Muhammad Ali

About Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016), originally Cassius Clay, is recognized by the Pantheon project as the #87 most historically important figure globally, a ranking driven by his status as one of the most influential and consequential athletes and cultural figures of the 20th century. His career transcended boxing; he was a vocal social activist who famously refused induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War on religious and moral grounds, leading to the stripping of his titles and a lengthy ban from the sport. This combination of unparalleled athletic achievement and profound socio-political impact secures his high historical placement.

In 2025, Ali garnered an annualized 4.3 million Wikipedia pageviews, placing him in a state of relative overattention according to our Attention Gap metric, which registers a +7x surplus relative to his HPI rank. For comparison, this is less than a quarter of the attention received by Elon Musk (#273 importance, 26.4M views), who is ranked significantly lower in historical importance. Conversely, figures like Immanuel Kant (#52 importance) receive substantially less traffic than Ali, suggesting the digital sphere prioritizes contemporary cultural iconography over deep historical influence in this specific comparison.

Looking at recent trends, Ali's online presence is showing a contraction, with Wikipedia views declining by 27.4% year-over-year in 2025. Furthermore, momentum data indicates a further 15% drop in interest between Q1 and Q3 of the year, suggesting that the visibility of this monumental figure is actively waning on modern platforms.