When he got to Miami, he was Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. And when he left, he was Muhammad Ali.
It was in 1964 at the Miami Beach Convention Hall where the young boxer sent a message to Sonny Liston.
His words will ring in history for many athletes to come.
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. I am the champ. You the chump," he said. "Round 8 to prove I am great."
During segregation, Ali used to run from Miami's Overtown to the Fifth Street Gym, now in Alton Road, in Miami Beach, which was a "whites only" zone.
"He was the first guy in the gym" trainer Angelo Dundee said. And he was the "last guy to leave."
After living at the Mary Elizabeth motel and the former Sir John motel in Overtown, Ali moved to a three-bedroom home near Liberty City in 1963.
Elijah Muhammad, of The Nation of Islam, captured the boxer's attention. Ali invited Malcom X to Miami's historic Hampton House motel in Brownsville.
"He was born in Louisville but molded in Miami," The Miami Herald's Linda Robertson said in a column to honor his memory. "He won the heavyweight championship here. He announced his conversion to Islam and changed his name to Ali here. He declared his opposition to the Vietnam War here."
He was a regular at Mosque No. 29, now the Masjid Al-Ansar, 5245 NW 7th Ave., where many remembered him on Saturday.
Watch Local 10 News' Will Manso's obituary honoring the memory of "The Great."
