Muhammad Ali

British  

/ ˈælɪ, ɑːˈliː, ˈɑːlɪ /

noun

1. original name Cassius ( Marcellus ) Clay. born 1942, US boxer, who was world heavyweight champion three times (1964–67; 1974–78; 1978)

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Ali, Muhammad Cultural  

1. An African-American boxer of the twentieth century, who was world champion in the heavyweight class for several years between 1964 and 1979. He was known in his boxing career for his flamboyant personality and aggressive self-promotion, as well as for his superior boxing ability and style. His boxing strategy, he said, was to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” A Black Muslim, Ali was originally named Cassius Clay. After he refused for reasons of conscience to serve in the armed forces in the 1960s, several boxing associations revoked his title as world champion, but he regained it later. During his boxing career he was extremely popular in Africa, and after his retirement he traveled there as a goodwill ambassador.

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Example Sentences

Rahaman Ali:, external The younger brother of Muhammad Ali, who was also a professional boxer.

From BBC

That was back in the 1970s, when TV networks were few and media-savvy athletes like the great Muhammad Ali were even fewer.

From Los Angeles Times

He was the namesake of the boxer later known as Muhammad Ali, whose ancestors had been enslaved by the white Cassius’s cousin Henry Clay, the antebellum orator and senator.

From The Wall Street Journal

In a nation once known as Zaire - where 60,000 people crowded into the capital Kinshasa for Muhammad Ali v George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle - such a homecoming would carry real weight.

From BBC

Video footage of the plane’s takeoff showed the General Electric engine aflame before the jet crashed in an industrial area just beyond the runway at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport.

From The Wall Street Journal