Biography
Rahaman Ali was born Rudolph Arnett Clay to Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. and Odessa Grady Clay in Louisville, Kentucky on July 18, 1943. He was soon renamed Rudolph Valentino Clay, after his father's favorite actor Rudolph Valentino. He was 18 months younger than his brother Cassius Jr., who would become Muhammad Ali. Muhammad started boxing in a Louisville amateur boxing league. While Muhammad went to the 1960 Olympics, Rahaman was not selected and remained amateur until February 25, 1964, the night his brother won his first world heavyweight title over Sonny Liston.
His professional career would last from 1964 to 1972. As a professional boxer, Rahaman Ali won 14 bouts, lost 3, and had one draw. In his career, he knocked out seven opponents and was himself knocked out once. He retired from professional boxing after back-to-back losses, the second of which saw him being knocked out by future Superman film series actor Jack O'Halloran in what would also be his only stoppage defeat.
After his career ended, Rahaman would travel and also train with Muhammad. He would later appear as himself in his brother's 1977 biopic The Greatest.
In 2014, Ali released his autobiography, That's Muhammad Ali's Brother! My Life on the Undercard, which was co-authored by H. Ron Brashear and the foreword written by Gene Kilroy, the longtime business manager of Muhammad Ali. In 2019, Rahaman released his second book titled My Brother, Muhammad Ali - The Definitive Biography. It was co-authored by Fiaz Rafiq, with the foreword written by NFL legend Jim Brown. In 2021, he appeared in the documentary Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali. The same year, he appeared in three episodes of his brother's documentary miniseries Muhammad Ali.
Rahaman Ali died on August 1, 2025, two weeks after his 82nd birthday. Ali's funeral was held on August 16, 2025, and involved a funeral procession where he made a stop at his childhood home before he had a Janazah funeral service, which is given for people of Muslim faith, at the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. Ali is buried at the Cave Hill Cemetery.
