Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

and

Cleveland Williams Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams (June 30, 1933 – September 10, 1999) was an American professional boxer. A poll in '' The Ring'' magazine rated him as one of the finest boxers never to win a title. Early life Born in Griffin, Georgia, Williams sta ...

fought each other in a boxing match at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas on November 14, 1966. Ali won the bout through a technical knockout in the third round. Many experts and boxers, including

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...

, regard Ali's performance in this fight to be the finest of his boxing career. This was also the fight in which Ali made famous the move he called the "Ali shuffle".

Background

On the evening of November 29, 1964, 2 years before the fight, Williams was shot in the stomach by a highway patrolman, for supposedly resisting arrest. The .357 magnum bullet moved across his intestines and lodged in his right hip, doing immense damage to his colon and right kidney. He underwent four operations over the next 7 months which resulted in the eventual removal of his right kidney and a loss of 60 pounds, which he later recovered by doing weight-lifting. Williams later said that "I died three times on that operating table." The bullet left vestigial damage: a partial paralysis of some hip muscles and a severely weakened right hip joint. Despite this incident, Williams returned to the ring in 1966 and won four consecutive fights before facing Ali. In heavy contrast to Williams, Ali came into this fight in peak physical shape. He successfully defended his WBC, NYSAC and The Ring heavyweight titles against Karl Mildenberger of Germany on September 10, 1966, after also beating 5 heavyweight contenders, including

Henry Cooper Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 19341 May 2011) was a British heavyweight boxer, best remembered internationally for a 1963 fight in which he knocked down a young Cassius Clay before the fight was stopped because of a cut eye from Clay's punches. Coo ...

, Floyd Patterson and

Sonny Liston Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( 1930 – December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson i ...

, in the years prior. By the time of the Williams fight, Ali had great success with his "stick and move" style: employing a strong left jab, to whittle down his opponents, and a low guard, allowing him to anticipate and dodge incoming punches. Ali's 2-year dominance in the heavyweight division made him a 5 to 1 favorite going into this fight.

References

Williams 1966 in boxing World Boxing Association heavyweight championship matches World Boxing Council heavyweight championship matches November 1966 sports events in the United States Boxing in Texas Boxing in Houston 1966 in sports in Texas {{boxing-stub