10 Reasons Why Muhammad Ali Really Was The Greatest

In January 1964, the then-Cassius Clay took the qualifying exam for military service as the U.S. became further embroiled in the Vietnam War. Ali was whip smart but never book smart, realising at an early age that his future lay elsewhere and testing near the bottom of his class. His mental aptitude score in the military exams fell below the minimum draft requirement, and that should have been that.

Instead, the ever-increasing need for more troops as the conflict escalated led to a reclassification of draft eligibility thresholds, and Ali was reclassified 1-A in 1966. What followed marked arguably the most poignant, important chapter in an extraordinary life.

Ali refused on religious grounds to be drafted into the military, claiming conscientious objector status as a follower of Islam. Of course, Ali was more vocal about it than that, and statements like “No Vietcong ever called me n*gg*r” made him quite possibly the most hated man in America.

Stripped of his boxing titles and unable to ply his trade, Ali, ostensibly a man of low IQ, took to lecturing on college campuses, campaigning for African American rights, freedom from religious persecution and the basic civil liberties denied to him.

As the years went by and the battle raged on, so the public tide turned against the Vietnam War, and the perception of Ali altered dramatically from draft-dodging traitor to countercultural icon; the people’s champion.

But by then, Ali had a different champion on his mind.