The legendary boxer Muhammad Ali once described his "toughest fight" not as a bout in the ring, but as his marriage to his first wife, Sonji Roi. Their story is a captivating chapter of love, fame, and irreconcilable differences that unfolded in the mid-1960s.
The Whirlwind Romance of a Champion
Their meeting was as swift as Ali's famous jab. Introduced by Ali's manager, Herbert Muhammad, on July 3, 1964, the connection was immediate. Sonji Roi, then a model and cocktail waitress, recounted that the world heavyweight champion—still known as Cassius Clay—proposed to her on their very first date.
Defying all conventions, they secured a marriage license in Crown Point, Indiana, and wed in a private civil ceremony in Gary, Indiana, on August 14, 1964. This marked a stunning 41-day courtship from introduction to matrimony. The ceremony was closely guarded, with Ali warning reporters to keep their distance.
Clash of Beliefs: Islam vs. Personal Freedom
The core conflict that doomed the marriage was a profound divergence in beliefs. By 1964, Ali had fully embraced the Nation of Islam and its strict doctrines. He expected his wife to adopt the faith, including its modest dress code for women.
Sonji, however, cherished her independence. Although she claimed she tried to adapt—keeping dietary laws and quitting smoking and drinking—she refused to wear the prescribed ankle-length dresses. "I'm normal like other women. I don't like to wear that stuff," she later stated. Ali's annulment suit, filed in June 1965, argued he would never have married her had she not promised to convert.
The Inevitable Split and Sonji Roi's Life After Ali
The marriage was legally dissolved on January 20, 1966. In the settlement, Sonji Roi was awarded $172,000, along with alimony and attorney fees. She later remarried Chicago attorney Reynaldo Preston Glover and had children.
Beyond being Ali's first wife, Sonji was an accomplished artist in her own right. As a jazz vocalist, she recorded singles like "Until I See My Baby's Face" and "Here I Am & Here I'll Stay," managed by industry great George Treadwell. Her life was later portrayed by Jada Pinkett Smith in the 2001 film Ali.
Sonji Roi Glover passed away from natural causes, believed to be a heart attack, in her Chicago home on October 11, 2005, at age 59. Her story remains a poignant tale of a fiery, brief union between a global icon and a woman who stood her ground, a personal battle that even the Greatest could not win.
