Cassius Clay

I picked Cassius Clay from the list of famous prsonallities from the 60s partly because i knew a little about him but i also thought he would be an interesting person to research. Most people know him as Muhammad Ali rather than his birth name of Cassius Clay.

He won a Gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games and after turning proffesional he became the Heavyweight champion of the world in 1964 ater fighting Sonny Listen. One of the mst noticable things about him is the fact that he chaged his name, he did this after converting to the Nation of Islam. He was for a time called Cassius X after joining the Nation of islam, the use of the x to replace the surname was a symbol of there ancestors enslavement. Shortly aftr this he became a Sunni Muslim and Changed his name to Muhammad Ali which is the name most people know him by.

He was banned from boxiing for a time after refusing to fight in a war as it went against his religous beliefs. After being granted a boxing liecense in Georgia he began his fightback to regain his title after it being stripped form him during his ban.