Muhammad Ali -- Obama Praises The Greatest

Muhammad Ali was an inspiration, a hero, to President Obama ... who praised the champ as the man "who fought for what was right."

The President

Ali ... quoting the champ who once said, "I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me -- black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me."

Obama knew Ali and displayed a coveted pair of gloves in the study outside the Oval Office, right under the iconic pic of then Cassius Clay knocking out Sonny Liston.