CNN Sports | How Muhammad Ali stayed true to himself on his path to becoming an icon

(CNN) – Muhammad Ali scoops up his baby daughter Maryum and explains a concept that she couldn’t possibly understand at such a tender young age: “Your daddy is fighting for you,” he is reported as saying in 1968. “Someday, you’re going to be able to walk with your head high and not beg for a job. And you don’t even know it.”

Between 1960 and 1981, Ali fought 61 professional heavyweight bouts in a glittering career that made him a global icon, but arguably his biggest fights were outside of the ring. His remarkable life story is once again in the spotlight, the subject of “Muhammad Ali” — an expansive, four-part, eight-hour documentary by the renowned filmmaker Ken Burns, airing on PBS.  —read more—