As an amateur, Ali won a gold medal at the Olympic in the light heavyweight division gold medal. Asa professional, he became the only man to have won the linear heavyweight championship three times. There is no consensus among boxing experts and historians as to who is the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. Ring Magazine, a prominent boxing magazine, named Muhammad Ali as number 1 in a 1998 ranking of greatest heavyweights from all eras.

Muhammad Ali defeated almost every top heavyweight in his era, which has been called the golden age of heavyweight boxing. Ali was named "Fighter of the Year" by Ring Magazine more times than any other fighter, and was involved in more Ring Magazine "Fight of the Year" bouts than any other fighter. He is an inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and holds wins over seven other Hall of Fame inductees.

Ali is also one of only three boxers to be named "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated. He is regarded as one of the best pound for pound boxers in history. He was a masterful self-promoter, and his psychological tactics before, during, and after fights became legendary. It was his athleticism and boxing skill, however, that enabled him to scale the heights and sustain his position for so many years.

In 1978, three years before Ali's permanent retirement, the Board of Aldermen in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky voted to rename Walnut Street to Muhammad Ali Boulevard.

Ali received a Spirit of America Award calling him the most recognized American in the world. In 1996, he had the honor of lighting the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the recipient of the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

As a world champion boxer and social activist, Ali has been the subject of numerous books, films and other creative works. He has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated oover 36 times, second only to Michael Jordan. His autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story, written with Richard Durham, was published in 1975. When We Were Kings, a 1996 documentary about the Rumble in the Jungle, won an Academy Award.