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NO, according to his friends and family Muhammad Ali was completely different in person than he was portrayed in the media.According to his brother, Ali grew up a quiet, shy, reserved child, and while extremely confident as an adult, he never completely shook the quietness and reserve that had characterized him as a child.He had developed a separate “showtime!” personality to hype his fights, and the real man behind the facade got lost sometimes…CREDIT PICTURE TO PHILADELPHIA CITIZENMuhammad Ali grew up a quiet and shy childAli described himself in his autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story as:“a shy kid, because I couldn’t read I didn’t say a word in school, in or out of class.”This was confirmed by Rahaman Ali, his brother, who flatly said in both his books, My Brother, Muhammad Ali: The Definitive Biography of the Greatest of All Time and That’s Muhammad Ali’s Brother, that:“Ali was a quiet and shy kid, who no one would have believed would have grown up to be the “Louisville Lip.”Ali remained far different in private than the personna he put on in publicAccording to Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, Ali was asked once before he went on the air on “The Tonight Show” by Johnny Carson why he was so different in person, and in private, than he would be on the air. Ali answered:“because i don’t have to fill up the Garden tonight.”Ali was far, far, different in private than what you saw on TV. When Ali stood with Malcolm X by his side announcing after first winning the heavyweight title in 1964 that he was now a member of the Nation of Islam and would be changing his name, he said something few athletes have ever told a media throng, before or since:“I don’t have to be who you want me to be. I’m free to be who I want,.”And he became who he wanted.Why had Ali been so shy as a child - what was the secret he hid for decades?Ali could not read. He was functionally illiterate. He barely graduated high school due to his struggle with reading. Ali was subsequently diagnosed many years later with dyslexia. It had nothing to do with intelligence, and the stigma of being thought stupid when he plainly was not bothered Ali his entire life.Muhammad Ali.Though Dyslexia was known as a condition as early as 1877, functional recognition and treatment of it in school children did not happen until long after Ali’s time in school. Indeed, no black child in the south in the 1950’s and 1960’s, received much if any help if they were handicapped or learning disabled in any way.Ali and his family worked tirelessly and extensively to help kids with dyslexia, and make sure schools adequately treated it, for the rest of his life.What is dyslexia?Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.It appears that there may be a genetic component to dyslexia, Ali had a severely dyslexic daughter.Dyslexia has nothing whatsoever to do with intelligence; indeed, it can handicap the most brilliant of students unless it is effectively recognized and treated - and back then, Black kids in the south got no help with any disability, let alone dyslexia.Kids back then had little, or no, help with learning disabilities in school.Especially Black kids in Kentucky, or much of anywhere.Ali wrote in his autobiography, The Greatest: My Own Story:“As a high school student, many of my teachers labeled me 'DUMB.' Of course I knew who the real dummies were. I barely graduated from high school. There was no way I was going to college--I never even thought about it…I was lucky though. I had enough belief and self-esteem to carry me to greatness in other ways. I have been able to overcome my learning differences through my own persistence. But most cannot and most will not without the right kind of help.”When Ali was growing up, teachers, especially in the poor south, did not know much about dyslexia or how to help children who struggle with the disability. Ali was not aware of the fact that he had dyslexia, either, which led to a lack of confidence in his ability as a student.Ali said about being dyslexic in general:“For many years, learning differences were misunderstood. Children unfortunate enough to be affected were labeled by teachers and peers alike as dumb, stupid, and incapable of learning. These labels would stick throughout high school and follow many into the workplace and everyday settings. They would even follow into the family--a place where every child should feel valued and safe. How many children have failed to pursue a higher education or a degreed career as a result of this misfortune?”CREDIT QUOTE ABOVE TO “FAMOUS DYSLEXICS”Perhaps the real Ali, the Private Ali, is best shown in 4 separate acts of kindnessThese four acts define who Ali really is, not the person you see on TV, but the real man behind the cameras and the headlines.The first happened in 1967, as Ali returned from GermanyAngelo Dundee once recalled an incident that took place after Ali’s last fight before his almost 4 year exile in 1967.On September 10, 1966, a young Ali defended his title in Frankfurt Germany against Karl Mildenberger as part of his "European tour." He was tired and stressed by a return to the USA to continue his fight against the military draft, but he won the fight nonetheless. In the 12th round, with Mildenberger on the ropes, referee Teddy Waltham stopped the fight.At the airport the next day, Waltham’s fee of 1,000 pounds was stolen. Waltham, who was counting on the money to pay his mortgage and bills, was distraught. When Ali heard, he gave Waltham money from his own pocket to replace what had been stolen.When asked about the incident, Ali shrugged it off, saying:“man, don't make this a story, he needed the money more than I did.”If it wasn’t for Angelo Dundee relating this story to Thomas Hauser, we would never have known it happened.Then there was the kid in the hospital in 1975Ali visited hospitals, nursing homes, and other places all the time, but one visit stands out in the mists of time.In the 1970’s, Ali, much to Joe Frazier’s annoyance, lived in Philadelphia for three years. Ali was very much a part of his new home, trying to help calm racial strife at South Philly’s Tasker Homes, visiting nursing homes and hospitals, and hiring old fighters to work his camps.Maury Z. Levy in a 1975 Philadelphia magazine article relates a story about Ali:“One day he got into training camp at Deer Lake late because he heard a thing on the news about this little kid who had gotten his legs cut off by a train, He went to the hospital, unannounced, and held the kid in his arms and started dancing around. ‘This,’ he said, ‘is the Ali shuffle. And one day you’re gonna be doing it yourself.”There was going out on a ledge, literally, to save someone else, and then asking the press not to make a story about him, but to credit first respondersThe story of Muhammad Ali going out on a ledge, literally, to stop a man from jumping to his death is preserved forever by Los Angeles Times photographer Boris Yaro. On Monday, Jan. 19, 1981, Yaro was monitoring a police scanner in LA and heard a report of a suicidal jumper. His editor at the LA Times was not interested, but Yaro drove over to Los Angeles’s Miracle Mile, where the man had been reported on a ledge despite that,There, Yaro found a young black man in jeans and a hoodie, on an office-building fire escape nine floors above the ground.The young man, “Joe,” as he was named in reports, had evidently been up there for hours. The police at the scene said, “he seemed to think he was in Vietnam with the Viet Cong coming at him.” A crowd had grown, of course, on the street below, and was happilly screaming to “Joe” to jump to his death.Police officers, a police psychologist and a chaplain was stationed at a window close by, begging him to come inside. “I’m no good,” he shouted, moving to the edge and hanging out when it appeared someone was going to intervene. “I’m going to jump!”In a twist of fate, Muhammad Ali’s best friend, Howard Bingham, was there that day, and called Ali, who at that time was living in LA not far from the Miracle Mile. “About four minutes later,” Bingham would later recall, “Ali comes roaring up the wrong side of the street in his Rolls with his emergency lights blinking.”Boris Yaro watched in amazement as Ali talked briefly with the police, then saw the former champ run into the building. Yaro’s pictures, below, record the rest of the incident for history.Ali, in a dark suit and tie, is seen leaning out of a nearby window, trying to see the young man threatening to jump. Just a few feet away, Joe is perched dangerously on the ledge, holding a pillar as he leans out over empty space.By The Los Angeles Times’s account, Ali leaned out and shouted to Joe saying:“You’re my brother! I love you, and I couldn’t lie to you”Dodging back inside, Ali found his way to the fire escape, came out, put an arm around Joe and lead him back inside. The two walked out of the building together, got in Ali’s car and drove, after a stop at a police station, to a nearby V.A. hospital.Ali, deflected credit for saving the young man’s life, saying the first responders were the heroes.Then there was Ali’s trip to Bagdad in 1990.Nothing sums up Ali's life, and who he was, than what he did in 1990. That year, Ali went to Bagdad as the first Gulf War was looming, to try and free 15 American hostages being held by Saddam Hussein.Ali, already badly ill with Parkinson's, ran out of his medications while in Bagdad, and endured very real suffering, yet refused to leave, and persevered until Saddam allowed him to take all 15 American hostages home to their families.Other Arab countries, worried that something might happen to the world’s most famous Muslim, pressued Saddam to give him the hostages and get him to go home before something bad happened.On Dec. 2, 1990, Ali and the hostages flew out of Baghdad, headed for JFK.The men remain overwhelmed to this day.Former hostage Bobby Anderson remembers:“You know, I thanked him, and he said, ‘Go home,’ be with my family . . . what a great guy”Ali again asked the media not to make the story about him, but about the hostages and their reunited families.The New York Times, after Ali rescued the 19 hostages in Iraq in 1990, said:“however great he was in the Ring, Ali is greater as a human being. Despite being ill, the Champ has given millions of his own money, raised tens of millions more for charity, to feed people, for medical treatment, and perhaps most importantly for a man who is ill, he donates his time to help others. His recent trip to Iraq to rescue hostages held there, during which he ran out of medications he must take, and which caused him considerable suffering, is an example of one man reaching out to help others with no regard for his own health or safety”People who refuse to believe in Ali’s basic kindness always mention Joe FrazierIn the beginning he was just another Olympic Medal winner, trying to get the public’s attention, and he had not a clue how to set himself apart - and then fate intervened!Ali used his making other fighters the villain to hype the fightsGeorge, born George Raymond Wagner, was in Los Vegas for a pro wrestling match against Freddie Blassie. Both Ali and the wrestlers made the media rounds to pump up their shoes, and hopefully get people out to buy tickets, and Ali’s life changed when he met Gorgeous George while doing so.Ali desperately yearned to be “somebody,” to, as he put it in his autobiography:“have everyone know my name, sell out big stadiums, make money, I wanted it all!.”And Ali found the key that unlocked celebrity, money, fame, and fortune in the schick that Gorgeous George used in pro wrestling."Ali told the *Associated Press*' Hubert Mizel in a 1969 interview:“[I got it] from seeing Gorgeous George wrestle in Las Vegas, I saw his aides spraying deodorant in the opponents' corner to contain the smell. I also saw 13,000 full seats. I talked with Gorgeous for five minutes after the match and started being a big-mouth and a bragger. He [Gorgeous George] told me people would come to see me get beat. Others would come to see me win. I'd get 'em coming and going.”From that night in Las Vegas on, for the rest of his boxing career, Ali became Ali. First the poems, then called rounds for knockouts, then increasingly loud talk, bombast, and names for all his opponents.How Muhammad Ali's fascination with pro wrestling fueled his career, inspired MMAMuhammad Ali laid the foundation for Floyd Mayweather to earn almost a billion dollars 60 years later by creating a persona that people loved, and people loved to hate. Either way, they bought tickets, and it was showtime!Ali wrote about liking how “rasslers” promoted fights - and not understanding how that hype might by taken by his opponents:“I decided that could work for boxing too. I didn't realize that not everyone was going to like playing a role in my show. I am truly sorry for hurting Joe and have told he and his family so.”With Joe Frazier, Ali never disliked Joe, wanted to be friends the second the fight was over, and never thought what he was doing was cruel, saying sorrowfully years later:“I made a mistake, I thought Joe was in on the game, and understood like Sonny Liston said, “boxing is like a cowboy movie, with a good guy, and a bad guy for the audience to cheer for. I was one, and Joe had to be the other, and we both made a lot of money. But Joe never understood, and I am truly sorry.”How the trash talking Muhammad Ali we loved got his personality from an old pro wrestlerIn his autobiography, The Greatest: My Own Story, Ali said that his biggest regrets in his life was his failing to stand by Malcolm X when Malcolm left the Nation of Islam, and his estrangement with Joe Frazier.:“I was trying to hype the fights," Ali said, "but I never should have hurt Joe as I did. I was young, and didn't fully understand.”Most folks don’t know that Ali spent 40 years trying to mend the rift with Joe FrazierAli apologize to his old rival repeatedly, and for awhile Joe would accept, and then he would get mad all over again. (nothing illustrates that better than the story Keith Scott relayed in his very fine answer to this question.)After the Thrilla in Manila, Ali apologized to Marvis Frazier for any pain he had caused their family, and told him he should be proud of his father. Ali said :“Tell your dad the things I said I really didn't mean,"Marvis reported back to his father and Joe said:“He should come to me, son, he should say it to my face."So Ali tried, he called Panama Lewis, a close confident of Joe’s, and asked for his private number, telling Lewis he wanted to apologize to him in person. Lewis then called Joe, and told him Ali wanted to apologize to him in person. Joe told Panama not to give him the number.So Ali did regret what had happened, and ironically, Joe’s family forgave him, while Joe never really did…The last thing Ali said about his old rival was:“I'm sorry Joe Frazier is mad at me. I'm sorry I hurt him. Joe Frazier is a good man, and I couldn't have done what I did without him, and he couldn't have done what he did without me. And if God ever calls me to a holy war, I want Joe Frazier fighting beside me.”Ali tried, on many occasions, to mend the rift with Joe. When Joe was dying, Muhammad visited him and for the last time asked his forgiveness. (He told Joe he wasn’t leaving till Joe forgave him! And Joe finally did forgive him, and his son Marvis feels he was at peace with the past when he died)In September of 2015, after Joe Frazier was long gone from this world, the City of Philadelphia, thanks mostly to Larry Holmes and Bernard Hopkins, finally put up a long overdue statue of Joe Frazier in Philadelphia, and Ali’s business manager, Gene Kilroy went to the ceremony. He and Marvis Frazier, Joe’s oldest son, then went to Frazier’s grave and laid a wreath inscribed with a message from Ali.The wreath and message from Ali said:“To Joe Frazier from Muhammad Ali, Rest in peace, Joe, until we meet again. Next time we’re not going to fight, we’re just going to hug each other.”And truly, that was just who the real, private, Ali was…Robert Lipsyte, who spent a large part of his life chronicling Ali’s says any claim that Ali was doing acts or heroism or kindness for acclaim was, even if true, only possibly one small part of why he would go to a hospital and try to cheer a little kid with no reporters around, or try to talk a man off a ledge, or rescue hostages, or give money to a referee he didn’t even like, saying:“The other part was he was capable of acts of kindness; almost casual acts of kindness”Lipsyte said at the time of the incident with the man on the ledge, Lisyte believed Ali showed up to the office building not only because he thought he could help Joe, but because he wanted to.Lipsyte said he believed that intrinsic kindness was just a basic part of the real Muhammad Ali, saying:“In some sort of ways, he talked a lot of people off the ledge, I think about a guy who made people brave. That’s what he did.”Yes, Ali in private was a far different person than the loud, bombastic celebrity we saw on television.CREDIT TO:Ali a Life by Jonathan EigGhosts of Manila: The Fateful Blood Feud Between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier by Mark KramHow Muhammad Ali's fascination with pro wrestling fueled his career, inspired MMAHow the trash talking Muhammad Ali we loved got his personality from an old pro wrestlerLos Angeles Times and Boris YaroMuhammad Ali.Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times by Thomas HauserMuhammad Ali: The Definitive Biography of the Greatest of All Time by Rahaman AliThe Greatest: My Own Story by Muhammad AliThat’s Muhammad Ali’s Brother by Rahaman AliThe Real Ali by Rahman Ali

The question asks is Ali the Greatest or is it just media hype.In the Ring, Ali is the Greatest heavyweight who ever lived, and one of the top pound for pound fighters who ever lived. He proved it by what Jack Blackburn said is the ultimate test in boxing: who he faced, and who he beat.Out of the Ring he has had more positive social impact that any other fighter ever, and his record of charity, kind acts, and heroism makes him the Greatest outside the ring. By visiting sick children, by rescuing hostages from Iraq, by going out on a ledge to rescue a suicidal man, Ali showed who he was.CREDIT PICTURE BBCAli in person was a humble, kind, person; most of the Greatest hype was to hype the gate in his fights.On the basis of the records, Ali faced everyone in the all time greatest era for heavyweights, beat all but one, and his record makes a strong case for him being, in reality, the Greatest ever in the ring.BBC boxing writer and historian Ben Dirs said of Ali compared to Wlad Klitschko and other fighters of this generation:“Muhammad Ali reigned in the most talent-rich era of heavyweight boxing, winning the title from the fearsome Sonny Liston in 1964, winning it again from the even more fearsome George Foreman 10 years later and beating greats such as Floyd Patterson, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton in between."As a human being, he was simply a fine human being who devoted most of his life to helping others, as Larry Holmes said in Against the Odds:“You really had to know Muhammad to understand him. He really wanted to change the world and make things better.”Muhammad Ali as a fighterMuhammad Ali was the fastest, most physically talented, heavyweight in history.Boxing Historian Monte Cox wrote that:“Muhammad Ali was the most naturally gifted heavyweight champion in history.”Muhammad Ali, The GreatestThe 1960’s pre-exile Ali was the fastest fighter who ever lived, bar none.Mike Tyson’s co-manager, Jimmy Jacobs, who owned the world’s largest collection of fight films, said that on film tests with a synchronizer Ali’s jab was faster than that of Sugar Ray Robinson, or any middleweight, welterweight, or lightweight, he could measure.Jacobs contended that Ali was not only the fastest heavyweight, but also the fastest fighter he ever saw, and was able to measure, on film. (that includes Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson!)Ali’s handspeed was second to noneAli's speed was also measured: In the May 5, 1969 issue of Sports Illustrated, Ali’s jab was measured with an omegascope. Ali’s jab, it was found, could smash a balsa board 16.5 inches away in 19/100 of a second. It actually covered the distance in 4/100 of a second, which is the blink of an eye. (and again, a lot faster than Floyd Patterson, or later, Mike Tyson)Certainly other fighters strongly stated they felt Ali was the fastest fighter they had ever seenMike Tyson says when asked if he was faster than Ali:“He [Ali] was faster than any heavyweight ever!"Floyd Patterson said of Ali and comparing him to other greats such as Joe Louis:“I was a lot faster than Joe Louis, and Ali was a lot faster than me!"Bob Foster: said:“Muhammad Ali. He was the man. He was big, fast; was he fast and slick in the ring! You wouldn't believe how fast!"Zora Folley, after facing Ali, said:“he is just too fast! you can't hit him! But he sure can hit you."Canadian heavyweight George Chuvalo said in Ring of Ali’s speed:“my plan for the fight was simple: as the shorter guy, I wanted to stay close to Ali, nullify his speed and prevent him from using the whole ring. I also wanted to make it rough. The rougher, the better. But it took all of about 30 seconds for me to realize he was the fastest fighter I’d ever seen. It’s one thing to expect it; it’s another thing to feel it, live it."Angelo Dundee, Ali's and Sugar Ray Leonard's trainer, said, after being asked which fighter was faster, the welterweight all time great, Leonard, or Ali, simply said:“Ali was the fastest fighter I ever saw in a ring."What about Cleveland Williams, what did he say about Ali's speed?:“His speed, you can't hit him, you just cannot hit him! I threw hooks, I threw uppercuts, I missed them all! Hell, I couldn't even land a jab!"Compubox claims Williams landed all of 10 punches in his fight with Ali - Thomas Hauser, boxing writer and historian believed that was too high, and rescored it, and found Williams actually landed 3 punches.Rocky Marciano? What did he think? Rocky Marciano, who filmed the "computer fight" with Ali in 1969 while Ali was banned from boxing, said of Ali:“he was the fastest man on wheels, no fighter who ever lived was that fast."What about other boxing figures? Marv Jenson, who managed Gene Fullmer, concurred saying:“Ali has the fastest hands on any heavyweight I have ever seen, hell, he has the fastest hands, period."Ali’s footwork was also simply amazing - he did things no other heavyweight couldDave Christian, in the Modern Martial Artist, describes Ali’s footwork, the circle and jab, as:“it allows you to cover a huge amount of distance with minimum effort, and each step is another chance to pivot, accelerate, or change direction.”Christian also said:“By traveling quickly in a wide arc, Ali made his opponent lose their balance and timing when they tried to follow him, and he took advantage of the openings this created in their guards…I’ve found that Ali’s footwork works really well for setting up deceptive kicks when sparring, believe it or not.”Monte Cox quoted author John Durant as saying Ali possessed:“lightning fast hands and a pair of legs that moved around the ring like a ballet dancer. He would float just out of range with his hands dangling at his side as if to taunt his opponent.”Famed Boxing Historian Don Cogswell wrote, (IBRO Journal # 81):“Muhammad Ali, in his first title reign, presented such a speed disparity between contestants as to appear supernatural."Mike Tyson, a student of boxing to this day, and a guy who has probably watched more boxing film than any other boxing historian, said of ranking the great heavyweights:Mike said when asked if he’d have beaten him, prime against prime:“Nobody beats Ali”.And Mike explains that those who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s and perceived Tyson as the winner just because he hit harder and had bigger muscles let themselves be fooled by Ali’s physical appearance:“Ali is a fuckin’ animal, he looks more like a model than a fighter, but what he is, he’s like a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a pretty face. And fast, Lord God he was fast!”But could you have beaten him on your best day, the reporter said? Mike emphasized, saying Ali was simply too fast, and too skilled, saying again:“NOBODY beats Ali.”Ali’s skills included pure speed, preternatural reflexes, an ability to ignore and endure pain, an incredible ring IQ and ability to adapt, and a will of tempered steel. That will helped him, when his speed was gone, remain a great boxer, and regain the title, 10 years after he first won it, from one of the most feared heavyweights of history.There were 17 top 100 all time heavyweights active during Ali’s reign - he faced every one.Ali faced those 17 top 100 heavyweights, and beat all but one, and when he was 39 and ill; he faced and beat 21 of 22 top 150 fighters, the best of any heavyweight, ever.Ali is unique in boxing history in that he faced every single great heavyweight of his time. Manny Steward paid tribute to Ali, saying:“I have a lot of respect for Ali because Ali was the only champion that I know of that fought anybody, everybody. It was nothing about styles. He fought guys who were terrible for him style wise, but Ali would just tell Angelo Dundee, “Let’s fight”—and he put him with a guy like Kenny Norton who was always going to be a problem because of the way Kenny kept his elbows, he blocked jabs and right hands and that’s all Ali basically had and then he fought him I think three times; Joe Frazier; he went to London to fight Brian London and Henry Cooper; and he went I think to Canada to fight (George) Chuvalo; he fought Karl Mildenberger to fight the German in Germany. He didn’t care whose style that he had to fight so in that way, Ali was the greatest because fought anybody, everybody, in their country, if it was a style that was bad for him he didn’t care, fight him in a rematch he’d do that, whatever.Heavyweight History With Emanuel Steward: Part 2 Of 3 • East Side Boxing • News ArchivesAli himself quoted in “The Greatest” said:“When people ask me about who was the greatest of all time, I say look at the records. I fought better competition, over a longer period of time than any other fighter in history.”Ali faced the best of the best, as ranked by Boxrec:#2 Archie Moore (ranked as light-heavyweight but fought for heavyweight title twice)#4 Sonny Liston#13 Joe Frazier#14 Larry Holmes#15 Floyd Patterson#19 George Foreman#20 Bob Foster (ranked as light heavyweight but fought for heavyweight title twice)#22 Cleveland Williams#34 Ken Norton#36 Zora Folley#43 Henry Cooper#44 Ernie Terrell#48 Jimmy Ellis#51 Karl Mildenberger#57 Oscar Bonavena#67 Jerry Quarry#68 Ron LyleAli faced 17 top 100 all time heavyweights in 26 fights, he beat 16 of the 17 at least once, 5 of them twice, for a 94% victory rate against all time top 100 competition!In addition, Ali beat five fighters ranked between 100 and 160, to wit:#116 Joe Bugner#118 Doug Jones#124 Jimmy Young#131 Mac Foster#141 Earnie Shavers,and Ali faced 23 fighters in the top 150 and beat 22 of them at least once in 31 fights.That meant more than half of his fighters were against top 150 competition, the best percentage in any weight class in boxing history! And again, alone of all the elite champions, he faced every single great fighter of his era…And his ring accomplishments stand the test of time…Max Kellerman said:“From 1970, when Ali came back from his forced exile, to 1978, when Ali won back his crown for the final time (against Leon Spinks), Ali shared the very top shelf with Joe Frazier and George Foreman, and the three of them were supported by Ken Norton and Joe Bugner and, in the beginning of the decade, Oscar Bonavena, Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis, and at the end of the decade Ernie Shavers, Ron Lyle and Jimmy Young. Ali fought them all, and many of the others fought each other. The greatest heavyweight era ever.As heavyweight eras go, this one is very goodAli’s record speaks for itselfAli was and is the first and only three-time lineal World Heavyweight Champion. He was and remains the first World Heavyweight Champion to come back from retirement and regain the title. He beat 14 world champions, from the years 1962 to 1978, over an incredible 16 year period. Ali won twenty-two World Heavyweight Championship fights over a 14 year period. Ali made a total of nineteen successful title defenses of the undisputed title, nine during his first reign and ten during his second reign.Another record he set which stands today, he has a record of 11-0 in rematches. Ali faced a heavyweight record of 10 Hall of Fame fighters, winning against all but one, and making 17 total fights against Hall of Famers, winning 14.Ali was named Ring "Fighter of the Year" for 1963, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1978. Ali was named the Boxing Writers Association of America "Fighter of the Year" for 1965, 1974 and 1975. Ali was named Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year" for 1974. Ali was named The Ring "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1970s.Ali was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983. He received the Boxing Writers Association of America James J. Walker Memorial Award for 1984. Ali was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1986. He was inducted into the The Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1987. Ali was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. Ali was named Athlete of the Century by GQ magazine in 1998. He was named "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC in 1999, and "Sportsman of the 20th Century" by Sports Illustrated.Ali as a human being outside the ringAccording to Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, Ali was asked once before he went on the air on “The Tonight Show” by Johnny Carson why he was so different in person, and in private, than he would be on the air. Ali answered:“Because i don’t have to fill up the Garden tonight.”Ali was far, far, different in private than what you saw on TV. When Ali stood with Malcolm X by his side announcing after first winning the heavyweight title in 1964 that he was now a member of the Nation of Islam and would be changing his name, he said something few athletes have ever told a media throng, before or since:“I don’t have to be who you want me to be. I’m free to be who I want,.”Ali in his private life was a basically shy and retiring man, the same Muhammad Ali who had grown up a quiet and shy child.Ali described himself in his autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story as:“a shy kid, because I couldn’t read I didn’t say a word in school, in or out of class.”This was confirmed by Rahaman Ali, his brother, who flatly said in both his books, My Brother, Muhammad Ali: The Definitive Biography of the Greatest of All Time and That’s Muhammad Ali’s Brother, that Ali was a quiet and shy kid, who no one would have believed would have grown up to be the “Louisville Lip.”Ali’s family and friends described him to Thomas Hauser as an adult version of that shy and retiring kid.Ali used wrestling tricks to hype his fights - that was not who he really wasAli at the onset of his career simply was another Olympian trying to gain notice. And then, he attended a wrestling show, and boxing was changed forever.George, born George Raymond Wagner, was in Los Vegas for a pro wrestling match against Freddie Blassie. Both Ali and the wrestlers made the media rounds to pump up their shoes, and hopefully get people out to buy tickets, and Ali’s life changed when he met Gorgeous George while doing so.Ali desperately yearned to be “somebody,” to, as he put it in his autobiography:“have everyone know my name, sell out big stadiums, make money, I wanted it all!.”And Ali found the key that unlocked celebrity, money, fame, and fortune in the schtick that Gorgeous George used in pro wrestling."Ali told the *Associated Press*' Hubert Mizel in a 1969 interview:“[I got it] from seeing Gorgeous George wrestle in Las Vegas, I saw his aides spraying deodorant in the opponents' corner to contain the smell. I also saw 13,000 full seats. I talked with Gorgeous for five minutes after the match and started being a big-mouth and a bragger. He [Gorgeous George] told me people would come to see me get beat. Others would come to see me win. I'd get 'em coming and going.”From that night in Las Vegas on, for the rest of his boxing career, Ali became Ali. First the poems, then called rounds for knockouts, then increasingly loud talk, bombast, and names for all his opponents.How Muhammad Ali's fascination with pro wrestling fueled his career, inspired MMAMuhammad Ali laid the foundation for Floyd Mayweather to earn almost a billion dollars 60 years later by creating a persona that people loved, and people loved to hate. Either way, they bought tickets, and it was showtime!Ali wrote about liking how “rasslers” promoted fights - and not understanding how that hype might by taken by his opponents:“I decided that could work for boxing too. I didn't realize that not everyone was going to like playing a role in my show. I am truly sorry for hurting Joe and have told he and his family so.”With Joe Frazier, Ali never disliked Joe, wanted to be friends the second the fight was over, and never thought what he was doing was cruel, saying sorrowfully years later:“I made a mistake, I thought Joe was in on the game, and understood like Sonny Liston said, “boxing is like a cowboy movie, with a good guy, and a bad guy for the audience to cheer for. I was one, and Joe had to be the other, and we both made a lot of money. But Joe never understood, and I am truly sorry.”How the trash talking Muhammad Ali we loved got his personality from an old pro wrestlerIn his autobiography, The Greatest: My Own Story, Ali said that his biggest regrets in his life was his failing to stand by Malcolm X when Malcolm left the Nation of Islam, and his estrangement with Joe Frazier.:“I was trying to hype the fights," Ali said, "but I never should have hurt Joe as I did. I was young, and didn't fully understand.”After his retirement, Ali devoted himself to helping othersAfter retiring from boxing in 1981, at age 39, Ali focused on religion and charity, until his declining health prevented him from public appearances. Ali donated millions to charity organizations and disadvantaged people of all ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. He helped raise tens of millions more. Ali helped to feed more than 22 million people afflicted by hunger across the world. He never asked for, or wanted, praise for these efforts.Among his many charitable efforts, Ali worked with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease to raise awareness and encourage donations for research. In 1987, the California Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Constitution selected Ali to personify the the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Ali rode on a float at the following year's Tournament of Roses Parade, launching the U.S. Constitution's 200th birthday celebration.In 2012, Ali was awarded the Philadelphia Liberty Medal in recognition of his lifelong efforts in activism, philanthropy and humanitarianism.Perhaps the real Ali, the Private Ali, is best shown in 4 separate acts of kindnessThese four acts define who Ali really is, not the person you see on TV, but the real man behind the cameras and the headlines.The first happened in 1967, as Ali returned from GermanyAngelo Dundee once recalled an incident that took place after Ali’s last fight before his almost 4 year exile in 1967.On September 10, 1966, a young Ali defended his title in Frankfurt Germany against Karl Mildenberger as part of his "European tour." He was tired and stressed by a return to the USA to continue his fight against the military draft, but he won the fight nonetheless. In the 12th round, with Mildenberger on the ropes, referee Teddy Waltham stopped the fight.At the airport the next day, Waltham’s fee of 1,000 pounds was stolen. Waltham, who was counting on the money to pay his mortgage and bills, was distraught. When Ali heard, he gave Waltham money from his own pocket to replace what had been stolen.When asked about the incident, Ali shrugged it off, saying:“man, don't make this a story, he needed the money more than I did.”If it wasn’t for Angelo Dundee relating this story to Thomas Hauser, we would never have known it happened.Then there was the kid in the hospital in 1975Ali visited hospitals, nursing homes, and other places all the time, but one visit stands out in the mists of time.In the 1970’s, Ali, much to Joe Frazier’s annoyance, lived in Philadelphia for three years. Ali was very much a part of his new home, trying to help calm racial strife at South Philly’s Tasker Homes, visiting nursing homes and hospitals, and hiring old fighters to work his camps.Maury Z. Levy in a 1975 Philadelphia magazine article relates a story about Ali:“One day he got into training camp at Deer Lake late because he heard a thing on the news about this little kid who had gotten his legs cut off by a train, He went to the hospital, unannounced, and held the kid in his arms and started dancing around. ‘This,’ he said, ‘is the Ali shuffle. And one day you’re gonna be doing it yourself.”There was going out on a ledge, literally, to save someone else, and then asking the press not to make a story about him, but to credit first respondersThe story of Muhammad Ali going out on a ledge, literally, to stop a man from jumping to his death is preserved forever by Los Angeles Times photographer Boris Yaro. On Monday, Jan. 19, 1981, Yaro was monitoring a police scanner in LA and heard a report of a suicidal jumper. His editor at the LA Times was not interested, but Yaro drove over to Los Angeles’s Miracle Mile, where the man had been reported on a ledge despite that,There, Yaro found a young black man in jeans and a hoodie, on an office-building fire escape nine floors above the ground.The young man, “Joe,” as he was named in reports, had evidently been up there for hours. The police at the scene said, “he seemed to think he was in Vietnam with the Viet Cong coming at him.” A crowd had grown, of course, on the street below, and was happily screaming to “Joe” to jump to his death.Police officers, a police psychologist and a chaplain was stationed at a window close by, begging him to come inside. But Joe shouted, as he moved to the edge and hung out when it appeared someone was going to intervene:“I’m no good, I’m going to jump!”In a twist of fate, Muhammad Ali’s best friend, Howard Bingham, was there that day, and called Ali, who at that time was living in LA not far from the Miracle Mile. Bingham would later remember:“About four minutes later, Ali comes roaring up the wrong side of the street in his Rolls with his emergency lights blinking.”Boris Yaro watched in amazement as Ali talked briefly with the police, then saw the former champ run into the building. Yaro’s pictures, below, record the rest of the incident for history.Ali, in a dark suit and tie, is seen leaning out of a nearby window, trying to see the young man threatening to jump. Just a few feet away, Joe is perched dangerously on the ledge, holding a pillar as he leans out over empty space.By The Los Angeles Times’s account, Ali leaned out and shouted to Joe saying:“You’re my brother! I love you, and I couldn’t lie to you”Dodging back inside, Ali found his way to the fire escape, came out, put an arm around Joe and lead him back inside. The two walked out of the building together, got in Ali’s car and drove, after a stop at a police station, to a nearby V.A. hospital.Ali, deflected credit for saving the young man’s life, saying the first responders were the heroes.Then there was Ali’s trip to Bagdad in 1990.Nothing sums up Ali's life, and who he was, than what he did in 1990. That year, Ali went to Bagdad as the first Gulf War was looming, to try and free 15 American hostages being held by Saddam Hussein.Ali, already badly ill with Parkinson's, ran out of his medications while in Bagdad, and endured very real suffering, yet refused to leave, and persevered until Saddam allowed him to take all 15 American hostages home to their families.But Saddam did not want to give up the hostages, who he was using for human shields, and declined to meet with the ill Ali, thinking he would have to go home without his medications.But Ali would not leave, and his health grew worse.Other Arab countries, worried that something might happen to the world’s most famous Muslim, increasingly pressured Saddam to give him something, and get him to go home before something bad happened.Saddam, to appease other Muslim countries, finally publicly met with Ali to give him a few of the hostages, but before he could announce it, Ali thanked him for agreeing, like a good Muslim, to release all those in the custody to him. Saddam, with the media taking down every word, ordered the release of them all.On Dec. 2, 1990, Ali and the hostages flew out of Baghdad, headed for JFK.The 15 men remain overwhelmed to this day.Former hostage Bobby Anderson remembers:“You know, I thanked him, and he said, ‘Go home,’ be with my family . . . what a great guy”Ali again asked the media not to make the story about him, but about the hostages and their reunited families.The New York Times, after Ali rescued the 19 hostages in Iraq in 1990, said:“however great he was in the Ring, Ali is greater as a human being. Despite being ill, the Champ has given millions of his own money, raised tens of millions more for charity, to feed people, for medical treatment, and perhaps most importantly for a man who is ill, he donates his time to help others. His recent trip to Iraq to rescue hostages held there, during which he ran out of medications he must take, and which caused him considerable suffering, is an example of one man reaching out to help others with no regard for his own health or safety”And for the haters who keep trying to paint Ali as a racist, all but one of the hostages were white…Most folks don’t know that Ali spent 40 years trying to mend the rift with Joe FrazierAli apologized to his old rival repeatedly, and for awhile Joe would accept, and then he would get mad all over again. (nothing illustrates that better than the story Keith Scott relayed in his very fine answer to this question.)After the Thrilla in Manila, Ali apologized to Marvis Frazier for any pain he had caused their family, and told him he should be proud of his father. Ali said :“Tell your dad the things I said I really didn't mean,"Marvis reported back to his father and Joe said:“He should come to me, son, he should say it to my face."So Ali tried, he called Panama Lewis, a close confident of Joe’s, and asked for his private number, telling Lewis he wanted to apologize to him in person. Lewis then called Joe, and told him Ali wanted to apologize to him in person. Joe told Panama not to give him the number.So Ali did regret what had happened, and ironically, Joe’s family forgave him, while Joe never really did…The last thing Ali said about his old rival was:“I'm sorry Joe Frazier is mad at me. I'm sorry I hurt him. Joe Frazier is a good man, and I couldn't have done what I did without him, and he couldn't have done what he did without me. And if God ever calls me to a holy war, I want Joe Frazier fighting beside me.”Ali tried, on many occasions, to mend the rift with Joe. When Joe was dying, Muhammad visited him and for the last time asked his forgiveness. (He told Joe he wasn’t leaving till Joe forgave him! And Joe finally did forgive him, and his son Marvis feels he was at peace with the past when he died)In September of 2015, after Joe Frazier was long gone from this world, the City of Philadelphia, thanks mostly to Larry Holmes and Bernard Hopkins, finally put up a long overdue statue of Joe Frazier in Philadelphia, and Ali’s business manager, Gene Kilroy went to the ceremony. He and Marvis Frazier, Joe’s oldest son, then went to Frazier’s grave and laid a wreath inscribed with a message from Ali.The wreath and message from Ali said:“To Joe Frazier from Muhammad Ali, Rest in peace, Joe, until we meet again. Next time we’re not going to fight, we’re just going to hug each other.”And truly, that was just who the real, private, Ali was…Robert Lipsyte, who spent a large part of his life chronicling Ali’s says any claim that Ali was doing acts or heroism or kindness for acclaim was, even if true, only possibly one small part of why he would go to a hospital and try to cheer a little kid with no reporters around, or try to talk a man off a ledge, or rescue hostages, or give money to a referee he didn’t even like, saying:“The other part was he was capable of acts of kindness; almost casual acts of kindness”Lipsyte said at the time of the incident with the man on the ledge, Lipsyte believed Ali showed up to the office building not only because he thought he could help Joe, but because he wanted to.Yes, Ali in private was a far different person than the loud, bombastic celebrity we saw on television.For Ali’s incredible accomplishments in the Ring, he is the greatest heavyweight of all time, and one of the greatest pound for pound fighters.Angelo Dundee, Ali's and Sugar Ray Leonard's trainer, said:“Look at Ali’s quality of opposition. He shook up the world against Liston, then did it again. He shocked the world against Foreman. He won two out of three against Frazier. Same against Ken Norton. He beat Patterson twice. The also-rans on Ali’s record—Jerry Quarry, Ron Lyle, Zora Folley, Oscar Bonavena, Bob Foster, Ernie Terrell—were as good as all but two or three opponents Joe Louis beat during his 11 years as champ."Dundee: Ali was, continues to be 'GreatestFor Ali’s kindness, decency, charity, outside the ring, he is also the GreatestRobert Lipsyte, who spent his career around Ali, said:“What kind of guy gets in his car and drives toward a potential suicide, to save the life of a man he has never met? The answer, of course, is a guy who thinks himself a hero.Robert Lipsyte also said he believed that intrinsic kindness was just a basic part of the real Muhammad Ali, saying:“In some sort of ways, he talked a lot of people off the ledge, I think about a guy who made people brave. That’s what he did.”When Muhammad Ali Met a Man on a Ledge (Published 2016)And all of it is real, not media hype.CREDIT TO:Ali: A Life by Jonathan EigAs heavyweight eras go, this one is very goodCox’s Corner and Monte CoxDundee: Ali was, continues to be 'GreatestHeavyweight History With Emanuel Steward: Part 2 Of 3 • East Side Boxing • News ArchivesHow the trash talking Muhammad Ali we loved got his personality from an old pro wrestlerMuhammad Ali: A Life by Thomas HauserMuhammad Ali: A View From the Corner by Dr. Ferdie PachecoThe Greatest: My Own Story by Muhammad AliThe Los Angeles Times’s accountThe Real Ali by Rahman AliWhen Muhammad Ali Met a Man on a Ledge