1960s Timeline

Mar. 23, 1964 - The New York State Athletic Commission, in opposition to a move underway in the World Boxing Association, said today it...

Mar. 22, 1964 - The World Boxing Association began immediate steps today to take the world’s heavyweight championship title away from...

Mar. 21, 1964 - Floyd Patterson thinks he can beat Cassius Clay. “I’m faster and can hit harder than Clay,” Patterson said at his camp in...

Mar. 20, 1964 - Heavyweight champion Cassius Clay, rejected today by the U.S. Army, said he hopes to fight again within three months and...

Mar. 18, 1964 - Heavyweight champion Cassius Clay was reported today to have failed the arithmetic section of a Selective Service...

Mar. 16, 1964 - Cassius Clay’s manager, Bill Faversham (right with Angelo Dundee), rejected today a proposed winner-take-all heavyweight...

Mar. 14, 1964 - Cassius Clay arrived in Chicago last night for a meeting with “my honorable teacher, the honorable Elijah Muhammad,”...

Mar. 13, 1964 - A drowsy Cassius Clay sprawled on a living room sofa of his home in Louisville this afternoon. The heavyweight champ...

Mar. 13, 1964 - “A real champion doesn’t quit sitting on his pants in his corner,” Jack Dempsey said today. He was talking about Sonny...

Mar. 12, 1964 - Doug Jones of New York, recently rated No. 1 challenger for Cassius Clay’s heavyweight championship, today started...

Mar. 8, 1964 - A subdued Cassius Clay returned home to Louisville yesterday, and a crowd of 400 greeted him at Standiford Field....

Mar. 7, 1964 - Former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson offered today to fight for free against new champion Cassius Clay in order to...

Mar. 6, 1964 - The new heavyweight boxing champion confirmed today that he was changing his name to “Cassius X Clay” to conform with...

Mar. 4, 1964 - Cassius Clay told African and Asian delegates to the United Nations today that he “couldn’t wait” to visit their...

Mar. 3, 1964 - Cassius Clay, the world heavyweight champion, spent two hours in a Columbia Records studio at 799 Seventh Avenue today...

Mar. 1, 1964 - Cassius Marcellus Clay, heavyweight champion of the world, paid a surprise visit to Harlem this afternoon. After...

Nov. 8, 1963 - Cassius Clay, who is signed for a heavyweight title fight with Sonny Liston, has been ordered to report for a selective...

Aug. 10, 1963 - Joe Louis (right with Sonny Liston) has put Cassius Clay in his place — third place among the heavyweight contenders. The...

Aug. 6, 1963 - Heavyweight champion Sonny Liston has postponed until “sometime next year” his proposed September Philadelphia title...

July 31, 1963 - The self-proclaimed greatest, prettiest, and most colorful fighter in the world, Cassius Clay, will cut his first...