• SHARE
Legacy Award

To honor Muhammad Ali, whose lifetime of achievement forever changed the world, SI is renaming its Legacy Award the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. The honor will celebrate individuals whose dedication to the ideals of sportsmanship has spanned decades and whose career in athletics has directly or indirectly impacted the world.

2018 Recipient: John Cena

THEARON W. HENDERSON/GETTY IMAGES

Sports Illustrated proudly honors John Cena as the 2018 Muhammad Ali Legacy Award winner.

“From his unparalleled work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to his support for a wide range of causes ranging from activism for military families to cancer research, John has made personal outreach and generosity of time and spirit his calling cards,” said Sports Illustrated Executive Editor Stephen Cannella. “He might just be the most charitable person in sports, and his dedication to philanthropy richly reflects the spirit of the Ali Legacy Award.” READ MORE

2017 recipient: Colin Kaepernick

2016 recipient: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown and Bill Russell

2015 recipient: Jack Nicklaus

2014 recipient: Magic Johnson

Photos by Stanley Weston/Getty Images and AP / Illustration by Nic Lanzillo (above) / Herb Scharfman for Sports Illustrated (below)

from The Vault

There is little doubt that Muhammad Ali is the most famous athlete in history. And at 73, he remains an inspirational force.

Over the years Ali has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated 39 times, a total topped only by Michael Jordan. Find all of The Greatest’s covers below and click through to find the accompanying SI cover story.

OCTOBER 5, 2015

The Legacy of The Greatest Still Grows

  • June 10, 1963 Cassius Invades Britain

  • FEBRUARY 24, 1964 My $1,000,000 Getaway

  • march 9, 1964 Cassius—His Fight and His Future

  • november 16, 1964 The Big Fight: Can Clay Do It Again?

  • may 24, 1965 Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston

  • june 7, 1965 The Fight You Didn’t See

  • november 22, 1965 The Big Fight: Clay vs. Patterson

  • april 11, 1966 Cassius Clay: The Man, the Muslim, the Mystery

  • FEBRUARY 6, 1967 The Big Fight: Clay vs. Terrell

  • july 10, 1967 The Scramble for Ali’s Title

  • may 5, 1969 Ali-Clay; the Once and Future King?

  • march 1, 1971 The Slugger and the Boxer

  • march 15, 1971 End of the Ali Legend

  • JULY 26, 1971 ‘The Future is a Mist’

  • april 23, 1973 The Jaw is Broken But the Mouth Lives On

  • february 4, 1974 Ali Again

  • october 28, 1974 The Fight in Africa: Foreman Ali

  • november 11, 1974 How Ali Fooled Them All

  • december 23, 1974 Muhammad Ali: Sportsman of the Year

  • september 15, 1975 Boxing’s New Barnum

  • October 13, 1975 The Epic Battle

  • march 1, 1976 Ali’s Road Show Rolls On

  • february 17, 1977 A Year in Sports

  • october 10, 1977 Ali’s Desperate Hour

  • september 25, 1978 The Champ Again

  • april 14, 1980 Look Who’s Back! Muhammad Ali (with mustache)

  • september 29, 1980 He’s No Liston. He’s No Frazier.

  • october 10, 1980 The Last Hurrah

  • april 25, 1988 The Man and His Entourage Today

  • november 15, 1989 35th Anniversary

  • January 13, 1992 Once and Forever

  • september 19, 1994 40th Anniversary Issue: 40 For the Ages

  • September 30, 1996 Battle of the Champions: Ali vs. Frazier

  • july 13, 1998 Who’s That Guy with Howard Bingham?

  • december 28. 1998 What’s the Best Sports Year Ever?

  • july 26, 1999 Century’s Greatest Sports Photos

  • november 29, 1999 Looking Back: A 20th Century Celebration

  • december 19, 2001 Sportsman of the Year: 1954–2001

His boast that he could “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” was true, of course. It was also a fresh and unforgettable phrase, an example of what made the fighter once known as the Louisville Lip not just The Greatest but also the most loquacious, eloquent and entertaining of all athletes. Here’s just a sampling from the almost endless Ali quotebook:

“I shook up the world!”
—After beating favored Sonny Liston to take the heavyweight title in 1964
“Nobody has to tell me that this is a serious business. I’m not fighting one man. I’m fighting a lot of men, showing a lot of ’em, here is one man they couldn’t defeat, couldn’t conquer. My mission is to bring freedom to 30 million black people.”
—Before his return to the ring in 1970 after a 3½-year exile
“I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong….No Vietcong ever called me n-----.”
—Explaining why he refused induction into the Army in 1967
“Will they ever have another fighter who writes poems, predicts rounds, beats everybody, makes people laugh, makes people cry and is as tall and extra pretty as me?”
—To biographer Thomas Hauser after retirement in 1981

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY

SI has photographed everything, but few shots measure up to the emotion and power of Neil Leifer’s Ali collection. Find a few photographs of Ali from the undisputed champ of boxing photography below.

Previous Next

Thrilla in Manila

"Everyone went to Manila just expecting this was going to be a great experience. How many times are you going to get to go to the Philippines to spend a week to 10 days in Manila. I was thrilled to be going, but I certainly didn’t expect a great fight. I expected an easy Ali win and it turned out to be anything but that." - Neil Leifer

SI Longform Neil Leifer: The Boxing Photos

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines, your California privacy rights, and ad choices.