Mumhammad ali biography

After 43 months in exile, Ali returned to the ring on October 26,and knocked out Jerry Quarry in the third round. Ali got up but lost in a unanimous decision, experiencing his first defeat as a pro. Ali won his next 10 bouts before being defeated by Ken Norton He won the rematch six months later in a split decision and gained further revenge in a unanimous decision over Frazier in a non-title rematch.

The victory gave the year-old Ali a title shot against year-old champion George Foreman The strategy worked, and Ali won in an eighth-round knockout to regain the title stripped from him seven years prior. Ali also defeated Norton in their third meeting in a unanimous round decision. On February 15,an aging Ali lost his title to Leon Spinks in a round split decision.

Seven months later, Ali defeated Spinks in a unanimous round decision to reclaim the heavyweight crown and become the first fighter to win the world heavyweight boxing title three times. After announcing his retirement inAli launched a brief, unsuccessful comeback. However, he was overwhelmed in a technical knockout loss to Larry Holmes inand he dropped a unanimous round decision to Trevor Berbick on December 11, After the fight, the year-old Ali retired for good with a career record of 56 wins, five losses and 37 knockouts.

A few years before his death, Ali underwent surgery for spinal stenosis, a condition causing the narrowing of the spine, which limited his mobility and ability to communicate. In earlyhe battled pneumonia and was hospitalized for a severe urinary tract infection. Ali died on June 3,in Scottsdale, Arizona, after being hospitalized for what was reportedly a respiratory issue.

He was 74 years old. But he never became embittered enough to quit or to engage in violence. He decided that not his race, nor his place, the expectations of others—positive, negative, or otherwise—would strip from him the power to write his own story. He is celebrated not only for his remarkable athletic skills but for his willingness to speak his mind and his courage to challenge the status quo.

Ali played himself in the film The Greatestwhich explored parts of his life such as his rise to boxing fame, conversion to Islam, and refusal to serve in Vietnam. Actor Will Smith played Ali in the biopic film Ali, released in The Biography. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications.

Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams. Cristiano Ronaldo. Bill Belichick. Aaron Judge. Rafael Nadal. Lindsey Vonn.

Mike Tyson. Tools Tools. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. Health and Death [ change change source ]. References [ change change source ]. September 20, The New York Times. Retrieved March 19, September 22, Retrieved March 9, Retrieved July 23, The Journal. Retrieved December 21, He did what he thought was right.

And it turned out he was right, and I was wrong. Ali's resistance to the draft was covered in the documentary The Trials of Muhammad Ali. Martin Luther King Jr. InAli's Fight of the Century with Frazier was used by an activist group, the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBIto pull off a burglary at an FBI office in Pennsylvania; the anticipation for the fight was unlike anything else, so they believed the security would also be focused on the fight.

In MarchAli refused to be inducted into the armed forces. He was systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport. As a result, he did not fight from March to October —from ages 25 to almost 29—as his case worked its way through the appeals process before his conviction was overturned in During this time of inactivity, as opposition to the Vietnam War began to grow and Ali's stance gained sympathy, he spoke at colleges across the nation, criticizing the Vietnam War and advocating African American pride and racial justice.

Ali based himself in Chicago. At the time, Ali was widely condemned by the American media[ 90 ] with fears that his actions could potentially lead to mass civil disobedience. Edited mumhammad ali biographies of the bout were shown in movie theaters in In the U. Ali suggested that prejudice determined his defeat in the U. On August 11,with his case still in appeal, Ali was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission.

Leroy JohnsonJesse Hill Jr. The win left Ali as a top contender against heavyweight champion Joe Frazier. Ali and Frazier's first fight, held at the Garden, was on March 8,while Ali's Supreme Court appeal was still pending. It was nicknamed the " Fight of the Century " due to the tremendous excitement surrounding a bout between two undefeated fighters, each with a legitimate claim to be heavyweight champion.

Veteran U. Adding to the atmosphere were the considerable pre-fight theatrics and name calling. Before the fight, Frazier called Ali "Cassius Clay," angering Ali who responded by calling Frazier a "dumb tool of the white establishment" and saying "Frazier is too ugly to be champ. Frazier is too dumb to be champ. I'm fighting for the little man in the ghetto.

Ali began training at a farm near Reading, Pennsylvaniain and, finding the country setting to his liking, sought to develop a real training camp in the countryside. He found a five-acre site on a Pennsylvania country road in the village of Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. On this site, Ali carved out what was to become his training camp, where he trained for all his fights from to the end of his career in The Monday night fight lived up to its billing.

In a preview of their two other fights, a crouching, bobbing and weaving Frazier constantly pressured Ali, getting hit regularly by Ali jabs and combinations, but relentlessly attacking and scoring repeatedly, especially to Ali's body. The fight was even in the early rounds, but Ali was taking more punishment than ever in his career up until that point.

On several occasions in the early rounds, he played to the crowd and shook his head "no" after he was hit. In the later rounds—in what was the first appearance of the " rope-a-dope strategy"—Ali leaned against the ropes and absorbed punishment from Frazier, hoping to tire him. In the 11th round, Frazier connected with a left hook that wobbled Ali, but because it appeared that Ali might be clowning as he staggered backwards across the ring, Frazier hesitated to press his advantage, fearing an Ali counterattack.

In the final round, Frazier knocked Ali down with a vicious left hook, which referee Arthur Mercante said was as hard as a man can be hit. Ali was back on his feet in three seconds. Inbasketball star Wilt Chamberlain challenged Ali to a fight, and a bout was scheduled for July Although the seven-foot-one-inch-tall Chamberlain had formidable physical advantages over Ali—weighing 60 pounds more and able to reach 14 inches further—Ali was able to influence Chamberlain into calling off the bout by taunting him with calls of "Timber!

These statements of confidence unsettled his taller opponent, whom Los Angeles Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had offered a record-setting contract, conditional on Chamberlain agreeing to abandon what Cooke termed "this boxing foolishness", [ ] and he did exactly that. Meanwhile, on June 28,the Supreme Court overturned Ali's draft evasion conviction.

To replace Ali's opponent, promoter Bob Arum quickly booked a former sparring partner of Ali's, Jimmy Elliswho was a childhood friend from Louisville, Kentuckyto fight him. Ali won the bout through a technical knockout when the referee stopped the fight in the twelfth round. Ali was strong in the early rounds of the fight, and staggered Frazier in the second round.

Referee Tony Perez mistakenly thought he heard the bell ending the round and stepped between the two fighters as Ali was pressing his attack, giving Frazier time to recover. However, Frazier came on in the middle rounds, snapping Ali's head in round seven and driving him to the mumhammad ali biographies at the end of round eight. The last four rounds saw round-to-round shifts in momentum between the two fighters.

Throughout most of the bout, however, Ali was able to circle away from Frazier's dangerous left hook and to tie Frazier up when he was cornered, the latter a tactic that Frazier's camp complained of bitterly. Judges awarded Ali a unanimous decision. The defeat of Frazier set the stage for a title fight against heavyweight champion George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaireon October 30, —a bout nicknamed The Rumble in the Jungle.

Foreman was considered one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history. In assessing the fight, analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Nortonwho had given Ali four tough battles and won two of them, had both been devastated by Foreman in second-round knockouts. Ali was 32 years old and had lost speed and reflexes since his twenties.

Contrary to his later persona, Foreman was at the time a brooding and intimidating presence. Almost no one associated with the sport, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning. As usual, Ali was confident and colorful before the fight. He told interviewer David Frost"If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait till I whup Foreman's behind!

I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick. Ali opened the fight moving and scoring with right crosses to Foreman's head. Then, beginning in the second round, and to the consternation of his corner, Ali retreated to the ropes and invited Foreman to hit him while covering up, clinching and counterpunching, all while verbally taunting Foreman.

The move, which would later become known as the " Rope-a-dope ", so violated conventional boxing wisdom—letting one of the hardest hitters in boxing strike at will—that at ringside writer George Plimpton thought the fight had to be fixed. Midway through the fight, as Foreman began tiring, Ali countered more frequently and effectively with punches and flurries, which electrified the pro-Ali crowd.

In the eighth round, Ali dropped an exhausted Foreman with a combination at center ring; Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, and amidst pandemonium in the ring, Ali had regained the title by knockout. Reflecting on the fight, George Foreman later said: "I thought Ali was just one more knockout victim until, about the seventh round, I hit him hard to the jaw and he held me and whispered in my ear: 'That all you got, George?

It was a major upset victory, [ ] after Ali came in as a 4—1 underdog against the previously unbeaten, heavy-hitting Foreman. Wepner, a journeyman known as "The Bayonne Bleeder", stunned Ali with a knockdown in the ninth round; Ali would later say he tripped on Wepner's foot. The fight inspired Sylvester Stallone to create the acclaimed film Rocky.

Ali then agreed to a third match with Joe Frazier in Manila. In the first rounds, Ali was aggressive, moving and exchanging blows with Frazier. However, Ali soon appeared to tire and adopted the "rope-a-dope" strategy, frequently resorting to clinches. During this part of the bout Ali did some effective counterpunching, but for the most part absorbed punishment from a relentlessly attacking Frazier.

In the 12th round, Frazier began to tire, and Ali scored several sharp blows that closed Frazier's left eye and opened a cut over his right eye. With Frazier's vision now diminished, Ali dominated the 13th and 14th rounds, at times conducting what boxing historian Mike Silver called "target practice" on Frazier's head. The fight was stopped when Frazier's trainer, Eddie Futch, refused to allow Frazier to answer the bell for the 15th and final round, despite Frazier's protests.

Frazier's eyes were both swollen shut. Ali, in his corner, winner by TKO, slumped on his stool, spent. An ailing Ali said afterwards that the fight "was the closest thing to dying that I know", and, when later asked if he had viewed the fight on videotape, reportedly said, "Why would I want to go back and see Hell? After the third fight with Frazier, Ali considered retirement.

He said, "I'm sore all over. My arms, my face, my sides all ache. I'm so, so tired. There is a great possibility that I will retire. You might have seen the last of me. I want to sit back and count my money, live in my house and my farm, work for my people and concentrate on my family. The WBC Heavyweight title was not on the line for this fight.

On April 30,Ali would fight Jimmy Young and win a controversial unanimous decision. Howard Cosell would remark that he had "never seen Ali so off in his timing" and when asked on his performance against Young in the post-fight interview, Ali stated that he was "getting old" and that he was "preserving his energy" for Ken Norton. Rhee called that punch the "Accupunch"; he learned it from Bruce Lee.

Ali fought Ken Norton for the third time in September The bout, which was held at Yankee Stadiumresulted in Ali winning a controversial decision that ringside commentators had scored in favor of Norton. Afterwards, he announced he was retiring from boxing to practice his faith, having converted to Sunni Islam after falling out with the Nation of Islam the previous year.

After returning to mumhammad ali biography Alfredo Evangelista in MayAli struggled in his next fight against Earnie Shavers that September, getting pummeled a few times by punches to the head. Ali won the fight by another unanimous decision, but the bout caused his longtime doctor Ferdie Pacheco to quit after he was rebuffed for telling Ali he should retire.

Pacheco was quoted as saying, "the New York State Athletic Commission gave me a report that showed Ali's kidneys were falling apart. I wrote to Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer, his wife and Ali himself. I got nothing back in response. That's when I decided enough is enough. At the time, Spinks had only seven professional fights to his credit, and had recently fought a draw with journeyman Scott LeDoux.

Ali sparred less than two dozen rounds in preparation for the fight and was seriously out of shape by the opening bell. He lost the title by split decision. This made Ali the first heavyweight champion to win the belt three times. Following this win, on July 27,Ali announced his retirement from boxing. His retirement was short-lived, however; Ali announced his comeback to face Larry Holmes for the WBC belt in an attempt to win the heavyweight championship an unprecedented fourth time.

The fight was largely motivated by Ali's need for money. Boxing writer Richie Giachetti said, "Larry didn't want to fight Ali. He knew Ali had nothing left; he knew it mumhammad ali biography be a horror. It was around this time that Ali started struggling with vocal stutters and trembling hands. Ali chose instead to check into the Mayo Clinicwho declared him fit to fight.

Holmes, who fought under the nickname "The Easton Assassin", easily dominated Ali. After the tenth round, Angelo Dundee stepped into the ring and instructed the referee to stop the fight. It was the only time Ali ever lost by stoppage. Immediately after the fight, Ali was given painkillers and antidepressants, in violation of World Boxing Council rules prohibiting the administration of any drug before the postfight urinalysis.

Giachetti called the fight "awful Actor Sylvester Stallone was ringside for the fight and said that it was like watching an autopsy on a man who is still alive. Ali boxed both well-known boxers and celebrities from other walks of life, including Antonio Inoki[ ] Michael Dokes[ ] Sammy Davis Jr. On June 26,Ali participated in an exhibition bout in Tokyo against Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist Antonio Inoki.

The fight went 8 rounds and was declared a draw. Ali was married four times and had seven daughters and two sons. Ali was introduced to cocktail waitress Sonji Roi by Herbert Muhammadwho was to become Ali's long-time manager, and asked her to marry him after their first date. They married approximately one month later on August 14, She wore lipstick; she went into bars; she dressed in clothes that were revealing and didn't look right.

Just before the divorce was finalized, Ali sent Sonji a note: "You traded heaven for hell, baby. On August 17,Ali married Belinda Boyd. In an interview with NBC 6, Boyd recounted meeting Ali when she was 10 years old at her hometown mosque. This is my name. Imma be famous. You need to keep that 'cause it's gone be worth a lot of money,'" Boyd said, mimicking Ali.

And, I walked away," Boyd said. While still married to Belinda, Ali married Aaisha a year later in an Islamic ceremony that was not legally recognized. According to Khaliah, Aaisha and her mother lived at Ali's Deer Lake training camp alongside Belinda and her children. Their second daughter, Laila Aliwas born in Decemberand went on to become a professional boxer.

It didn't mean anything. He didn't have affairs — he had one-night stands. I knew beyond a doubt there were no feelings involved. It was so obvious, It was easy to forgive him. Lonnie first met Ali at the age of 6 when her family moved to Louisville in Inc to consolidate and license his intellectual properties for commercial purposes. She served as the vice president and treasurer until the sale of the company in Ali then lived in Scottsdale, Arizona with Lonnie.

Lonnie converted to Islam from Catholicism in her late twenties. Ali's daughter Laila was a professional boxer from until[ ] despite her father's previous opposition to women's boxing.

Mumhammad ali biography

Inhe said "Women are not made to be hit in the breast, and face like that. Hana wrote about her father, "His love for people was extraordinary. I would get home from school to find homeless families sleeping in our guest room. He'd see them on the street, pile them into his Rolls-Royce and bring them home. He'd buy them clothes, take them to hotels and pay the bills for months in advance.

Kiiursti Mensah-Ali claims she is Ali's biological daughter with Barbara Mensah, with whom he allegedly had a year relationship, [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] citing photographs and a paternity test conducted in She said he accepted responsibility and took care of her, but all contacts with him were cut off after he married his fourth wife Lonnie. Kiiursti says she has a relationship with his other children.

After his death she again made passionate appeals to be allowed to mourn at his funeral. InOsmon Williams came forward claiming to be Ali's biological son. The case went on until and was eventually thrown out as her allegations were deemed to be barred by the statute of limitations. Ali said that he first heard of the Nation of Islam when he was fighting in the Golden Gloves tournament in Chicago in and attended his first Nation of Islam meeting in He continued to attend meetings, although he kept his involvement hidden from the public.

InClay met Malcolm Xwho soon became his spiritual and political mentor. This led to a story in The Miami Herald just before the fight disclosing that Clay had joined the Nation of Islam, which nearly caused the bout to be canceled. The article quoted Cassius Clay Sr. In fact, Clay was initially refused entry to the Nation of Islam often called the Black Muslims at the time due to his boxing career.

However, after he won the championship from Liston inthe Nation of Islam was more receptive and agreed to publicize his membership. He stayed in Chicago for about 12 years. Only a few journalists, most notably Howard Cosell, accepted the new name at that time. Ali stated that his earlier name was a " slave name " and a "white man's name" and added that "I didn't choose it and I don't want it.

I am Muhammad Ali, a free name". Not afraid to antagonize the white establishment, Ali stated, "I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me. Aligning himself with the Nation of Islam, its leader Elijah Muhammadand a narrative that labeled the white race as the perpetrator of genocide against African Americans made Ali a target of public condemnation.

The Nation of Islam was widely viewed by whites and some African Americans as a black separatist "hate religion" with a propensity toward violence; Ali had few qualms about using his influential voice to speak Nation of Islam doctrine. Integration is wrong. We don't want to live with the white man; that's all. But there is an irony to the fact that while the Nation branded white people as devils, Ali had more white colleagues than most African American people did at that time in America, and continued to have them throughout his career.

In Hauser's biography Muhammad Ali: His Life and TimesAli stated that he was not a Christian as he thought the idea of God having a son sounded wrong and did not make sense to him, stating, "God don't beget; man begets". However, he still believed that even good Christians or good Jews could receive God's blessing and enter heaven as he stated, "God created all people, no matter what their religion".

He also stated, "If you're against someone because he's a Muslim that's wrong. If you're against someone because he's a Christian or a Jew, that's wrong". In a mumhammad ali biography, Ali attributed his conversion to mainstream Sunni Islam to Warith Deen Muhammadwho assumed leadership of the Nation of Islam upon the death of his father Elijah Muhammad and persuaded the Nation's followers to become adherents of Sunni Islam.

He said some people did not like the change and stuck to Elijah's teachings, but he admired it, and so left Elijah's teachings and became a follower of Sunni Islam. Ali had gone on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca inwhich inspired him in a similar manner to Malcolm X, meeting people of different colors from all over the world giving him a different outlook and greater spiritual awareness.

After the September 11 attacks inhe stated that "Islam is a religion of peace " and "does not promote terrorism or killing people", and that he was "angry that the world sees a certain group of Islam followers who caused this destruction, but they are not real Muslims. They are racist fanatics who call themselves Muslims. He also developed an interest in Sufismwhich he referenced in his autobiography, The Soul of a Butterfly.

Gianotti, who planned his funeral. During his mumhammad ali biography career, Ali refrained from smoking, drugs, and drinking alcohol and soda pop, and adopted an idiosyncratic diet. Ali had a cameo role in the film version of Requiem for a Heavyweightand during his exile from boxing, he starred in the short-lived Broadway musical, Buck White.

Senate and battles alongside former slaves and white sharecroppers to keep the land they have tended all their lives. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see. Now you see me, now you don't. George thinks he will, but I know he won't. InAli released an album of spoken word music on Columbia Records titled, I Am the Greatestand inhe recorded a cover version of the rhythm and blues song " Stand by Me ".

Tooth Decay. Ali was involved with professional wrestling at different times in his career. On June 1,as Ali was preparing for his bout with Inoki, he attended a match featuring Gorilla Monsoon. After the match was over, Ali removed his shirt and jacket and confronted professional wrestler Gorilla Monsoon in the ring after his match at a World Wide Wrestling Federation show in Philadelphia Arena.

After dodging a few punches, Monsoon put Ali in an airplane spin and dumped him to the mat. Ali stumbled to the corner, where his associate Butch Lewis convinced him to walk away. On March 31,Ali was the special guest referee for the main event of the inaugural WrestleMania event. InAli led a group of Japanese and American professional wrestlers, including his opponent Antonio Inoki and Ric Flairon a sports diplomacy mission to North Korea.

Ali was guest of honor at the record-breaking Collision in Koreaa wrestling event with the largest attendance of all time. Muhammad Ali's fights were some of the world's most-watched television broadcastssetting television viewership records. His most-watched fights drew an estimated 1—2 billion viewers worldwide between andand were the world's most-watched live television broadcasts at the time.

The following table lists known viewership figures of his non-fight television appearances. For television viewership figures of his fights, see Boxing career of Muhammad Ali: Television viewership. Ali was also an amateur artist and made dozens of drawings and paintings in the s. Ali took him up on the offer and produced several paintings for him to sell.

By the end of his boxing career Ali had absorbed an estimatedhits. InAli was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndromewhich sometimes results from head trauma from violent physical activities such as boxing. Ali was known for being a humanitarian [ ] and philanthropist. It is estimated that Ali helped to feed more than 22 million people afflicted by hunger across the world.

Ali began visiting Africa, starting in when he visited Nigeria and Ghana. In earlyAli was recruited by President Jimmy Carter for a diplomatic mission to Africa, in an effort to persuade a number of African governments to join the US-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Having arrived in TanzaniaAli told cameras, " Russia is invading a Muslim country, Asiatic country," and that its probable intention to head to oil -rich Persia to take wells and ports "could lead to nuclear war.

My purpose in coming here was to try to stop that. Consequently, Ali was only received by the youth and culture minister, rather than President Julius Nyerere. Ali was unable to explain why the African countries should join the US boycott when it had failed to support the African boycott of the Olympics in protest of Apartheid in South Africaalthough neither did the Soviet Unionand was unaware of the sentiment that the Soviet Union had backed some popular revolutions on the continent, although none of the countries on the itinerary were Soviet allies.

Ali did, however, convince the government of Kenya to boycott the Soviet Olympics. On January 19,in Los Angeles, Ali talked a suicidal man down from jumping off a ninth-floor ledge, an event that made national news. When asked to elaborate on his endorsement of Reagan, Ali told reporters, "He's keeping God in schools and that's enough.

Aroundthe California Bicentennial Foundation for the U. Constitution selected Ali to personify the vitality of the U. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Ali rode on a float at the following year's Tournament of Roses Paradelaunching the U. Constitution's th birthday commemoration. InAli traveled to Iraq prior to the Gulf War and met with president Saddam Hussein in an mumhammad ali biography to negotiate the release of American hostages.

Ali secured the release of the hostages, in exchange for promising Hussein that he would bring America "an honest account" of Iraq. Despite arranging the hostages' release, he received criticism from president George H. Bushand Joseph C. Wilsonthe highest-ranking American diplomat in Baghdad. InAli campaigned to the United States government to come to the aid of refugees afflicted by the Rwandan genocideand to donate to organizations helping Rwandan refugees.

Inhe lit the flame at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. It was watched by an estimated 3. After Ali met a lesbian couple who were fans of his inhe smiled and said to friend and biographer Thomas Hauser, "They look like they're happy together. Ali wanted people to be happy. On November 17,Ali went to Afghanistan as the " U. Messenger of Peace ".

On July 27,Ali was a titular bearer of the Olympic flag during the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in London. He was helped to his feet by his wife Lonnie to stand before the flag due to his Parkinson's syndrome rendering him unable to carry it into the stadium. The press attributed his decline in wealth to several factors, including taxes consuming at least half of his income, management taking a third of his income, [ ] his lifestyle, and spending on family, charity and religious causes.

I'm blessed and thankful to God that I understand he's trying me. This is a trial from God. He gave me this illness to remind me that I am not number one; He is. Ali's Parkinson's syndrome led to a gradual decline in his health, though he was still active into the early s, promoting his own biopic, Aliin That year he also contributed an on-camera segment to the America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit concert.

InAli began working with actor Michael J. Foxwho has Parkinson's disease, to raise awareness and fund research for a cure. They made a joint appearance before Congress to push the case in InAli worked with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to raise awareness and encourage donations for research. In FebruaryAli's brother Rahaman Ali said Muhammad could no longer speak and could be dead within days.

Ali was hospitalized in Scottsdale, Arizonaon June 2,with a respiratory illness.