Muhammad Ali dead at the age of 74

The boxer known simply as The Greatest has died. 

Muhammad Ali's family has confirmed that the iconic American sports legend passed away this evening in a Phoenix hospital after suffering from respiratory problems over the past couple of days. He was 74 years old. 

Born Cassius Clay to middle-class Kentucky parents, Ali converted to Islam in 1964. In the years that followed he would become one of the giants of the American civil rights movement. In 1967, after being drafted to serve in the Vietnam war, he refused to report, famously arguing that he had no problem with the Vietnamese because, "They never called me nigger. They never lynched me. They didn't put no dogs on me."

That stance would derail Ali's career as one of America's most promising boxers until the '70s. In 1971, following four years of demanding to know why blacks where denied basic rights in a country that they were expected to fight for overseas, Ali returned to the ring. His second comeback bout that year, against Joe Frazier, would be dubbed "the Fight of the Century". While Ali lost against Frazier in that bout, that would be the start of an incredible run of fights in the '70s.

In 1972, Ali won a unanimous 12-round decision in Vancouver against gritty Canadian heavyweight George Chuvalo. It was their second fight and Chuvalo went the distance both times.

After the first fight in 1966, Ali said, "He's the toughest guy I ever fought." In the rematch, Ali had an easier time, cruising to victory at the Pacific Coliseum.

Ali defeated Frazier in a 1974 rematch, and then became the heavyweight champion of the world after defeating George Foreman in a Zaire, Africa fight dubbed the Rumble in the Jungle.

That would be followed by what is generally regarded as one of the greatest boxing matches of all time, the Thrilla in Manila in which Ali knocked out Frazier in the 15th round.

Fighting until 1980, Ali retired only to be diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a year later. Still, he remained one of the most colourful entertainers on the planet, weighing in on conflicts in Lebanon and Iraq in the '80s and '90s, and lighting the Olympic torch in Atlanta in 1996. He would also meet with the biggest leaders in the world, from popes to presidents to royalty across the globe.

In recent years Ali appeared increasingly frail thanks to his advancing Parkinsons. There was a near-death rush the hospital in 2013. And when Ali did appear in public, he was largely unable to speak.

That did nothing to diminish public opinion of him as the Greatest. 

Ali leaves behind nine children, as well as his wife, Yolanda "Lonnie" Williams, who he married in 1986.