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This Day in Black History: April 28, 1967

Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight boxing championship after refusing to be inducted into the U.S. Army.

On this day in 1967, boxing legend Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight championship title after he refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

 

Born Cassius Clay, Ali converted to Islam in 1964 and cited religious reasons for not enlisting. In June 1967, he was convicted of draft evasion and was fined $10,000. Ali was also banned from boxing for three years and sentenced to five years in prison, a sentence that was later overturned. Ali returned to the ring on October 26, 1970, knocking out Jerry Quarry in Atlanta in the third round.

 

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(Photo: EMPICS/Landov)

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