Answer:
A. to downplay .
Step-by-step explanation:
The phrase "to soft-pedal" is basically used to mean something that is made to look or seem less important or appear lesser than it really is.
In the text A Defiant Muhammad Ali Was Cherished By Black Men, Karen Grigsby Bates writes how the famous boxer was stripped of his titles after he expressed his strong objection to some of the country's acts due to his religious beliefs. Paragraph 7 shows the sentence "Nor did he soft-pedal his conversion to Islam", for he strongly believes in his own religion and would "never apologized for his beliefs". The closest meaning for the phrase "soft-pedal" in this case will be that he did not downplay his conversion to Islam and was open about it.
Thus, the correct answer is option A.