Editing Muhammad Ali (section)

===20th-century superlatives===
By the end of the 20th century, Ali had made it onto several [[list of superlatives|superlatives lists]] or otherwise was mentioned in superlative terms covering the century or a large portion thereof.

Ali was ranked at or near the top of most lists of the 20th century's greatest boxers.<ref>{{cite news |date=January 20, 2012 |title=Muhammad Ali |work=ESPN |url=https://www.espn.com/sports/boxing/topics/_/page/muhammad-ali |access-date=January 29, 2012}}</ref><ref name="ring">{{cite web |last=Donelson |first=Tom |date=July 14, 2008 |title=Was Ali the Greatest Heavyweight? |url=http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/was-ali-the-greatest-heavyweight/ |access-date=September 4, 2016 |publisher=Boxinginsider.com}}</ref><ref name="ap" /> He was crowned [[Sports Illustrated#Sportsman of the Century|Sportsman of the Century]] by ''[[Sports Illustrated]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/1999/12/02/awards |work=CNN|title=Sports Illustrated honors world's greatest athletes |date=December 3, 1999 |access-date=June 5, 2016 |archive-date=August 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819000437/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/1999/12/02/awards/ }}</ref> Named [[BBC Sports Personality of the Year#Sports Personality of the Century Award|BBC's Sports Personality of the Century]], he received more votes than the other five candidates combined.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/561352.stm |title=Ali crowned Sportsman of Century |date=December 13, 1999 |work=[[BBC Sport]] |access-date=June 6, 2016}}</ref><ref name="ring"/> The Associated Press ranked him as the second best boxer and best heavyweight of the 20th century.<ref name="ap">{{cite web |title=AP Fighters of the Century list |url=http://static.espn.go.com/boxing/news/1999/1208/221260.html |access-date=February 12, 2012}}</ref>  He was named Athlete of the Century by ''[[USA Today]]'', and ranked as the third [[SportsCentury#SportsCentury: SportsCentury: Top 50 American Athletes of the 20th Century (Original series)|greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN ''SportsCentury'']]. Ali was named "Kentucky Athlete of the Century" by the [[Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame]] in ceremonies at the [[Galt House|Galt House East]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Marc J. |last=Spears |title=Ali: The Greatest of 20th century; Show stops when the champ arrives for awards dinner |url=https://courier-journal.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-journal/170982349/ |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |date=September 14, 1999 |url-access=|pages= C1, [https://courier-journal.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-journal/170982360/ C6] }}</ref>

Ali was named one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century by [[Life magazine]] in 1990. In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Ali was tied with [[Babe Ruth]] as the most recognized athlete, out of over 800 dead or living athletes, in America. The study found that over 97% of Americans over 12 years of age identified both Ali and Ruth.<ref>Wilstein, Steve, Associated Press, [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1957&dat=19930517&id=XZYxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RuEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1249,4781703 "Retton, Hammill most popular American athletes in United States: poll"]; ''The Daily Gazette'', May 17, 1993.</ref> In 1999, he was one of three athletes, alongside [[Pelé]] and [[Jackie Robinson]], named in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's list of the [[Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century|100 Most Important People of the 20th Century]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Ali – Time 100 People of the Century |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,26473,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010211124411/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,26473,00.html |archive-date=February 11, 2001 |newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |first=Joshua |last=Quittner |date=June 14, 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=TIME 100 Persons of The Century |url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,26473,00.html |access-date=September 10, 2023 |magazine=Time |archive-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220085203/https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,26473,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>