Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali has been called many peoples’ hero because of his amazing boxing skills. However, people began to see the real Ali, the cocky, self-centered one. The public had an extremely hard time accepting him as a boxer and a person (Plimpton). Ali would chant the phrase “I am the greatest” wherever he went. In one instance Ali said to the reporters at a press conference, “Why ain’t you taking notice” and “why ain’t you laughing” whenever he said something he thought was humorous (Plimpton). He viewed himself as better than others; even his family had expressed it on many levels. One of his famous quotes is “I’m young, I’m beautiful and can’t possibly be beat” (Muhammad Ali, just another example of the fact that he truly believed that he was better than all. Ali was a sower of discord, causing controversy and tension in all that he did.
Muhammad Ali was not the birth name that this champion boxer was given. When he became a boxer he was not satisfied with his birth name, Cassius M. Clay Jr. because he came from a family that had a background of slavery. He did not want to be associated with this type of history and soon changed his name to Cassius X. He decided on this name due his association with the well known leader during the civil rights movement, Malcolm X. When Malcolm X passed away Cassius decided to change his name to Muhammad due to his association with Islam.
Even after Muhammad changed his name people would still refer, and even to his face call him Cassius. In these events he would respond telling them to call him Muhammad. “Cassius is not my name, its Muhammad” said Ali (Schulman). He absolutely did not want to be associated with his family background. He viewed his background as a disgrace of sorts, believing that because the Clays (his family) had a history of slavery, he viewed himself as superior to them. Muhammad did not want people to think he was weak in any way shape or form, after all, he did constantly...