CASSIUS CLAY WINS HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP
Miami Beach, Florida (JFK+50) Cassius Clay* was declared the winner of a heavyweight championship fight on February 25, 1964 here in Miami Beach.
Clay, who won a gold medal in the Summer Olympic Games in 1960, won the match in the seventh round over reigning world champion Sonny Liston.
Despite his opponent being an 8 to 1 favorite, Clay said before the fight that he would..."float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." Clay also predicted a victory in eight rounds.
Liston, who did not come out for the seventh round, had become champion in 1962 by defeating Floyd Patterson. Two days after dethroning Liston, Clay announced he had joined the Nation of Islam and was changing his name to Muhammad Ali.
Robert Lipsyte describes Ali as a man with "an agile mind, a buoyant personality (&) a brash self-confidence."
*Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. a.k.a. Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) was born in Louisville, KY & became an amateur boxer at age 12. After winning the world heavyweight championship, two years later MA refused to be drafted into the military due to his religious beliefs.
The 3 time heavyweight champion suffered from Parkinson disease for more than the last 30 years of his life.
SOURCE
"Muhammad Ali Dies at 74: Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century", by Robert Lipsyte, June 4, 2016, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/
Cassius Clay
Miami Beach, Florida (JFK+50) Cassius Clay* was declared the winner of a heavyweight championship fight on February 25, 1964 here in Miami Beach.
Clay, who won a gold medal in the Summer Olympic Games in 1960, won the match in the seventh round over reigning world champion Sonny Liston.
Despite his opponent being an 8 to 1 favorite, Clay said before the fight that he would..."float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." Clay also predicted a victory in eight rounds.
Liston, who did not come out for the seventh round, had become champion in 1962 by defeating Floyd Patterson. Two days after dethroning Liston, Clay announced he had joined the Nation of Islam and was changing his name to Muhammad Ali.
Robert Lipsyte describes Ali as a man with "an agile mind, a buoyant personality (&) a brash self-confidence."
*Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. a.k.a. Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) was born in Louisville, KY & became an amateur boxer at age 12. After winning the world heavyweight championship, two years later MA refused to be drafted into the military due to his religious beliefs.
The 3 time heavyweight champion suffered from Parkinson disease for more than the last 30 years of his life.
SOURCE
"Muhammad Ali Dies at 74: Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century", by Robert Lipsyte, June 4, 2016, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/
Cassius Clay
World Heavyweight Champion
