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Meet Muhammad Ali, who’s heading to box in the Olympics (really)

Muhammad Ali, 20, will represent the United Kingdom in the 2016 Olympics. (Getty)
Muhammad Ali, 20, will represent the United Kingdom in the 2016 Olympics. (Getty)

Muhammad Ali is a promising, young boxer hoping to make a name for himself on the grand stage of the Olympics. No, the year isn’t 1960. Great Britain has an Ali of its own prepping to compete in the flyweight division in Rio de Janeiro.

“I get asked about it all the time,” Ali told the Irish Mirror of his famous name. “I won’t say it’s been an advantage, but people do say, ‘Who is this?’”

But unlike “The Greatest,” who won the gold medal in the light heavyweight division in the 1960 Olympics and reigned over the heavyweight division for much of his professional career, the 20-year-old British amateur is just 5 feet, 6 inches tall and 115 pounds.

[Related: A by-the-numbers look at Team USA]

Here are five things to know about the man with the name of one of the United States’ most iconic athletes:

1. Yes, Ali was named after the legendary American boxer – his father is an avid boxing fan and taxi driver – but that wasn’t the athlete he looked up to and emulated.

“I started boxing because of Amir Khan, I remember watching him at the 2004 Olympics,” Ali told BBC.

Khan, a 30-year-old British boxer, earned a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and has a 31-4 record as a professional, earning some championship belts along the way. Ali said he has a personal relationship with Khan who has given him “loads of advice.”

2. While he’s an amateur, Ali isn’t lacking in experience. He already has a few impressive accomplishments, including a gold medal at the European Youth Championships and a silver in the 2015 European Championships.

He also won the 2016 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in April, avenging his 2015 loss to Daniel Asenov of Bulgaria along the way.

3. Ali told the Irish Mirror that he considered quitting boxing at age 14 after his brother, Danish, suffered a brain injury in a fight.

“He had a serious head injury, the leaking of a blood vessel on his brain,” Ali said. “He was really good as well, he could have been coming to the Olympics with me.”

His brother has since recovered from the injury, but is no longer a boxer.

[Related: The Olympic families of Team USA]

4. Unlike the Louisville Lip, Ali doesn’t care to play mind games in the ring like the man he’s named after.

“Ali was a master of that,” the 20-year-old told the Irish Mirror. “He loved to talk didn’t he? I am a bit quieter, not as outgoing, I would love to be but it is just not me.”

5. Boxing will be a bit different in the 2016 Olympics with professional boxers allowed to fight among the amateurs and no head gear for male boxers. Ali won’t be facing a Floyd Mayweather or any other professional in Rio, though. Just three outright professionals will compete in the Summer Games and none are in the flyweight division.

In addition to Ali, other favorites for the gold at flyweight are Yosvany Veitia of Cuba and Elvin Mamishzade of Azerbaijan.