How Muhammad Ali's boxing met political defiance

Muhammad Ali's career and the politics of boxing concerns Muhammad Ali, an American professional boxer and activist, and his 1967 refusal to be drafted into the military because of his religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the Vietnam War, for which he was found guilty of draft evasion and stripped of his boxing titles.

2 articles, 1 book · about 1 hr 58 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   Muhammad Ali's career and the politics of boxing · Wikipedia · 60+ min read

   Muhammad Ali was found guilty at his trial on June 20, 1967, after only 21 minutes of deliberation for refusing to be drafted. After a Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the case in 1971. Muhammad Ali retreated to the ropes beginning in the second round of the October 30, 1974 fight with George Foreman, inviting him to hit while Ali covered up, clinched, counterpunched and taunted him. Midway through the fight, as Foreman began tiring, Ali countered more frequently and effectively with punches and flurries, electrifying the pro-Ali crowd.

2. Read
   "Muhammad Ali: Losing the Real Title" · thecrimson.com · 5 min read

   Muhammad Ali refused to enter the armed forces in 1967, saying, "I ain't got nothing against no Viet Cong; no Viet Cong never called me nigger." New York stripped Ali of his crown, and Illinois and other states followed; during the three years he could not box, he toured colleges preaching the word of Elija Muhammad.

3. Book
   

   Ali · Bookshop.org

   Ali by Jonathan Eig reveals Ali in his complexity and sheds important new light on his politics, religion, personal life, and neurological condition.

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