJ1}criC:IJls.
lhcr: he W;IS a faJ11011S boxing chatnpiol1.
But toclav they C:lJJ him a people's champion.

. YOtlng Muil;llllll1:td
I