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Muhammad Ali

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Gustavo Teruya
Teodora Parreira
Daniela Ribeiro
Gabriel Marouf

MUHAMMAD ALI

Muhammad Ali, was born in January 1942 and passed away on June 3, 2016. He was a world boxing champion, social activist and philanthropist, with an impressive record of 56 victories. He is also considered one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. He also took a very important public stand against the Vietnam War, which he refused to fight. The fighter was known for his social message of black pride and black resistance to white domination. In addition, the former heavyweight champion of the world, who suffered from severe Parkinson's disease, went through a very complicated situation of infection, which resulted in his death.

Introduction

Childhood

In January 17th, 1942, Cassius Clay was born in the city of Louisville. Ali grew up in a segregated neighborhood, experiencing discrimination during his childhood. This made him realize, at a very young age, that there was a great inequality towards african-american citizens in America.

He started boxing at the age of 12, when his bike was stolen. He told a police officer he wanted to beat up the person who stole it. The officer happened to own a boxing gym, telling him he should learn how to fight.

When Ali was 18 years old, he was the Olympic champion, with a 100 wins and only eight losses. At the Olympic games, Muhammad competed against some icons of boxing. Over his career, the fighter has accumulated lots of titles, one of them was becoming world champion in 1964. He only lost this title in 1967, and was prohibited to compete for 3 years after refusing to fight in Vietnam. After returning to competitions Muhammed won again the world championship, in 1974 and lost the post years later. Thereafter Ali retired However, in 1980 he returns to fight because he was offered 8 million dollars to challenge the new world heavyweight champion, since he was short of money, Ali accepted. His last combat was in 1981 against Trevor Berbick, Ali was not in his best moment and lost the fight.

ADULTHOOD

activism

Muhammad Ali's contact with social movements was early on in his life. At the age of 19, Ali attended Islamic meetings. However, he had not been accepted to the group due to his boxing career. Shortly, after his confrontation and victory with Sonny Liston, the fighter announced his entering at the religious world.
In 1996, when he was summoned and refused to participate in the Vietnam War due to his religiosity, Ali was punished from the ring, lost the world's champion title, and was arrested.
Muhammad had a humorous personality. In that context, once he made the reflection ''Why is everything white?'', bringing the subject that our society associates the good things with white colors and the black color is always associated to bad things.
The fighter was a great symbol of black resistance, because even thought he was harmed, imprisoned, he still stood for his political point of view.

Conclusion

Muhammad Ali was one of the best boxers in history, while also managing to be a symbol of resistance towards white discrimination and racism. During his lifetime, he helped promote world peace, civil rights and the basic human values, standing up for something greater than himself and being a true leader. Ali challenged the rules and norms in the USA, always defending the equality of all human beings, becoming a historical figure that didn't let anything get in the way of achieving his dreams and goals. 

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'”