Muhammad Ali took maybe the most memorable, notable stand of all athletes in history. Prior to Ali fighting Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship, the war was yet to escalate, and Ali had very slim chance of fighting in the war (Calamur). His chances of fighting grew even slimmer because he did poorly on the Armed Forces Qualifying test. He was forced to take another test to prove he did not fail the first one on purpose. He scored the same way on the second as he did the first, proving that he was mentally unfit for war. He scored in the 15th percentile on both tests, needing to score a 30th percentile to be eligible to fight in the war. Then, after fighting Liston and winning the heavyweight championship, the war escalated. America needed more draftees to fight, so they changed the passing percentile on the Armed Forces Qualifying test from a 30th percentile to a 15th percentile, making Ali and many others eligible for war (Westheider, 37-39). The problem for Muhammad was that soon after his fight against Liston, he converted to Islam. In fact, he even changed his name to better fit his new religion. Before converting to Islam he was known as Cassius Clay. Muhammad Ali is actually the Islamic name he converted to. The American Army wanted Ali to serve as a recruiter and to promote the war, but Ali said it was against his religion ("Muhammad Ali Refuses Army Induction"). He believed that fighting in a Christian war was just not right of him to do, and he even said that he had no "personal quarrel with those Vietcongs (Westheider, 40)."
After absolutely refusing his induction from the draft into the Vietnam War, Ali received lots of hatred and some harsh punishment. The boxer was sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000, suspended from boxing for three years, and stripped of his heavyweight championship title (history.com). Thankfully for Ali, after numerous long months he got his case appealed. His five year sentence was dropped, yet the boxer still had a three year suspension from fighting, lost his heavyweight title, and had to pay the $10,000 fine ("Muhammad Ali Refuses Army Induction").
Immediately after refusing induction into the Vietnam War, Muhammad Ali became the most hated man in America. People were outraged with his decision, yet he stood strong to what he believed in and did not accept induction from the draft. After getting his jail time appealed, Ali proved to people that even if nobody is on your side, if you truly fight for what you believe, not even the law can drag you down. His stand brought inspiration to many and also brought lots of attention to the topic he raised awareness on (Calamur).