Muhammad Ali that year, before converting to Islam after 1961. At age 22, in 1964, he won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in a major upset. He then changed his name from Cassius Clay, which he called his "slave name", to Muhammad Ali. He set an example of racial pride for African Americans and resistance to white domination during the Civil Rights Movement. In 1966, two years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali further antagonized the white establishment by refusing to be drafted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs, and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War.
Ali (name) English-speakers as short for male and female names starting with "Al-", or the Old Norse man's name Áli. It can also be an English nickname, as a shortened form of Alice, Alison, Alistair, Alexander, or Alexandra. Ali is also a Finnish male given name, derived from "Aleksanteri". Ali also as a last name has become very popular on a global scale due to the immigration of Muslims throughout the globe. This is especially so in the Caribbean where indentured laborers were brought to replace African slave labour at the end of slavery in countries such as Guyana and Trinidad and