When Muhammad Ali almost pulled out of the 1960 Olympics 

Muhammad Ali had a memorable outing at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. At the age of just 18, he won the gold medal in the light heavyweight division after beating three-time European champion Zbigniew Pietrzykowski in the final.

However, there was an incident before the quadrennial event that almost prompted the legendary boxer to pull out of the tournament.

Muhammad Ali, who started his training in amateur boxing at the age of 12, was not fond of flying and he was told that he could not take the boat or train to Rome. Thereafter, policeman Joe Martin talked to the then-teenager Ali at Central Park in Louisville. In the end, Ali was convinced to go to Rome where he showed why he would become one of the renowned names in boxing.

Later, he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after facing racial discrimination despite being an Olympic champion. In his autobiography titled ‘The Greatest,’ he recounted how he was denied service at a restaurant and was discriminated against based on color.

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Muhammad Ali’s many records

After his Olympic triumph, Ali became a professional boxer in 1961. Three years later in 1964, he pulled off an upset at the age of 22 after beating Sonny Liston in the world heavyweight championship.

He also won gold medals at the Intercity Golden Gloves, Chicago Golden Gloves, and US National Championships.

Ali had his fair share of controversies in his career. His passport was taken away and he was denied a boxing license after he refused to be inducted into the armed forces. He did not take part in fights from 1967 to 1970 before he won the case in 1971.

On June 2, 2016, Muhammad Ali died at the age of 74 in a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona. His condition worsened with time and he died from septic shock.

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