Medal in Rome and be the first three-time heavyweight champion
with a career record of 56 wins, 5 losses and 37 knockouts; and
WHEREAS, Muhammad Ali spent time in Pennsylvania training
first on a mink farm in Reading and later at a training camp he
established in the countryside of Deer Lake, where he prepared
for all of his fights from 1972 onward; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Ali said, "Boxing was just a means to introduce
me to the world," and he truly was a citizen of the world; and
WHEREAS, Muhammad Ali was fearless in his stance on civil
rights, his early relationship with the Nation of Islam and his
insistence on being called Muhammad Ali instead of Cassius Clay
in 1964, which heralded a new era in black pride; and
WHEREAS, Muhammad Ali's willingness to speak out on civil
rights issues, as well as his opposition to his induction to the
Vietnam War draft citing religious reasons, were highly
controversial and posed great peril to his career; and
WHEREAS, As the reigning World Heavyweight Champion in 1967,
Mr. Ali was stripped of his titles, arrested and exiled from
boxing for three years for his refusal to participate in the
Vietnam War because it was against his religious convictions;
and
WHEREAS, Mr. Ali never wavered, becoming the voice of a
generation that opposed military involvement in Vietnam and
sought social justice in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Subsequent to his victory before the Supreme Court
of the United States in defense of his conscientious objections
to the Vietnam War, Muhammad Ali won back his title that was
stripped from him in 1974 by changing people's perception of
what it meant to be a champion; and
WHEREAS, In 1984, Muhammad Ali took his fight outside of the
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