Black History Research Paper

02/22/13 Black History Month Paper

In the world that we live in there are plenty who compete against each other. There are those who fight for the good, and those who fight for the bad. Most of the people who fight for the good are called “heroes”. A hero is a person who is admired for his/her achievements and qualities. Since its black history month, I decide to write about a person whom we should all commemorate every day for what he has done in the past. I chose to write about “Muhammad Ali”. Muhammad Ali is now known as the best light heavyweight champion in the world. Muhammad Ali was born on January 17th, 1942 and the story of this champ goes that when he was young, he received a new bicycle for Christmas but through his carelessness it was stolen. Ali’s real name was “Cassius Clay Jr.” at this time of his life; but anyway, Cassius got really mad so he went to the gym to report the theft of his bicycle to a police officer (Joe Martin) who happened to be a boxing trainer. Cassius saw all the people who went there and was encouraged to sign up. Cassius and his family were not wealthy people. Cassius wore ragged clothing (often with patches), and shoes with cardboard inserts that covered holes in the soles. It was clear that Cassius wanted to know how to box so next time he could beat up someone that did something to him or his family. At this gym, Cassius met “Fred Stoner” and with him as a trainer, he learned the fundamentals of the game as well as playing style and ways to increase stamina. Cassius ended up graduating from “DuValle High School” and “Central High School” in Louisville, apparently he was more than interested in boxing than school therefore he did not perform at high school level as a student. During the 1950’s, Cassius started appearing (on a regular basis) on the weekly Louisville television program “Tomorrow’s Champions”. Just for being televised, Cassius won four dollars a match. Cassius ended up winning six “Golden Gloves” tournaments in Kentucky in three weight classes- lightweight, welterweight, and heavyweight. In 1954 and in 1960, Cassius won both the Lightweight National Golden Gloves and the National Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournaments which later led him to go into the Olympic trials; this soon brought him to win the entry of the light heavyweight entry. In that year, Cassius won the gold medal by defeating “Ziggy” Pietrzykowski from Poland. This obviously got Cassius worldwide attention. Right after he won this medal, he signed to the “Louisville Sponsoring Group”. In this group, he won all his 19 professional fights. Later,

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