10 Reasons Why Muhammad Ali Really Was The Greatest

10. I Am The Greatest. I Said That Even Before I Knew I Was

Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942, Cassius Marcellus Clay, so the story goes, first set foot in a boxing ring as a 12-year-old angered by the theft of his new Schwinn bicycle. He turned to local policeman Joe Martin, who was also a boxing coach and suggested that if Clay wanted to exact revenge, he’d better learn how to fight first.

And boy did he learn.

A natural athlete from the get-go, Cassius was blessed with unnatural speed, hand and foot, and soon fought his way to local and then national Golden Gloves titles before the 1960 Olympics in Rome beckoned. Only the young amateur, such was his fear of flying after being spooked by a hairy flight he had taken to California to participate in the Olympic Trials, at first refused the call.

It was far from the last time he would overcome his fears, however, and Clay allegedly boarded the plane for Italy with a parachute strapped to his back.

On arriving in Rome, Clay’s glad-handing and gregarious nature led to some nicknaming him ‘The Mayor of the Olympic village’. But Clay came to fight, squaring off against Zbigniew Pietrzykowski in the final and overcoming a slow start to overwhelm his Polish opponent with a blaze of punches in the third and final round and snatch the decision.

For many sportsmen, Olympic gold represents the pinnacle of their athletic careers. For Clay, it was only the beginning.