by Tim Gray

Created on: May 17, 2008   Last Updated: May 19, 2008

When determining the best athlete ever, any final conclusion should include a thoroughly comprehensive evaluation of the chosen subject in question. Certainly, he or she must be an athlete without performance peer, but other pertinent elements should be factored in as well. The athlete's personal principles, political importance, post-career achievements, worldwide notoriety and universal impact are of equal consideration.

After careful thought is given to all of the above, there is no athlete that can begin to compare to Muhammad Ali. The man is a sports' legend, unlike any other. Regarded by many as the greatest boxer that ever stepped through the ropes, his evolution from an angry and defiant anti-war protester, to the deeply spiritual man of peace he is today, couldn't be more legendary. Moreover, his worldwide appeal and notoriety are timeless.

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., on January 17, 1942, he initially showed an interest in boxing, after having his bicycle stolen, while a pre-teen. However, he soon blossomed into a pugilist destined for a future filled with much fistic success.

As a Light Heavyweight, he won a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics, held in Rome, Italy. Known only by his birth name, Cassius anticipated a hero's welcome, upon returning to his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Instead, he still had to adhere to the same unjust Jim Crow standards, as all other African-Americans in the segregated South of the early 1960's. Disgusted by the senselessness of it all, he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River.

His professional career began soon after his arrival home. By this time, young Cassius was blooming into a natural heavyweight. Moving quickly along the division's food chain, he was a substantial underdog, when he first faced champion Sonny Liston, in February of 1964. Liston quit, while still sitting on his stool prior to round seven, and Clay proclaimed that he had, "shook up the world" and was, "a bad man." The next day, the new champion made public his spiritual commitment to the Black Muslim faith, and changed his name, first to Cassius X, and then to Muhammad Ali.

Blessed with lightening quick hands and footwork, unlike any heavyweight before him, over the next three years the newly proclaimed Muhammad Ali easily dispatched any and all challengers. With the Vietnam War intensifying, he received his conscription letter in 1967, when just 25 years of age.

He refused to be inducted, declaring the war violated his religious beliefs.

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