Which boxer won Olympic light heavyweight gold in 1960 under the name Cassius Clay? Muhammad Ali did so as Cassius Clay.
Clay won the gold medal at the Rome Olympics after defeating Poland’s Zbigniew Pietrzykowski in the light heavyweight final on September 5, 1960. The event was contested by 19 boxers from 19 nations, with two bronze medals awarded to the semifinal losers.
The victory came before Clay became a professional. He made his professional debut later that year, defeating Tunney Hunsaker in Louisville on October 29. He adopted the name Muhammad Ali in 1964 after winning the world heavyweight championship, so historical records often use Cassius Clay for his early amateur career.
A common mix-up is confusing his Olympic division with heavyweight: Ali later became a heavyweight champion, but his 1960 Olympic title was at light heavyweight, then limited to 81 kilograms.