Editing Muhammad Ali (section)

==Amateur career==
[[File:JoeEMartinCassiusClay1960.jpg|left|thumb|Cassius Clay and his trainer [[Joe E. Martin]], January 1960]]
[[File:Zbigniew Pietrzykowski and Muhammad Ali 1960.jpg|thumb|upright|Clay defeated veteran Pole [[Zbigniew Pietrzykowski]] to win gold in the [[1960 Summer Olympics]].]]
Clay was first directed toward boxing by Louisville police officer and boxing coach [[Joe E. Martin]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.articleclick.com/Article/Boxing-Legend---Muhammad-Ali/938509 |title=Boxing Legend – Muhammad Ali |last=Kandel |first=Elmo |date=April 1, 2006 |work=Article Click |publisher=Elmo Kandel |access-date=March 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611174640/http://www.articleclick.com/Article/Boxing-Legend---Muhammad-Ali/938509 |archive-date=June 11, 2008}}</ref> who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over a thief having taken his bicycle. He told the officer he was going to "whup" the thief. The officer told Clay he had better learn how to box first.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=May 20, 2008 |url=http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring05/Shaffer/clay.html |title=Muhammad Ali |website=[[University of Florida]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531151410/http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring05/Shaffer/clay.html|archive-date=May 31, 2008}}</ref> Initially, Clay did not take up Martin's offer, but after seeing amateur boxers on a local television boxing program called ''Tomorrow's Champions'', Clay was interested in the prospect of fighting.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey |date=2013 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=18}}</ref> He then began to work with trainer Fred Stoner, whom he credits with giving him the "real training", eventually molding "my style, my stamina and my system". For the last four years of Clay's amateur career he was trained by boxing [[cutman]] [[Chuck Bodak]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ringtalk.com.lhost9.atlantic.net/index.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=1553 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414160235/http://ringtalk.com.lhost9.atlantic.net/index.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=1553 |archive-date=April 14, 2015 |title='Godfather' Of Cutmen-Chuck Bodak Suffers Stroke |website=RingTalk |access-date=April 14, 2015 |date=September 2, 2007 |author=Fernandez, Pedro Fernandez}}</ref>

Clay made his amateur boxing debut in 1954 against local amateur boxer Ronnie O'Keefe. He won by split decision.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Gray |first=Geoffey |url=https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/how-muhammad-ali-became-a-boxer.html |title=How Muhammad Ali Became a Boxer – Daily Intelligencer |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |date=June 4, 2016 |access-date=June 26, 2016 |archive-date=June 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609200130/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/how-muhammad-ali-became-a-boxer.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He went on to win six Kentucky [[Golden Gloves]] titles, two Chicago Golden Gloves, two national Golden Gloves titles, two [[Amateur Athletic Union]] national titles, the [[United States Olympic trials|U.S. Olympic Trials]], and the [[light heavyweight]] gold medal in the [[Boxing at the 1960 Summer Olympics|1960 Summer Olympics]] in Rome.<ref name="Ward">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/5/2006_5_48.shtml |first=Nathan |last=Ward |title=A Total Eclipse of the Sonny |magazine=[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]] |date=October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070111061103/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/5/2006_5_48.shtml |archive-date=January 11, 2007}}</ref> Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses. In his 1975 autobiography he recalled that shortly after his return from the Rome Olympics, he threw his gold medal into the [[Ohio River]] after he and a friend were refused service at a "whites-only" restaurant and fought with a white gang. The story was later disputed, and several of his friends, including [[Drew Bundini Brown|Bundini Brown]] and photographer [[Howard Bingham]], denied it. Brown told ''Sports Illustrated'' writer Mark Kram, "[[Honkies]] sure bought into that one!" [[Thomas Hauser]]'s biography of Ali stated that Ali was refused service at the diner but that he lost his medal a year after he won it.<ref name="Hauser 2004">{{Harvnb|Hauser|2004}}</ref> Ali received a replacement medal at the [[Georgia Dome]] during the [[1996 Summer Olympics|1996 Olympics in Atlanta]], where he lit the torch to start the Games.