The first answerers failed to understand the question. There is no doubt that Ali is enormously famous. But the Hollywood Walk of Fame does not normally honor sports figures, no matter how famous.
To get a star on the Walk of Fame, you need to be a star of the movies, the stage, television, radio or recording. Most of those on the Walk are actors, singers and other performers, but they also occasionally honor movie directors, producers, DJ's, and others whose contribution is more behind the scenes of Hollywood. Still, a boxer would not seem to qualify for the Walk.
I just checked to see what category they gave him, and I see that he was put in the "Live Performance" category, where they normally put stage actors. But if you don't include his boxing matches as performances (and it would seem that they can't, without also considering all other sport figures as performers), then to what live performances do they allude? His interviews? His occasional appearances as a sports commentator? His general personality?
It seems to me that they simply bent the rules. They wanted to give Ali a star on the Walk of Fame because of his great fame and the fact that his health was deteriorating, so even though he didn't really qualify for a star, under the usual standards, I think they just looked the other way and made an exception.
A)because he was the most famous man alive in the 70's
B)he was greatest sports personality of the 20th century as voted by the BBC and a loads of other media outlets
C)up until the 90's he was the most photographed man ever and some would say he still is
D)he's the greatest heavyweight champion of all time and arguably the greatest p4p fighter ever
if you actually have to be a movie or music star to be on the hollywood walk of fame then he ticks that box aswell.in the 70's he played himself in MUHAMMED ALI THE GREATEST which seems to have been a big movie at the time
other than that he has been the subject of many documentarys.most notably WHEN WE WERE KINGS which won an academy award.he was also played by Will Smith in the 2001 film ALI
As has already been said Muhammad Ali was and still is one of the most famous men in the world.
Interestingly he has acted and done some music, in the early 60's he released a cover of Ben E. King's Stand By Me and another song The gangs all here.
In his exile from boxing in 1969 he appeared in a Broadway musical Buck White. In 1977 he played himself in the film The Greatest and he played a former slave in the 1978 film Freedom Road.
So therefore while he wasn't exactly a music or film star he does have some credentials.
Because he deserves it.
Ali took boxing to another level,brought it to a wider audience. He wasn't just a boxer he was a showman,an entertainer a raconteur not to mention a man of principle.He was never off the television and not just as a boxer. Michael Parkinson reckoned he was his favourite star to interview.The other stars on Hollywood Walk Of Fame are fortunate to have the greatest amongst them.
There is some truth in what George is saying, but, then again, there are a lot of people who have no business with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, IMHO.
Ali was such an inspiration in and out the ring, he refused to join the army and go to Vietnam even tho they said they will take his belts away and he would not be able to box
He is the most famous boxer ever...Inspired many people in all kinds of race...He is not just a star but a superstar...No doubt why...
I guess the walk of ''FAME'' kinda gives it away a little....?
Even my daughter know's who Ali is.... (She didn't know who Bill Clinton was though....??)
How can Muhammad Ali have a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame when he's not even a movie star or a music star?
