popular heavyweight boxer who fought former champions Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali; earned $2.1 million as a top contender in the 1960s and 70s; fought Ali when he returned from his banishment from boxing on Oct. 26, 1970; suffered from "dementia pugilistica," a type of brain damage that resembles Alzheimer's disease and is caused by repeated blows to the head. He died of cardiac arrest after his family directed doctors to remove him from life support.
