Muhammad Ali dead: A timeline of the boxing champion's extraordinary life

The three-time world heavyweight champion, who had battled Parkinson's disease for 32 years, was admitted to hospital with a respiratory condition earlier in the week PA

1942

17 January: Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jnr, Louisville Kentucky.

1960

5 September: Wins gold in the light heavyweight boxing division at the Rome Olympics.

29 October: Makes professional debut

1963

18 June: Stops Britain’s Henry Cooper in five rounds

Muhammad Ali as he looks round at the waiting fans as he arrives at Heathrow Airport (PA)

1964

25 February: Wins world heavyweight title, beating champion Sonny Liston in six rounds.

26 February: Confirms that he has joined the Nation of Islam and has rejected his “slave name”, Cassius Clay.

6 March: Adopts the “holy” name of Muhammad Ali

1965

25 May: wins rematch with Liston

1966

21 May: wins second fight with Henry Cooper in six rounds at Highbury

1967

28 April: refuses to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam war. He is stripped of his world title, and his boxing license is suspended; he is subsequently convicted by an all-white jury of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison, but appeals against the outcome

1970

27 January: after a long legal battle, Ali’s license to box is restored; his appeal against his original conviction continues.

26 October: returns to ring, beating Jerry Quarry in three rounds

1971

8 March: the “Fight of the Century” – Ali’s first fight, at Madison Square Garden, against the then world champion Joe Frazier. Ali loses a unanimous points decision, the first professional defeat of his career.

28 July: Supreme Court overturns Ali’s conviction by unanimous verdict.

1973

31 March: After winning six fights following the Frazier loss, Ali is beaten for the second time, by Ken Norton, who breaks his jaw – a defeat he avenges x months later

Muhammad Ali training ahead of his heavyweight fight against British Richard Dunn (EPA)

1974

28 January: beats Frazier unanimously on points in rematch at Madison Square Garden.

30 October: regains his world title by beating the fearsome George Foreman (who had dispatched both Norton and Frazier in the second round) in the”Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali wins by a knockout in the eighth round

1975

1 October: the “Thrill in Manila”. Ali beats Frazier in their third and last contest – a fight of legendary brutality. Both fighters take heavy punishment; Frazier’s corner refuse to let him come out for the 15^TH and final round

1980

2 October: stopped in the 11^th round in a one-sided fight against Larry Holmes.

1981

11 December: loses his final fight to Trevor Berbick in Nassau, at the age of 39

1984

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease

Muhammad Ali and his wife Lonnie Ali unveil plaque on Turnpike Road to his ancestors after he was honoured as the first Freeman of his ancestral home in Ireland (PA)

1996

19 July: Lights the flame to begin the Olympics Games in Atlanta

2005

9 November: Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour available to US civilians.

2016

3 June: Dies in Phoenix, Arizona, at the age of 74