w the jive better than anybody." Still going by his birth name, Cassius Clay, Ali fought Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight championship title. The match in Miami attracted a lot of hype, largely due to Ali's boastful rhymes and insults towards Liston. It worked to place boxing once again at the forefront of American sporting attractions. It was weeks prior to this competition that Ali began his famous rhyming chant, "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." Ali exhibited great grace and beauty of strength and control on the mat as he threw forceful punches at Liston and skillfully danced away from his opponent's jabs. At the age of 22, Ali beat Liston to become boxing's heavyweight champion of the world. The fight was a solid beginning to Ali's long career as the noble and "pretty" prince of boxing. It was not long into Ali's professional career that he became active politically and socially. Disgusted with racism in America, he tossed his Olympic gold medal into a river after he was refused service at a soda fountain counter because he was black. Ali's fist wife reported him saying in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "That gold medal didn't mean a thing to me if my black brothers and sisters were treated wrong in a country I was supposed to represent." Having been inspired by Malcolm X while in Miami, Ali decided about this time to join the Nation of Islam. Cassius Clay, Jr. was given the name Muhammad Ali by Elijah Muhammad, his new title meaning "beloved of Allah." Ali defended his heavyweight title by defeating Liston again at a rematch in June of 1965 with a knockout punch to the side of the head. The blow not only stunned Liston but onlookers as well. Sports writers wrote of how the perfection of speed and force in that punch demonstrated to the world that Ali was a rare caliber of boxer. Its power lifted Liston's left foot clear off the mat. Despite his talent as a boxer, Ali was loathed by many in America when it became public ...
