On June 20, 1967, Muhammad Ali’s battle moved from the ring to the courtroom. Two months after refusing induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, the heavyweight champion was convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000, and banned from boxing during what should have been the peak years of his career.
Ali’s refusal had already cost him dearly. On April 28, 1967, he declined to enter the armed forces, citing his religious beliefs and famously saying he had “no quarrel” with the Vietcong. Almost immediately, boxing authorities stripped him of his heavyweight title. At just 25 years old, the most famous fighter in the world was pushed out of the sport not because someone beat him, but because he stood by a principle.
The conviction only deepened the storm around him. Ali was one of the most polarizing figures in America: admired by many, condemned by others, and watched by everyone. For three years, he was kept out of the ring while his legal case moved through appeals. Those lost years remain one of boxing’s biggest “what ifs” - Ali was undefeated, physically brilliant, and entering the prime of his athletic life.
He eventually returned in 1970, stopping Jerry Quarry in Atlanta, but the layoff had changed the trajectory of his career. In 1971, he suffered his first professional defeat against Joe Frazier in the “Fight of the Century.” Later that same year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction, clearing his name legally after years of punishment.
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