[139], On June 26, 1976, Ali participated in an exhibition bout in Tokyo against Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist Antonio Inoki. Muhammad Ali's doctor says the iconic boxer had been "having a tough time in the last year" before his death. Spokesman Bob Gunnell says Ali died Friday at 9:10 p.m., spending the last hour of his life surrounded by his family. The film Freedom Road, made in 1978, features Ali in a rare acting role as Gideon Jackson, a former slave and Union (American Civil War) soldier in 1870s Virginia, who gets elected to the U.S. Senate and battles alongside former slaves and white sharecroppers to keep the land they have tended all their lives. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name". [186][187] After Ali met a lesbian couple who were fans of his in 1997, he smiled and said to his friend Hauser, "They look like they're happy together." Hana Ali, one of the boxer's children, said Ali's wife, Lonnie, told her the legendary boxer had never legally changed his name. Muhammad's life is traditionally defined into two periods: pre-hijra (emigration) in Mecca (from 570 to 622 CE) and post-hijra in Medina (from 622 until 632 CE). Ali . "[110] He told the press, "I've done something new for this fight. He was initially hospitalized in the Phoenix area on Monday. "[195] In truth, Cassius Clay's attachment to slavery went farther than Ali knew. Rhee called that punch the "Accupunch"; he learned it from Bruce Lee. However, initially when he refused induction, he became arguably the most hated man in the country and received many death threats. ", It was around this time that Ali started struggling with vocal stutters and trembling hands. [204], In a 2004 autobiography, Ali attributed his conversion to mainstream Sunni Islam to Warith Deen Muhammad, who assumed leadership of the Nation of Islam upon the death of his father Elijah Muhammad, and persuaded the Nation's followers to become adherents of Sunni Islam. [179], In a 1974 interview, Ali said, "If they say stand and salute the flag I do that out of respect, because I'm in the country". [340], Ali was the subject of the British television program This Is Your Life in 1978 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. Hana wrote about her father, "His love for people was extraordinary. [140] The match was not scripted and ultimately declared a draw. Patterson later said he had strained his sacroiliac. Ali dominated Williams, winning a third-round technical knockout in what some consider the finest performance of his career. The punch used to knock Dunn out was taught to Ali by Taekwondo Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee.
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