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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:01:02,443 --> 00:01:04,709 MUHAMMAD ALI: You want some breakfast? 2 00:01:04,743 --> 00:01:08,043 GIRL: I want some cornflakes. 3 00:01:08,076 --> 00:01:10,409 ALI: Can I have some of your cornflakes? 4 00:01:10,443 --> 00:01:12,543 Oh, I don't want none. I won't take none. 5 00:01:12,576 --> 00:01:14,443 I won't take none. 6 00:01:14,476 --> 00:01:16,743 I won't eat none if you don't want me to. 7 00:01:16,776 --> 00:01:17,985 Ooh! Look at that pretty horsey. 8 00:01:18,009 --> 00:01:19,909 Where? Is that a white horse? 9 00:01:19,943 --> 00:01:22,243 See? No. Stand up, look over there. 10 00:01:22,276 --> 00:01:23,576 Stand up. You got to stand up. 11 00:01:23,609 --> 00:01:24,976 Over that building. 12 00:01:25,009 --> 00:01:26,843 See the big one? There he is. 13 00:01:31,076 --> 00:01:33,876 What? What's wrong? 14 00:01:33,909 --> 00:01:35,043 You ate my cornflakes! 15 00:01:35,076 --> 00:01:37,509 (crowd chanting, "ali!") 16 00:01:42,343 --> 00:01:44,909 WOMAN: My earliest memories that I can think of as a child 17 00:01:44,943 --> 00:01:48,176 with my father are walking through airports and being 18 00:01:48,209 --> 00:01:50,809 in crowds and feeling in my... the vibrations 19 00:01:50,843 --> 00:01:54,809 of people's clapping and shouts in my chest 20 00:01:54,843 --> 00:01:56,483 and just looking at my dad, you know, like 21 00:01:56,509 --> 00:01:58,976 "who is this person?" 22 00:01:59,009 --> 00:02:01,943 And it was all the time, anywhere we went. 23 00:02:01,976 --> 00:02:03,376 "You're the greatest. We love you." 24 00:02:03,409 --> 00:02:04,943 And the clapping and, "Muhammad." 25 00:02:04,976 --> 00:02:07,209 Ali bomaye. Ali bomaye. 26 00:02:07,243 --> 00:02:08,709 Ali bomaye. 27 00:02:08,743 --> 00:02:10,209 HANA: I loved feeling all the energy 28 00:02:10,243 --> 00:02:13,209 and the love that he felt. 29 00:02:13,243 --> 00:02:17,643 MAN: We now think of Muhammad Ali as this vulnerable guy 30 00:02:17,676 --> 00:02:19,476 lighting the torch in Atlanta, 31 00:02:19,509 --> 00:02:22,009 and everybody on the globe loves him. 32 00:02:22,043 --> 00:02:24,143 Black people like him, white people. 33 00:02:24,176 --> 00:02:28,043 He's a universal hero like... But almost in a religious way, 34 00:02:28,076 --> 00:02:30,243 like the Buddha, but when he was 35 00:02:30,276 --> 00:02:32,209 in the midst of his career and not just 36 00:02:32,243 --> 00:02:35,543 in the early bit, he was incredibly divisive. 37 00:02:35,576 --> 00:02:38,309 CASSIUS CLAY: Boo, yell, scream, throw peanuts, 38 00:02:38,343 --> 00:02:42,276 but whatever you do, pay to get in. 39 00:02:42,309 --> 00:02:44,376 REMNICK: People hated him whether it was 40 00:02:44,409 --> 00:02:47,043 along racial lines, class lines, Vietnam lines, 41 00:02:47,076 --> 00:02:49,043 political lines, religious lines, 42 00:02:49,076 --> 00:02:50,676 or they just couldn't stand him 43 00:02:50,709 --> 00:02:52,152 and people of course had the opposite, 44 00:02:52,176 --> 00:02:55,809 and this was "I loved him, loved him!" 45 00:02:55,843 --> 00:02:58,909 But you had an opinion about him. 46 00:02:58,943 --> 00:03:00,543 (bell rings) 47 00:03:00,576 --> 00:03:02,009 What's my name? What's my name? 48 00:03:02,043 --> 00:03:03,576 CLAY: I ain't scared of no battle. 49 00:03:03,609 --> 00:03:05,343 It's gonna take a good man to whoop me. 50 00:03:05,376 --> 00:03:06,552 You can look at me. I'm loaded with confidence. 51 00:03:06,576 --> 00:03:07,776 I can't be beat. 52 00:03:07,809 --> 00:03:09,209 I had 180 amateur fights, 53 00:03:09,243 --> 00:03:10,243 22 professional fights, 54 00:03:10,276 --> 00:03:11,876 and I'm pretty as a girl. 55 00:03:11,909 --> 00:03:13,609 Look how pretty I am. 56 00:03:13,643 --> 00:03:15,509 (laughter) 57 00:03:15,543 --> 00:03:17,876 My long, trim legs and my beautiful arms 58 00:03:17,909 --> 00:03:19,476 and my pretty nose and mouth. 59 00:03:19,509 --> 00:03:21,776 I know I'm pretty, man. I know I'm pretty. 60 00:03:21,809 --> 00:03:23,743 You don't have to tell me I'm pretty. 61 00:03:23,776 --> 00:03:25,243 I'm cocky. I'm proud. 62 00:03:25,276 --> 00:03:27,309 Never talk about who's gonna stop be. 63 00:03:27,343 --> 00:03:28,809 There ain't nobody gonna stop me. 64 00:03:28,843 --> 00:03:30,609 I say what a want to say. 65 00:03:30,643 --> 00:03:31,885 There ain't no more big niggas talking like this. 66 00:03:31,909 --> 00:03:33,443 (laughter) 67 00:03:33,476 --> 00:03:35,109 MAN: He was a pioneer, 68 00:03:35,143 --> 00:03:36,909 he was a revolutionary, 69 00:03:36,943 --> 00:03:39,343 he was a groundbreaker, 70 00:03:39,376 --> 00:03:43,243 a guy known simply as the greatest. 71 00:03:43,276 --> 00:03:45,543 I am the greatest. 72 00:03:45,576 --> 00:03:47,043 I've wrassled with alligators. 73 00:03:47,076 --> 00:03:48,976 I've tussled with a whale. 74 00:03:49,009 --> 00:03:52,109 I done handcuffed lightning and put thunder in jail. 75 00:03:52,143 --> 00:03:53,543 Well, you know I'm bad. 76 00:03:53,576 --> 00:03:56,209 Back off of me, man. Back off of me, man. 77 00:03:56,243 --> 00:03:59,576 ALI: I can drown a drink of water and kill a dead tree. 78 00:03:59,609 --> 00:04:01,609 This will be no contest. 79 00:04:01,643 --> 00:04:03,709 Wait till you see Muhammad Ali. 80 00:04:03,743 --> 00:04:05,176 ♫ Beyoncé's "Freedom" playing ♫ 81 00:04:05,209 --> 00:04:07,176 MAN: To have that chutzpah 82 00:04:07,209 --> 00:04:08,909 and to be a black man in America, 83 00:04:08,943 --> 00:04:11,443 it was just... it was... It was outlandish. 84 00:04:11,476 --> 00:04:13,176 ALI: Muhammad means worthy of all praises, 85 00:04:13,209 --> 00:04:15,309 and Ali means most high. 86 00:04:15,343 --> 00:04:18,176 I just don't think I should go 10,000 miles from here 87 00:04:18,209 --> 00:04:20,709 and shoot some black people that never called me nigger. 88 00:04:20,743 --> 00:04:22,276 I just can't shoot him. 89 00:04:22,309 --> 00:04:23,485 I was always wondered why miss America 90 00:04:23,509 --> 00:04:24,509 was always white, 91 00:04:24,543 --> 00:04:25,776 Santa Clause is white. 92 00:04:25,809 --> 00:04:27,676 White swan soap, king white soap, 93 00:04:27,709 --> 00:04:29,376 white cloud tissue paper, 94 00:04:29,409 --> 00:04:31,109 and everything bad was black. 95 00:04:31,143 --> 00:04:32,943 Black cat was the bad luck, 96 00:04:32,976 --> 00:04:35,776 and if I threaten you, I'm gonna blackmail you. 97 00:04:35,809 --> 00:04:37,643 (audience laughing) 98 00:04:37,676 --> 00:04:39,185 I said, "mama, why don't they call it whitemail? 99 00:04:39,209 --> 00:04:40,676 They lie, too." 100 00:04:40,709 --> 00:04:42,243 LARRY HOLMES: I loved being around him. 101 00:04:42,276 --> 00:04:45,343 I loved being around Muhammad Ali. 102 00:04:45,376 --> 00:04:48,309 You gonna float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. 103 00:04:48,343 --> 00:04:49,909 BOTH: Ahh! 104 00:04:49,943 --> 00:04:51,843 Rumble, young man, rumble. 105 00:04:51,876 --> 00:04:53,309 Ahh! 106 00:04:53,343 --> 00:04:54,783 ALI: The price of freedom comes high. 107 00:04:54,809 --> 00:04:57,209 I have paid, but I am free. 108 00:04:57,243 --> 00:04:58,809 Beyoncé: ♫ freedom, freedom ♫ 109 00:04:58,843 --> 00:05:00,043 ♫ I can't move ♫ 110 00:05:00,076 --> 00:05:01,843 ♫ freedom, cut me loose ♫ 111 00:05:01,876 --> 00:05:04,543 ANNOUNCER: The winner and still 112 00:05:04,576 --> 00:05:07,009 heavyweight champion of the world... 113 00:05:07,043 --> 00:05:10,976 ALI: I am the greatest fighter of all time. 114 00:05:11,009 --> 00:05:13,809 Of all time. 115 00:05:13,843 --> 00:05:15,343 Beyoncé: ♫ hey ♫ 116 00:05:15,376 --> 00:05:17,176 ♫ I'mma keep runnin' ♫ 117 00:05:15,500 --> 00:05:23,350 {\an8}Improved Captions by Sailor420 !!! Hope you enjoy the Mini-Series !!! 118 00:05:17,209 --> 00:05:20,076 ♫ 'cause a winner don't quit on themselves ♫ 119 00:05:25,976 --> 00:05:28,509 NARRATOR: He called himself "the greatest" 120 00:05:28,543 --> 00:05:31,943 and then proved it to the entire world. 121 00:05:31,976 --> 00:05:35,709 He was a master at what is called the "sweet science," 122 00:05:35,743 --> 00:05:40,343 the brutal and sometimes beautiful art of boxing. 123 00:05:40,376 --> 00:05:43,343 Heavyweight champion at just 22 years old, 124 00:05:43,376 --> 00:05:47,076 he wrote his own rules in the ring and in his life, 125 00:05:47,109 --> 00:05:50,843 infuriating his critics, baffling his opponents, 126 00:05:50,876 --> 00:05:54,676 and riveting millions of fans. 127 00:05:54,709 --> 00:05:56,843 At the height of the civil rights movement, 128 00:05:56,876 --> 00:05:59,276 he joined a separatist religious sect 129 00:05:59,309 --> 00:06:01,343 whose leader would, for a time, 130 00:06:01,376 --> 00:06:05,976 dominate both his personal life and his boxing career. 131 00:06:06,009 --> 00:06:08,943 He spoke his mind and stood on principle 132 00:06:08,976 --> 00:06:12,543 even when it cost him his livelihood. 133 00:06:12,576 --> 00:06:17,376 He redefined black manhood, yet belittled his greatest rival 134 00:06:17,409 --> 00:06:20,109 using the racist language of the Jim Crow south 135 00:06:20,143 --> 00:06:23,476 in which he had been raised. 136 00:06:23,509 --> 00:06:26,243 Banished for his beliefs, he returned to boxing 137 00:06:26,276 --> 00:06:30,343 an underdog, reclaimed his title twice, 138 00:06:30,376 --> 00:06:33,376 and became the most famous man on earth. 139 00:06:34,809 --> 00:06:37,576 He craved adulation his whole life, 140 00:06:37,609 --> 00:06:39,809 seeking crowds on street corners, 141 00:06:39,843 --> 00:06:43,609 in hotel lobbies, on airport tarmacs, 142 00:06:43,643 --> 00:06:45,643 everywhere he went, 143 00:06:45,676 --> 00:06:48,543 and reveled in the uninhibited joy 144 00:06:48,576 --> 00:06:52,243 he brought each adoring fan. 145 00:06:52,276 --> 00:06:56,343 He earned a massive fortune, spent it freely, 146 00:06:56,376 --> 00:06:59,776 and gave generously to family, friends, 147 00:06:59,809 --> 00:07:03,709 even strangers... anyone in need. 148 00:07:03,743 --> 00:07:06,176 "Service to others," he often said, 149 00:07:06,209 --> 00:07:11,376 "is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." 150 00:07:11,409 --> 00:07:14,009 Even after his body began to betray him 151 00:07:14,043 --> 00:07:18,876 and his brain had absorbed too many blows, he fought on, 152 00:07:18,909 --> 00:07:21,509 unable to go without the attention and drama 153 00:07:21,543 --> 00:07:23,876 that accompanied each bout. 154 00:07:25,209 --> 00:07:30,176 Later, slowed and silenced by a cruel and crippling disease, 155 00:07:30,209 --> 00:07:33,843 he found refuge in his faith, becoming a symbol 156 00:07:33,876 --> 00:07:38,143 of peace and hope on every continent. 157 00:07:38,176 --> 00:07:41,809 Muhammad Ali was, the novelist Norman mailer wrote, 158 00:07:41,843 --> 00:07:45,809 "the very spirit of the 20th century." 159 00:07:45,843 --> 00:07:48,209 ALI: I've always wanted to be one black one 160 00:07:48,243 --> 00:07:51,009 who got big on your white televisions, 161 00:07:51,043 --> 00:07:53,509 on your white newspapers, on your satellites, 162 00:07:53,543 --> 00:07:56,376 million-dollar checks, and still look you in your face 163 00:07:56,409 --> 00:08:00,309 and tell you the truth and 100% stay with and represent 164 00:08:00,343 --> 00:08:02,976 my people and not leave them and sell them out 165 00:08:03,009 --> 00:08:04,476 because I'm rich and stay with them. 166 00:08:04,509 --> 00:08:06,143 That was my purpose. 167 00:08:06,176 --> 00:08:07,876 I'm here, and I'm showing the world that 168 00:08:07,909 --> 00:08:11,143 you can be here and still free and stay yourself 169 00:08:11,176 --> 00:08:13,043 and get respect from the world. 170 00:08:13,076 --> 00:08:19,243 (bell rings) 171 00:08:19,276 --> 00:08:22,576 ♫ The Dixieland Jug Blowers' "Boodle-Am-Shake" playing ♫ 172 00:08:22,609 --> 00:08:30,609 ♫ ♫ 173 00:08:34,743 --> 00:08:38,609 NARRATOR: Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. 174 00:08:38,643 --> 00:08:44,309 At Louisville city hospital on January 17, 1942. 175 00:08:44,343 --> 00:08:46,909 ODESSA CLAY: He weighed about 6 pounds, 1 ounce, 176 00:08:46,943 --> 00:08:50,443 so I wouldn't call that a very large baby. 177 00:08:50,476 --> 00:08:53,909 He learned to talk before he was one years old, 178 00:08:53,943 --> 00:08:58,043 and he's always been a great talker. 179 00:08:58,076 --> 00:09:00,543 NARRATOR: His parents, Odessa Grady Clay 180 00:09:00,576 --> 00:09:04,843 and Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., had married in 1941 181 00:09:04,876 --> 00:09:08,776 and bought a tiny house at 3302 Grand Avenue 182 00:09:08,809 --> 00:09:12,176 in Louisville's west end, a black neighborhood 183 00:09:12,209 --> 00:09:16,109 that was home to working- and middle-class families. 184 00:09:16,143 --> 00:09:18,643 WOMAN: The west end had everything. 185 00:09:18,676 --> 00:09:22,009 We had our banks, we had our entrepreneurs, 186 00:09:22,043 --> 00:09:23,609 we had our newspaper. 187 00:09:23,643 --> 00:09:27,443 It was a community in which we were safe. 188 00:09:27,476 --> 00:09:31,643 I don't have a recollection of when I first met the Clays. 189 00:09:31,676 --> 00:09:35,276 It's almost as if you always knew them. 190 00:09:35,309 --> 00:09:38,476 Mrs. Clay, she loved everybody in the neighborhood. 191 00:09:38,509 --> 00:09:40,643 I mean, she was one of the ones that 192 00:09:40,676 --> 00:09:43,009 if anything happened you always knew 193 00:09:43,043 --> 00:09:45,443 that you could run over there. 194 00:09:45,476 --> 00:09:48,543 NARRATOR: Odessa cooked and cleaned for white families 195 00:09:48,576 --> 00:09:50,976 and attended mount Zion baptist church 196 00:09:51,009 --> 00:09:52,709 every Sunday. 197 00:09:52,743 --> 00:09:53,985 HANA: Momma bird, my grandmother, 198 00:09:54,009 --> 00:09:55,676 was very sweet, very quiet, 199 00:09:55,709 --> 00:09:58,209 and very pleasant, never spoke badly about anybody, 200 00:09:58,243 --> 00:10:00,276 very positive, spiritual woman. 201 00:10:00,309 --> 00:10:01,943 So outgoing and loving. 202 00:10:01,976 --> 00:10:05,576 WOMAN: She was kind, and she was just sincere, 203 00:10:05,609 --> 00:10:08,943 and my dad truly received his gentleness 204 00:10:08,976 --> 00:10:12,909 and his kindness from his mom, momma bird. 205 00:10:12,943 --> 00:10:14,976 NARRATOR: Young Cassius never sat still. 206 00:10:15,009 --> 00:10:17,109 He pulled the pots and pans from the cupboard 207 00:10:17,143 --> 00:10:19,509 to bang on them, chased the family's pet chicken 208 00:10:19,543 --> 00:10:22,743 around the yard, and stood up in his stroller 209 00:10:22,776 --> 00:10:24,676 to get a better view. 210 00:10:24,709 --> 00:10:27,343 RASHEDA: Even as a young boy, he just had 211 00:10:27,376 --> 00:10:29,976 this huge personality, and he was always laughing 212 00:10:30,009 --> 00:10:32,443 and smiling, always making other people laugh. 213 00:10:32,476 --> 00:10:34,319 And my grandmother, she was like, "this... this boy 214 00:10:34,343 --> 00:10:37,209 is gonna be something special." 215 00:10:37,243 --> 00:10:39,809 NARRATOR: 18 months after Cassius was born, 216 00:10:39,843 --> 00:10:42,043 Odessa gave birth to a second son, whom they named 217 00:10:42,076 --> 00:10:46,976 after the silent film star Rudolph Valentino. 218 00:10:47,009 --> 00:10:50,143 Cassius and Rudy were exceptionally close. 219 00:10:50,176 --> 00:10:53,009 When his brother misbehaved, Cassius would insist 220 00:10:53,043 --> 00:10:56,276 that Rudy was his baby and refuse to let 221 00:10:56,309 --> 00:10:59,976 their father spank him. 222 00:11:00,009 --> 00:11:03,043 Cassius Clay sr., an artist who earned a living 223 00:11:03,076 --> 00:11:05,709 as a sign-painter and muralist, had been named 224 00:11:05,743 --> 00:11:10,209 for a fiery 19th century white abolitionist. 225 00:11:10,243 --> 00:11:13,743 He loved to be noticed, often quoted from the Bible, 226 00:11:13,776 --> 00:11:17,509 and railed against racial injustice. 227 00:11:17,543 --> 00:11:20,643 "Cash," as he was called, was "a miniature volcano 228 00:11:20,676 --> 00:11:24,709 of a man," one observer said, boisterous and cocky. 229 00:11:24,743 --> 00:11:28,209 RASHEDA: Papa cash was charismatic, he was funny, 230 00:11:28,243 --> 00:11:31,809 he had the biggest personality. 231 00:11:31,843 --> 00:11:35,009 He lit up a room when he walked in. 232 00:11:35,043 --> 00:11:37,509 Everyone just wanted to talk to him, 233 00:11:37,543 --> 00:11:39,276 everyone wanted to know him. 234 00:11:39,309 --> 00:11:42,776 Our father could sing, dance, paint, draw, 235 00:11:42,809 --> 00:11:44,276 memorize poetry. 236 00:11:44,309 --> 00:11:46,776 My brother got his talent from our father. 237 00:11:46,809 --> 00:11:49,609 RASHEDA: My dad, he's certainly a combination of momma bird 238 00:11:49,643 --> 00:11:51,376 and papa cash for sure, 239 00:11:51,409 --> 00:11:55,376 but his charisma definitely came from papa cash. 240 00:11:55,409 --> 00:11:57,343 MAN: His father was a race man, 241 00:11:57,376 --> 00:12:00,043 and he believed that his career, like so many others', 242 00:12:00,076 --> 00:12:02,009 was held back by the color of his skin, 243 00:12:02,043 --> 00:12:05,009 and he believed that he was a brilliant painter, 244 00:12:05,043 --> 00:12:07,076 an artist, but he was relegated 245 00:12:07,109 --> 00:12:08,976 to painting signs in front of stores 246 00:12:09,009 --> 00:12:12,309 and painting church murals and scraping to make a living 247 00:12:12,343 --> 00:12:14,909 because he didn't have the same kind of opportunity 248 00:12:14,943 --> 00:12:17,109 that a white painter might have had. 249 00:12:17,143 --> 00:12:20,443 NARRATOR: Papa cash was also an unrepentant womanizer, 250 00:12:20,476 --> 00:12:22,709 who could be violent when drunk. 251 00:12:22,743 --> 00:12:25,543 He was arrested regularly for disorderly conduct 252 00:12:25,576 --> 00:12:27,243 and reckless driving. 253 00:12:27,276 --> 00:12:30,043 And he occasionally hit his wife, 254 00:12:30,076 --> 00:12:33,209 and there were police involved at times when she had to call 255 00:12:33,243 --> 00:12:35,376 to protect herself, 256 00:12:35,409 --> 00:12:37,476 and I think for the boys growing up, 257 00:12:37,509 --> 00:12:40,643 for Cassius and for Rudy, it was frightening environment 258 00:12:40,676 --> 00:12:42,843 at times to see their mother being threatened, 259 00:12:42,876 --> 00:12:45,343 and as they got older, they would step in 260 00:12:45,376 --> 00:12:47,276 and try to put a stop to it. 261 00:12:47,309 --> 00:12:49,809 NARRATOR: After one incident, police arrived 262 00:12:49,843 --> 00:12:52,309 at the Clay home to find young Cassius 263 00:12:52,343 --> 00:12:54,509 with a bloody gash on his leg. 264 00:12:54,543 --> 00:12:57,076 His father had cut him with a knife when he'd tried 265 00:12:57,109 --> 00:12:59,009 to protect his mother during an argument 266 00:12:59,043 --> 00:13:01,243 between his parents. 267 00:13:01,276 --> 00:13:04,309 The officers did nothing. 268 00:13:04,343 --> 00:13:06,576 Despite the violence, Cassius and Rudy 269 00:13:06,609 --> 00:13:10,709 would speak of their home life as peaceful and happy. 270 00:13:10,743 --> 00:13:17,209 ♫ ♫ 271 00:13:17,243 --> 00:13:19,219 HANA: My father, coming up, in the segregated south, 272 00:13:19,243 --> 00:13:23,143 in Louisville, Kentucky, had a difficult time. 273 00:13:23,176 --> 00:13:25,176 Momma bird taught him, you know, people are cruel 274 00:13:25,209 --> 00:13:27,443 in this world, but never, never, never, 275 00:13:27,476 --> 00:13:29,176 you know, become that. 276 00:13:29,209 --> 00:13:30,876 CHILDREN: I pledge allegiance to the flag 277 00:13:30,909 --> 00:13:33,543 of the united states of America. 278 00:13:33,576 --> 00:13:35,643 NARRATOR: The Louisville of Cassius Clay's youth 279 00:13:35,676 --> 00:13:38,676 was strictly segregated, and opportunities 280 00:13:38,709 --> 00:13:41,343 for African-Americans were limited. 281 00:13:41,376 --> 00:13:44,476 He attended all-black schools, could not eat 282 00:13:44,509 --> 00:13:47,509 at the lunch counters of downtown stores, 283 00:13:47,543 --> 00:13:49,976 and watched from the other side of the fence 284 00:13:50,009 --> 00:13:55,209 as white families enjoyed a nearby amusement park. 285 00:13:55,243 --> 00:13:57,976 EIG: Young Cassius Clay was aware very early 286 00:13:58,009 --> 00:13:59,743 of the differences between black and white 287 00:13:59,776 --> 00:14:02,243 and how differently he and his family were treated 288 00:14:02,276 --> 00:14:04,876 and would ask his father, "why can't I be rich?" 289 00:14:04,909 --> 00:14:07,543 And his father would just point to the color of his skin 290 00:14:07,576 --> 00:14:09,809 and say, "that's why you can't be rich." 291 00:14:09,843 --> 00:14:14,243 ♫ ♫ 292 00:14:14,276 --> 00:14:17,376 NARRATOR: In 1955, news of the brutal torture 293 00:14:17,409 --> 00:14:20,009 and murder of 14-year-old Emmett till 294 00:14:20,043 --> 00:14:23,243 by white men in Mississippi and graphic images 295 00:14:23,276 --> 00:14:26,009 in "jet" magazine of his mutilated face 296 00:14:26,043 --> 00:14:28,176 haunted Cassius Clay, 297 00:14:28,209 --> 00:14:32,009 who was just 6 months younger than till. 298 00:14:32,043 --> 00:14:34,119 HANA: That really affected like a lot of other people 299 00:14:34,143 --> 00:14:35,876 in that time. 300 00:14:35,909 --> 00:14:38,043 He saw himself in Emmett till and thought, "wow! 301 00:14:38,076 --> 00:14:39,743 "This outgoing kid from the city, 302 00:14:39,776 --> 00:14:41,519 "and he came, and he whistled at a pretty lady, 303 00:14:41,543 --> 00:14:42,885 "and now he's dead, and you can't even 304 00:14:42,909 --> 00:14:44,709 recognize his face." 305 00:14:47,409 --> 00:14:49,109 MAN: It was astonishing when we found out 306 00:14:49,143 --> 00:14:51,576 about Emmett till. 307 00:14:51,609 --> 00:14:54,543 His mother said, "leave the casket open," 308 00:14:54,576 --> 00:14:57,309 and you could see what, how they brutalized him, 309 00:14:57,343 --> 00:15:01,043 and so everybody saw that. 310 00:15:01,076 --> 00:15:03,343 It was really kind of scary for everybody 311 00:15:03,376 --> 00:15:06,043 in the community because if they could do that to him, 312 00:15:06,076 --> 00:15:09,276 what could they do to us? 313 00:15:09,309 --> 00:15:12,876 That's when young black guys started to change. 314 00:15:14,376 --> 00:15:18,909 ♫ ♫ 315 00:15:18,943 --> 00:15:20,843 NARRATOR: At the Virginia Avenue colored school, 316 00:15:20,876 --> 00:15:24,143 Cassius Clay had a hard time paying attention. 317 00:15:24,176 --> 00:15:25,843 EIG: He struggled with his classes. 318 00:15:25,876 --> 00:15:27,909 He struggled to read, he struggled with math. 319 00:15:27,943 --> 00:15:30,409 He was most certainly dyslexic. 320 00:15:30,443 --> 00:15:32,609 He found, like a lot of people who have trouble 321 00:15:32,643 --> 00:15:34,909 in school, that he had to compensate, 322 00:15:34,943 --> 00:15:38,143 and by being the class clown was the way he did that. 323 00:15:38,176 --> 00:15:40,309 He would carry a purse to school, 324 00:15:40,343 --> 00:15:42,809 he wore lipstick one day to get laughs. 325 00:15:42,843 --> 00:15:45,309 He was willing to do things that boys in the 1950s 326 00:15:45,343 --> 00:15:47,843 didn't often do. 327 00:15:47,876 --> 00:15:49,476 Even as a young man, people just loved 328 00:15:49,509 --> 00:15:51,009 to be around him. 329 00:15:51,043 --> 00:15:54,476 He made them feel good about themselves. 330 00:15:54,509 --> 00:15:57,176 NARRATOR: One day in October of 1954, 331 00:15:57,209 --> 00:15:59,443 12-year-old Cassius rode his bicycle 332 00:15:59,476 --> 00:16:01,209 into downtown Louisville, 333 00:16:01,243 --> 00:16:04,443 while Rudy sat on the handlebars. 334 00:16:04,476 --> 00:16:06,943 It began to rain, and the boys took cover 335 00:16:06,976 --> 00:16:10,076 in the Columbia auditorium, where a home appliance show 336 00:16:10,109 --> 00:16:13,176 was underway. 337 00:16:13,209 --> 00:16:15,543 After the rain stopped, they emerged to find that 338 00:16:15,576 --> 00:16:17,643 the bicycle was gone. 339 00:16:17,676 --> 00:16:20,809 He had a brand-new schwinn, a beautiful red bicycle 340 00:16:20,843 --> 00:16:23,309 that he shared with his brother, 341 00:16:23,343 --> 00:16:24,919 and he went running around looking for his bicycle 342 00:16:24,943 --> 00:16:26,709 and then ran back into the community center 343 00:16:26,743 --> 00:16:28,343 asking for help. 344 00:16:28,376 --> 00:16:29,585 Someone told him there was a police officer 345 00:16:29,609 --> 00:16:31,209 in the basement. 346 00:16:31,243 --> 00:16:35,576 ♫ ♫ 347 00:16:35,609 --> 00:16:37,643 MAN: He went down, and the cop in the basement 348 00:16:37,676 --> 00:16:41,809 was this Joe Martin, who was running a little boxing school. 349 00:16:41,843 --> 00:16:44,076 EIG: Cassius told the story years later that 350 00:16:44,109 --> 00:16:45,676 for a minute he forgot about his bike 351 00:16:45,709 --> 00:16:48,343 because the sight of this boxing gym, 352 00:16:48,376 --> 00:16:50,376 the smell of the leather and the sweat, 353 00:16:50,409 --> 00:16:52,676 and the excitement, the action of boys 354 00:16:52,709 --> 00:16:53,852 in a ring hitting each other, 355 00:16:53,876 --> 00:16:55,709 black and white, together. 356 00:16:55,743 --> 00:16:58,843 And he, you know, reported the crime, and "I'm gonna 357 00:16:58,876 --> 00:17:01,309 get the guy and I'm gonna," you know, "kill him." 358 00:17:01,343 --> 00:17:03,309 And Joe Martin said, "well, uh, do you know 359 00:17:03,343 --> 00:17:05,609 how to fight?" 360 00:17:05,643 --> 00:17:06,809 "Fight?" 361 00:17:06,843 --> 00:17:08,909 And that was the beginning. 362 00:17:08,943 --> 00:17:10,685 NARRATOR: Though his father was reluctant to let 363 00:17:10,709 --> 00:17:12,976 his son train with a white police officer, 364 00:17:13,009 --> 00:17:16,643 the lessons were free, and Cassius was eager to learn. 365 00:17:16,676 --> 00:17:20,309 At first, the young boxer did not impress Martin. 366 00:17:20,343 --> 00:17:22,943 "He was just ordinary," the trainer recalled, 367 00:17:22,976 --> 00:17:24,885 "and I doubt whether any scout would have thought 368 00:17:24,909 --> 00:17:26,809 much of him." 369 00:17:26,843 --> 00:17:28,952 EIG: Cassius didn't show any special talent right away, 370 00:17:28,976 --> 00:17:30,743 but he showed enormous passion. 371 00:17:30,776 --> 00:17:34,076 He knew instantly that this was what he wanted to do. 372 00:17:34,109 --> 00:17:35,752 Boxing was perfect for him because there's just 373 00:17:35,776 --> 00:17:38,709 two guys in the ring, and your eyes are always 374 00:17:38,743 --> 00:17:40,452 going to be drawn naturally to the one who's doing 375 00:17:40,476 --> 00:17:42,976 the most moving, who's doing the most punching, 376 00:17:43,009 --> 00:17:45,276 who's moving the fastest, and that was him, 377 00:17:45,309 --> 00:17:48,609 and he knew that he could get the most attention that way. 378 00:17:48,643 --> 00:17:51,976 NARRATOR: Just 6 weeks after he walked into Joe Martin's gym, 379 00:17:52,009 --> 00:17:55,443 Cassius Clay had his first amateur fight. 380 00:17:55,476 --> 00:17:57,943 I at that time was putting on a local television show 381 00:17:57,976 --> 00:18:00,543 here in Louisville, and I had amateur bouts 382 00:18:00,576 --> 00:18:03,676 every Saturday afternoon, and the first bout I put him in, 383 00:18:03,709 --> 00:18:06,176 he weighed 87 pounds. 384 00:18:06,209 --> 00:18:08,743 NARRATOR: After defeating 14-year-old Ronnie O'Keefe 385 00:18:08,776 --> 00:18:11,476 in a split decision, Clay immediately announced 386 00:18:11,509 --> 00:18:14,309 to everyone that one day he would be called 387 00:18:14,343 --> 00:18:17,043 "the greatest of all time." 388 00:18:17,076 --> 00:18:18,743 MAN: He was always been a little braggart, 389 00:18:18,776 --> 00:18:20,052 "I'm the greatest" and all that, before he even got 390 00:18:20,076 --> 00:18:21,876 to be the greatest. 391 00:18:21,909 --> 00:18:25,009 We'd say, "oh, shut up. You're just running your mouth." 392 00:18:25,043 --> 00:18:27,276 But as he got better and better, 393 00:18:27,309 --> 00:18:29,543 we had more respect for him. 394 00:18:29,576 --> 00:18:31,976 EIG: He believes in himself before there's any reason to, 395 00:18:32,009 --> 00:18:33,185 before anyone else is telling him that he 396 00:18:33,209 --> 00:18:35,176 might even have talent. 397 00:18:35,209 --> 00:18:38,043 It's so preposterous. 398 00:18:38,076 --> 00:18:40,043 NARRATOR: Cassius threw himself into training, 399 00:18:40,076 --> 00:18:42,976 determined to add muscle to his slender frame. 400 00:18:43,009 --> 00:18:46,543 He stopped drinking soda pop and substituted garlic water, 401 00:18:46,576 --> 00:18:49,143 which he believed would keep his blood pressure down. 402 00:18:49,176 --> 00:18:50,676 (bell rings) 403 00:18:50,709 --> 00:18:52,443 ANNOUNCER: Cassius Clay of Louisville 404 00:18:52,476 --> 00:18:54,043 in the trunks with the white stripes, 405 00:18:54,076 --> 00:18:57,243 meets Jefferson Davis of Mobile, Alabama. 406 00:18:57,276 --> 00:19:00,476 NARRATOR: Clay realized early that he was unusually quick 407 00:19:00,509 --> 00:19:03,809 and agile, able to avoid punches by leaning back 408 00:19:03,843 --> 00:19:06,243 rather than ducking or slipping side to side 409 00:19:06,276 --> 00:19:09,043 as boxers were instructed to do. 410 00:19:09,076 --> 00:19:10,609 (bell rings) 411 00:19:10,643 --> 00:19:11,652 ANNOUNCER: It's Cassius Clay the winner 412 00:19:11,676 --> 00:19:13,109 over Jefferson Davis. 413 00:19:16,509 --> 00:19:19,143 NARRATOR: Some nights, Clay went from Martin's gym 414 00:19:19,176 --> 00:19:22,476 to the grace community center across town, where he continued 415 00:19:22,509 --> 00:19:25,743 his boxing education under Fred Stoner, 416 00:19:25,776 --> 00:19:29,376 a veteran trainer who had guided many local amateurs to success 417 00:19:29,409 --> 00:19:31,876 at the golden gloves. 418 00:19:31,909 --> 00:19:34,943 Away from the gym, he sought boxing wisdom 419 00:19:34,976 --> 00:19:37,609 wherever he could find it. 420 00:19:37,643 --> 00:19:41,409 When the well-known trainer Angelo dundee came to town, 421 00:19:41,443 --> 00:19:44,176 Cassius peppered him with questions. 422 00:19:44,209 --> 00:19:46,843 Dundee was impressed by the teenager's determination 423 00:19:46,876 --> 00:19:49,009 and ambition. 424 00:19:49,043 --> 00:19:50,785 DUNDEE: He wanted to find out how fighters train, 425 00:19:50,809 --> 00:19:53,743 the business about, uh, diet, and everything else. 426 00:19:53,776 --> 00:19:56,709 And he was very, very curious at that time. 427 00:19:56,743 --> 00:19:58,943 NARRATOR: Before each fight, Cassius Clay would go 428 00:19:58,976 --> 00:20:01,443 door to door across Louisville, introducing 429 00:20:01,476 --> 00:20:04,709 himself to white and black residents alike. 430 00:20:04,743 --> 00:20:06,976 MAN: His strategy was to sell tickets, 431 00:20:07,009 --> 00:20:09,709 and any way I could entertain and sell tickets, 432 00:20:09,743 --> 00:20:11,776 this is what I'm going to do, 433 00:20:11,809 --> 00:20:13,209 and that's what he did. 434 00:20:13,243 --> 00:20:15,743 He did a real good job at that. 435 00:20:15,776 --> 00:20:17,943 NARRATOR: Clay was often absent from high school, 436 00:20:17,976 --> 00:20:20,476 competing in amateur tournaments. 437 00:20:20,509 --> 00:20:23,643 When he did attend class, he sketched boxing gloves 438 00:20:23,676 --> 00:20:26,043 and letter jackets stitched 439 00:20:26,076 --> 00:20:28,543 with "national golden gloves champion" in his notebook 440 00:20:28,576 --> 00:20:31,809 and offered to sign autographs for his classmates. 441 00:20:35,276 --> 00:20:37,609 Bet my classmates that I would beat them to school. 442 00:20:37,643 --> 00:20:40,176 They would ride the bus. 443 00:20:40,209 --> 00:20:42,176 BENDER: He would run up Chestnut street 444 00:20:42,209 --> 00:20:46,909 with the local transit bus just to get himself conditioned 445 00:20:46,943 --> 00:20:48,676 and then run from Chestnut street 446 00:20:48,709 --> 00:20:52,843 to all the way over to Broadway and come back, 447 00:20:52,876 --> 00:20:54,943 and he would sometimes stop to look to see 448 00:20:54,976 --> 00:20:56,585 if there were ladies in there or whatever, 449 00:20:56,609 --> 00:21:00,076 something like that, and keep on running. 450 00:21:00,109 --> 00:21:02,309 ALI: The bus might get a block or two lead on me. 451 00:21:02,343 --> 00:21:04,343 I would always catch up to it when it stopped 452 00:21:04,376 --> 00:21:06,509 for passengers or stopped for a red light 453 00:21:06,543 --> 00:21:08,143 or something. 454 00:21:08,176 --> 00:21:09,685 BENDER: It was funny. It was really funny, 455 00:21:09,709 --> 00:21:12,676 and he'd wave, wave, "I'm going on." 456 00:21:12,709 --> 00:21:13,819 They'd say, "he's a strange person. 457 00:21:13,843 --> 00:21:16,876 Why's he running with us?" 458 00:21:16,909 --> 00:21:19,209 NARRATOR: In February of 1958, 459 00:21:19,243 --> 00:21:21,376 a month after his 16th birthday, 460 00:21:21,409 --> 00:21:23,176 Clay traveled with Joe Martin 461 00:21:23,209 --> 00:21:25,443 and a group of Louisville hopefuls to Chicago 462 00:21:25,476 --> 00:21:28,276 for the golden gloves tournament of champions. 463 00:21:28,309 --> 00:21:31,743 It was his first national competition. 464 00:21:31,776 --> 00:21:35,743 He lost in the quarter finals. 465 00:21:35,776 --> 00:21:38,643 One year later, taller and heavier, 466 00:21:38,676 --> 00:21:40,643 he made it to the tournament finals, 467 00:21:40,676 --> 00:21:44,676 where he defeated 29-year-old Australian-born Tony Madigan, 468 00:21:44,709 --> 00:21:48,743 a two-time olympian, who was favored to win. 469 00:21:48,776 --> 00:21:50,843 NARRATOR: The decision was unanimous. 470 00:21:50,876 --> 00:21:52,909 "I couldn't stick him," Madigan said. 471 00:21:52,943 --> 00:21:55,276 "He would always just pull out of range... 472 00:21:55,309 --> 00:21:57,409 Sort of vanish into thin air." 473 00:21:59,576 --> 00:22:02,343 Cassius Clay was now a golden gloves 474 00:22:02,376 --> 00:22:05,843 light heavyweight champion. 475 00:22:05,876 --> 00:22:08,109 A win at the national olympic trials 476 00:22:08,143 --> 00:22:11,343 in San Francisco would earn him a spot on the team headed 477 00:22:11,376 --> 00:22:14,709 for the 1960 Rome Olympics, 478 00:22:14,743 --> 00:22:16,876 but there was a problem. 479 00:22:16,909 --> 00:22:19,209 He was afraid of flying, 480 00:22:19,243 --> 00:22:22,509 so afraid that he considered turning professional 481 00:22:22,543 --> 00:22:25,943 rather than compete for a chance to go to Italy. 482 00:22:25,976 --> 00:22:28,509 He hated flying. He was scared to death of airplanes. 483 00:22:28,543 --> 00:22:30,343 He actually flew to the olympic trials 484 00:22:30,376 --> 00:22:32,543 with a parachute that he bought at an Army-Navy store 485 00:22:32,576 --> 00:22:34,343 that he wore on the plane. 486 00:22:34,376 --> 00:22:42,176 ♫ ♫ 487 00:22:42,209 --> 00:22:44,576 NARRATOR: At the cow palace in San Francisco, 488 00:22:44,609 --> 00:22:47,676 Clay defeated his first two opponents convincingly 489 00:22:47,709 --> 00:22:50,509 and advanced to the finals, where he faced 490 00:22:50,543 --> 00:22:55,043 Allen Hudson, an army veteran and more experienced fighter. 491 00:22:55,076 --> 00:22:56,976 ANNOUNCER: In the 178-pound class, 492 00:22:57,009 --> 00:22:59,676 another Louisville boy Cassius Clay in the dark trunks 493 00:22:59,709 --> 00:23:04,509 is pitted against the all-army champion Allen Hudson. 494 00:23:04,543 --> 00:23:06,743 NARRATOR: In the third round, Hudson sent Clay 495 00:23:06,776 --> 00:23:09,676 to the canvas. 496 00:23:09,709 --> 00:23:11,476 ANNOUNCER: Cassius is up almost immediately, 497 00:23:11,509 --> 00:23:14,609 and after a check by the ref, he's back in action. 498 00:23:14,643 --> 00:23:16,843 Clay's chance to go to work. 499 00:23:16,876 --> 00:23:18,776 He wades into Hudson and sends him reeling 500 00:23:18,809 --> 00:23:20,976 into the corner. 501 00:23:21,009 --> 00:23:25,576 (crowd cheering) 502 00:23:25,609 --> 00:23:28,876 Hudson is really groggy and just about out on his feet. 503 00:23:31,843 --> 00:23:36,376 NARRATOR: The referee awarded Clay a technical knockout. 504 00:23:36,409 --> 00:23:37,909 He had earned a spot 505 00:23:37,943 --> 00:23:41,743 on the United States olympic team. 506 00:23:41,776 --> 00:23:44,309 After the trials, Clay pawned a watch he'd won 507 00:23:44,343 --> 00:23:47,243 in the tournament and bought a train ticket home 508 00:23:47,276 --> 00:23:50,309 so he wouldn't have to fly. 509 00:23:50,343 --> 00:23:52,276 His graduation from central high school 510 00:23:52,309 --> 00:23:54,609 was now just weeks away. 511 00:23:54,643 --> 00:23:58,376 He'd missed so many days and had such poor grades 512 00:23:58,409 --> 00:24:02,809 that many of his teachers felt Clay did not deserve a diploma. 513 00:24:02,843 --> 00:24:05,209 His principal disagreed. 514 00:24:05,243 --> 00:24:07,543 "The only thing Cassius is going to have to read 515 00:24:07,576 --> 00:24:10,376 is his IRS form," he said, "and I'm willing 516 00:24:10,409 --> 00:24:12,209 to help him do it." 517 00:24:14,676 --> 00:24:16,976 On his way to the Olympics in Rome, 518 00:24:17,009 --> 00:24:20,076 Cassius Clay first stopped in New York, where he hoped to 519 00:24:20,109 --> 00:24:22,909 meet his idol, former middleweight champion 520 00:24:22,943 --> 00:24:26,309 sugar Ray Robinson, whom many believed the greatest 521 00:24:26,343 --> 00:24:29,376 pound-for-pound fighter in boxing history, 522 00:24:29,409 --> 00:24:31,676 known as much for his flashy style 523 00:24:31,709 --> 00:24:35,176 as for his prowess in the ring. 524 00:24:35,209 --> 00:24:38,443 While Clay waited outside Robinson's Harlem restaurant, 525 00:24:38,476 --> 00:24:40,976 hoping for a moment with his hero, 526 00:24:41,009 --> 00:24:43,109 he noticed a small crowd gathered 527 00:24:43,143 --> 00:24:45,109 around a well-dressed orator, 528 00:24:45,143 --> 00:24:46,709 who was calling upon black people 529 00:24:46,743 --> 00:24:50,176 to shop only at black-owned businesses. 530 00:24:50,209 --> 00:24:54,476 The man belonged to a group called the nation of islam. 531 00:24:54,509 --> 00:24:57,276 "How can he talk like that?" Clay wondered. 532 00:24:57,309 --> 00:25:00,243 "Ain't he gonna get in trouble?" 533 00:25:00,276 --> 00:25:04,276 When sugar ray finally pulled up in a purple Lincoln continental, 534 00:25:04,309 --> 00:25:08,276 he had little time for his young admirer, hurriedly signing 535 00:25:08,309 --> 00:25:11,543 a photograph for Clay and wishing him luck. 536 00:25:11,576 --> 00:25:14,109 At first, Clay was awestruck. 537 00:25:14,143 --> 00:25:17,209 "That sugar ray, he's something," he raved. 538 00:25:17,243 --> 00:25:19,909 "Someday I'm going to own two Cadillacs 539 00:25:19,943 --> 00:25:23,409 and a Ford for just getting around in," 540 00:25:23,443 --> 00:25:26,909 but later, he remembered, he felt snubbed. 541 00:25:26,943 --> 00:25:29,243 "If I ever get great and famous and people want 542 00:25:29,276 --> 00:25:31,876 my autograph enough to wait all day," he said, 543 00:25:31,909 --> 00:25:34,776 "I'm sure gonna treat them different." 544 00:25:34,809 --> 00:25:37,409 Then, he nervously flew to Rome. 545 00:25:37,443 --> 00:25:44,676 ♫ ♫ 546 00:25:44,709 --> 00:25:46,943 EIG: The 1960 Olympics were big and exciting 547 00:25:46,976 --> 00:25:48,976 in a lot of ways. 548 00:25:50,376 --> 00:25:52,809 The American team was led by Rafer Johnson. 549 00:25:54,776 --> 00:25:57,509 It was a very exciting time to be an olympian. 550 00:25:58,776 --> 00:26:01,676 For Cassius, who'd really never traveled very far, 551 00:26:01,709 --> 00:26:04,109 this was really an eye-opener to see the world 552 00:26:04,143 --> 00:26:07,243 and to see people who spoke different languages, 553 00:26:07,276 --> 00:26:08,676 and he instantly became 554 00:26:08,709 --> 00:26:10,276 the mayor of the olympic village. 555 00:26:10,309 --> 00:26:12,943 He was not famous yet in any way, 556 00:26:12,976 --> 00:26:15,776 but his magnetism just was amazing, 557 00:26:15,809 --> 00:26:19,309 and you see instantly reporters and other athletes saying, 558 00:26:19,343 --> 00:26:21,876 "who is this guy? We need to talk to him," 559 00:26:21,909 --> 00:26:25,143 and just clusters forming around him wherever he went. 560 00:26:25,176 --> 00:26:27,676 NARRATOR: Clay reveled in all the attention. 561 00:26:27,709 --> 00:26:29,609 He met Bing Crosby, 562 00:26:29,643 --> 00:26:32,876 flirted with the sprinter Wilma Rudolph, 563 00:26:32,909 --> 00:26:35,043 and posed for photographs 564 00:26:35,076 --> 00:26:38,043 with the current heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson. 565 00:26:38,076 --> 00:26:41,609 "Be seeing you in about two more years," he said. 566 00:26:41,643 --> 00:26:44,643 "This kid is irresistible," wrote one reporter. 567 00:26:44,676 --> 00:26:48,743 "He even made friends with the Russians." 568 00:26:48,776 --> 00:26:50,676 The olympic athlete with the noblest Roman name 569 00:26:50,709 --> 00:26:53,343 of them all is Cassius Marcellus Clay. 570 00:26:53,376 --> 00:26:56,109 Actually, Cassius is no Roman at all, however. 571 00:26:56,143 --> 00:26:58,576 He's actually an 18-year-old light heavyweight, 572 00:26:58,609 --> 00:27:00,743 who makes his home on grand street 573 00:27:00,776 --> 00:27:02,719 in Louisville, Kentucky, and he may very well become 574 00:27:02,743 --> 00:27:05,243 an olympic champion. 575 00:27:05,276 --> 00:27:06,676 REPORTER: Cassius Clay... 576 00:27:06,709 --> 00:27:08,476 He's America's light heavyweight. 577 00:27:08,509 --> 00:27:10,576 No one outside of the states has ever heard of him. 578 00:27:10,609 --> 00:27:13,876 Clay beats a Belgian, a Russian, and an Australian, 579 00:27:13,909 --> 00:27:17,076 and now he's in the final. 580 00:27:17,109 --> 00:27:19,176 NARRATOR: His opponent for the gold medal would be 581 00:27:19,209 --> 00:27:22,843 Zigzy Pietrzykowski from Poland, who'd won olympic bronze 582 00:27:22,876 --> 00:27:25,443 4 years earlier. 583 00:27:25,476 --> 00:27:27,176 REPORTER: The pole is 25. 584 00:27:27,209 --> 00:27:28,709 He's been unbeaten champion 585 00:27:28,743 --> 00:27:30,709 of Europe for 5 years. 586 00:27:30,743 --> 00:27:31,909 NARRATOR: For two rounds, 587 00:27:31,943 --> 00:27:34,609 the men measured each other. 588 00:27:34,643 --> 00:27:36,676 ANNOUNCER: Clay, a rather deceptive, casual way 589 00:27:36,709 --> 00:27:39,576 of throwing punches, and he punches very hard. 590 00:27:46,076 --> 00:27:48,843 NARRATOR: In the third and final round, 591 00:27:48,876 --> 00:27:52,643 Clay took command. 592 00:27:52,676 --> 00:27:54,409 ANNOUNCER: Oh. 593 00:27:54,443 --> 00:27:57,543 Good shot by Clay then. 594 00:27:57,576 --> 00:28:00,876 Looks like pietrzykowski's bleeding from the mouth a bit. 595 00:28:04,476 --> 00:28:06,709 Pietrzykowski now definitely bleeding out 596 00:28:06,743 --> 00:28:10,443 the nose and mouth rather heavily. 597 00:28:13,443 --> 00:28:15,209 There's the end of the fight. 598 00:28:18,943 --> 00:28:21,443 NARRATOR: Cassius Clay had won the ultimate prize 599 00:28:21,476 --> 00:28:23,109 in amateur boxing. 600 00:28:23,143 --> 00:28:27,976 (organ playing "the star-spangled banner") 601 00:28:28,009 --> 00:28:36,009 ♫ ♫ 602 00:28:38,543 --> 00:28:41,576 He flew back to New York, where a Louisville millionaire 603 00:28:41,609 --> 00:28:45,443 paid for the boxer's suite at the Waldorf towers hotel 604 00:28:45,476 --> 00:28:47,576 and gave him a roll of bills, 605 00:28:47,609 --> 00:28:49,909 which he used to dine on steaks and buy 606 00:28:49,943 --> 00:28:54,609 expensive watches for his brother and parents. 607 00:28:54,643 --> 00:28:57,143 Later, decked out in his gold medal 608 00:28:57,176 --> 00:29:00,676 and olympic blazer, Clay visited Times Square, 609 00:29:00,709 --> 00:29:03,543 where he paid to have a novelty newspaper printed up 610 00:29:03,576 --> 00:29:07,476 with the headline "Cassius signs for Patterson fight," 611 00:29:07,509 --> 00:29:09,976 tried his first slice of cheesecake, 612 00:29:10,009 --> 00:29:13,009 and at birdland, a popular jazz club, asked 613 00:29:13,043 --> 00:29:17,876 the bartender for a coke with a single drop of whiskey. 614 00:29:17,909 --> 00:29:20,843 Everywhere he went, well-wishers praised him 615 00:29:20,876 --> 00:29:22,976 for his success in Rome. 616 00:29:24,409 --> 00:29:26,576 (cheering) 617 00:29:26,609 --> 00:29:29,243 At Louisville's airport, hundreds of fans were there 618 00:29:29,276 --> 00:29:31,376 to greet him. 619 00:29:35,176 --> 00:29:36,519 REPORTER: Cassius, you've heard it a good many times 620 00:29:36,543 --> 00:29:38,043 today already here at the airport, 621 00:29:38,076 --> 00:29:39,716 but congratulations. Thank you, thank you. 622 00:29:39,743 --> 00:29:42,309 Let's take a look at that real gold medal there. 623 00:29:42,343 --> 00:29:44,743 NARRATOR: Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. 624 00:29:44,776 --> 00:29:48,643 Was just 18, but he'd fought more than 100 625 00:29:48,676 --> 00:29:54,943 amateur bouts and was ready to turn professional. 626 00:29:54,976 --> 00:29:56,152 ANNOUNCER: Dempsey herds him along the ropes, 627 00:29:56,176 --> 00:29:57,809 beating away with both hands. 628 00:29:57,843 --> 00:29:59,443 Watch, watch. 629 00:29:59,476 --> 00:30:02,676 There's that big left, and Willard's down. 630 00:30:02,709 --> 00:30:04,385 NARRATOR: Professional boxing had long been 631 00:30:04,409 --> 00:30:08,043 among the most popular sports in America. 632 00:30:08,076 --> 00:30:10,976 MAN: The appeal of boxing is basic. 633 00:30:11,009 --> 00:30:14,509 I mean, it's man against man, 634 00:30:14,543 --> 00:30:18,376 it's brutal, it's blood sport. 635 00:30:18,409 --> 00:30:20,509 It will always be here, 636 00:30:20,543 --> 00:30:24,176 and it will always have people watching. 637 00:30:24,209 --> 00:30:25,985 REMNICK: Everybody knew who the heavyweight champion 638 00:30:26,009 --> 00:30:28,743 of the world was in the way that you know who 639 00:30:28,776 --> 00:30:30,909 the president of the United States is, 640 00:30:30,943 --> 00:30:33,676 and you knew his personality, 641 00:30:33,709 --> 00:30:35,409 what he represented, 642 00:30:35,443 --> 00:30:37,909 what he projected into the world. 643 00:30:37,943 --> 00:30:40,043 NARRATOR: John l. Sullivan, 644 00:30:40,076 --> 00:30:41,743 Jim jeffries, 645 00:30:41,776 --> 00:30:43,643 Jack Johnson, 646 00:30:43,676 --> 00:30:45,843 Jack Dempsey. 647 00:30:45,876 --> 00:30:47,676 ANNOUNCER: One of the greatest... 648 00:30:47,709 --> 00:30:49,509 NARRATOR: Joe Louis had lifted the spirits 649 00:30:49,543 --> 00:30:50,876 of African-Americans everywhere... 650 00:30:50,909 --> 00:30:52,376 ANNOUNCER: And schmeling is down! 651 00:30:52,409 --> 00:30:54,176 When he seized the heavyweight title 652 00:30:54,209 --> 00:30:56,809 in the midst of the great depression 653 00:30:56,843 --> 00:31:01,176 and held it for a dozen years, 654 00:31:01,209 --> 00:31:05,109 but by the 1950s, gangsters ran the sport, 655 00:31:05,143 --> 00:31:07,576 tarnishing its reputation. 656 00:31:07,609 --> 00:31:09,419 EIG: Boxing was kind of an anarchy in many ways. 657 00:31:09,443 --> 00:31:11,609 You had the official licensing organizations 658 00:31:11,643 --> 00:31:13,276 that ran the sport, but there was 659 00:31:13,309 --> 00:31:14,909 no real governance to it at all, 660 00:31:14,943 --> 00:31:17,776 and it was often controlled by mafia figures, 661 00:31:17,809 --> 00:31:19,743 people who would fix fights, 662 00:31:19,776 --> 00:31:21,643 people who would extract huge sums of money 663 00:31:21,676 --> 00:31:24,109 from their fighters and leave them not just wrecked 664 00:31:24,143 --> 00:31:26,976 physically but broke. 665 00:31:27,009 --> 00:31:28,809 That was something that was almost inevitable 666 00:31:28,843 --> 00:31:30,652 for boxers that they were going to get involved 667 00:31:30,676 --> 00:31:32,543 in this underworld and that to make it 668 00:31:32,576 --> 00:31:34,609 in the sport you almost had to associate 669 00:31:34,643 --> 00:31:38,043 with those characters. 670 00:31:38,076 --> 00:31:40,243 NARRATOR: Boxing insiders saw that Clay could be 671 00:31:40,276 --> 00:31:43,476 a big money maker in the heavyweight division. 672 00:31:43,509 --> 00:31:45,609 Cus D'Amato, Floyd Patterson's 673 00:31:45,643 --> 00:31:48,309 savvy corner man, offered to train him. 674 00:31:48,343 --> 00:31:52,276 So did former heavyweight champion rocky marciano. 675 00:31:52,309 --> 00:31:54,343 "If you desire to have an excellent manager," 676 00:31:54,376 --> 00:31:57,076 the veteran fighter Archie Moore cabled, 677 00:31:57,109 --> 00:32:00,309 "call me tonight." 678 00:32:00,343 --> 00:32:03,109 Then William faversham, an executive 679 00:32:03,143 --> 00:32:05,776 at a Louisville distillery, formed a syndicate 680 00:32:05,809 --> 00:32:07,976 of 11 prominent white businessmen 681 00:32:08,009 --> 00:32:09,609 with deep Kentucky roots. 682 00:32:09,643 --> 00:32:12,576 I'm Bill Faversham. I'm W. Lyons Brown. 683 00:32:12,609 --> 00:32:14,509 J.D. Stetson Coleman. 684 00:32:14,543 --> 00:32:16,676 NARRATOR: They agreed to pool their money to launch 685 00:32:16,709 --> 00:32:20,643 Clay's career and shield him from the mob. 686 00:32:20,676 --> 00:32:22,843 EIG: Cassius Clay was offered the greatest contract 687 00:32:22,876 --> 00:32:24,509 in the history of boxing. 688 00:32:24,543 --> 00:32:25,976 It was a complete anomaly. 689 00:32:26,009 --> 00:32:27,809 There was nothing like it ever before, 690 00:32:27,843 --> 00:32:30,443 and in fact, the lawyer who wrote the contract said 691 00:32:30,476 --> 00:32:32,209 he had to go outside the industry. 692 00:32:32,243 --> 00:32:34,643 He went to Hollywood and looked for contracts that 693 00:32:34,676 --> 00:32:37,109 were given to child actors to see how they could 694 00:32:37,143 --> 00:32:39,343 best be protected. 695 00:32:39,376 --> 00:32:42,043 FAVERSHAM: We offered him a $10,000 bonus 696 00:32:42,076 --> 00:32:43,943 for signing a contract. 697 00:32:43,976 --> 00:32:46,176 This contract, ran for two years, 698 00:32:46,209 --> 00:32:47,943 where we paid him a salary 699 00:32:47,976 --> 00:32:50,176 because after all, we didn't know what he could earn. 700 00:32:50,209 --> 00:32:51,809 Boxers didn't get salaries. 701 00:32:51,843 --> 00:32:53,643 A monthly salary for boxing? 702 00:32:53,676 --> 00:32:57,509 We wanted to guarantee him some form of security. 703 00:32:57,543 --> 00:33:01,809 At the same time, he also got 50% of his purses. 704 00:33:01,843 --> 00:33:02,919 We're gonna pay all his expenses, 705 00:33:02,943 --> 00:33:04,043 we're gonna pay his meals, 706 00:33:04,076 --> 00:33:05,409 we're gonna pay his rent, 707 00:33:05,443 --> 00:33:06,585 we're gonna pay for his training. 708 00:33:06,609 --> 00:33:07,652 We're going to set it up so that 709 00:33:07,676 --> 00:33:09,176 there are tax deductions. 710 00:33:09,209 --> 00:33:10,319 There had never been anything like it 711 00:33:10,343 --> 00:33:11,809 in boxing. 712 00:33:11,843 --> 00:33:13,152 NARRATOR: They hoped to see a return 713 00:33:13,176 --> 00:33:14,709 on their investment, 714 00:33:14,743 --> 00:33:16,509 but as one member remarked, 715 00:33:16,543 --> 00:33:19,143 they were in it "to do something nice for a deserving, 716 00:33:19,176 --> 00:33:22,476 "well-behaved Louisville boy, and to save him 717 00:33:22,509 --> 00:33:26,776 from the jaws of the hoodlum jackals." 718 00:33:26,809 --> 00:33:29,709 Clay used his bonus to buy the Cadillac 719 00:33:29,743 --> 00:33:33,243 he had coveted since he was a boy, 720 00:33:33,276 --> 00:33:36,409 though he hadn't bothered to get a driver's license. 721 00:33:38,709 --> 00:33:43,276 On October 29, 1960, Clay made his professional debut 722 00:33:43,309 --> 00:33:46,443 at Louisville's freedom hall. 723 00:33:46,476 --> 00:33:48,743 They found a guy in the hills of West Virginia. 724 00:33:48,776 --> 00:33:50,443 His name is tunney hunsaker, 725 00:33:50,476 --> 00:33:53,009 and tunney hunsaker was a sheriff 726 00:33:53,043 --> 00:33:55,076 and a straight-arrow guy. 727 00:33:55,109 --> 00:33:57,143 He had the world war I campaign hat that 728 00:33:57,176 --> 00:33:59,743 state troopers wore in many states, 729 00:33:59,776 --> 00:34:03,243 and he said he would fight him. 730 00:34:03,276 --> 00:34:07,543 It was an inexperienced fighter against a bad fighter. 731 00:34:07,576 --> 00:34:10,109 NARRATOR: Clay pummeled hunsaker for 6 rounds 732 00:34:10,143 --> 00:34:12,109 and earned a unanimous decision, 733 00:34:12,143 --> 00:34:15,243 but many in attendance felt that he should have knocked out 734 00:34:15,276 --> 00:34:17,743 the slow-moving policeman. 735 00:34:17,776 --> 00:34:20,909 His sponsors knew he would need a first-class trainer 736 00:34:20,943 --> 00:34:22,943 if he was ever going to contend 737 00:34:22,976 --> 00:34:25,576 for the heavyweight championship. 738 00:34:25,609 --> 00:34:28,476 ♫ ♫ 739 00:34:28,509 --> 00:34:31,076 They decided to hire Archie Moore, who taught 740 00:34:31,109 --> 00:34:35,609 young fighters at his camp in the hills east of San Diego. 741 00:34:35,643 --> 00:34:39,743 Moore preached discipline and patience. 742 00:34:39,776 --> 00:34:44,476 Moore also demanded that they cook, clean, chop wood, 743 00:34:44,509 --> 00:34:48,109 and help maintain the grounds. 744 00:34:48,143 --> 00:34:51,643 It was known as the salt mine. 745 00:34:51,676 --> 00:34:54,809 MAN: Cassius Clay said, "I'm here to be a fighter, 746 00:34:54,843 --> 00:34:56,643 "not to be the janitor. 747 00:34:56,676 --> 00:34:58,509 They're paying you good money." 748 00:34:58,543 --> 00:35:00,676 So, Archie Moore said, "well, you're pretty cocky, 749 00:35:00,709 --> 00:35:02,643 "you got to know humility. 750 00:35:02,676 --> 00:35:05,709 If you don't have humility, you're not gonna be anything." 751 00:35:05,743 --> 00:35:08,276 NARRATOR: Clay bristled at Moore's demands, 752 00:35:08,309 --> 00:35:12,543 and he was afraid Moore intended to change his style. 753 00:35:12,576 --> 00:35:16,009 After only a few weeks, he was sent home. 754 00:35:17,876 --> 00:35:20,843 William faversham of the Louisville sponsoring group 755 00:35:20,876 --> 00:35:23,143 then called Angelo dundee, 756 00:35:23,176 --> 00:35:25,809 the Miami beach-based trainer Clay had met 757 00:35:25,843 --> 00:35:29,009 in Louisville back in 1957. 758 00:35:29,043 --> 00:35:32,376 Dundee was known for his calm demeanor during fights 759 00:35:32,409 --> 00:35:35,476 and his gift for patching up bloodied boxers. 760 00:35:35,509 --> 00:35:39,343 He was well-liked and at 39 had already trained 761 00:35:39,376 --> 00:35:41,843 6 world champions. 762 00:35:41,876 --> 00:35:45,409 Clay, he had been told, showed real potential 763 00:35:45,443 --> 00:35:49,909 but was overconfident and would be difficult to teach. 764 00:35:49,943 --> 00:35:53,076 Dundee remembered the enthusiastic teenager 765 00:35:53,109 --> 00:35:55,743 and agreed to take Clay on. 766 00:35:55,776 --> 00:35:57,876 He told faversham to send his fighter down 767 00:35:57,909 --> 00:36:00,076 after Christmas. 768 00:36:00,109 --> 00:36:03,076 "Angelo," faversham said, "Cassius wants a fight 769 00:36:03,109 --> 00:36:05,109 before Christmas." 770 00:36:05,143 --> 00:36:10,109 ♫ ♫ 771 00:36:10,143 --> 00:36:12,709 On December 19, 1960, 772 00:36:12,743 --> 00:36:15,176 after a two-day journey by train, 773 00:36:15,209 --> 00:36:17,209 Cassius Clay arrived in Miami, 774 00:36:17,243 --> 00:36:20,409 where his new trainer greeted him at the station. 775 00:36:22,809 --> 00:36:26,409 Dundee drove Clay to overtown, a segregated neighborhood 776 00:36:26,443 --> 00:36:29,276 where black visitors who were refused service 777 00:36:29,309 --> 00:36:33,276 at Miami's "whites only" hotels could rent a room. 778 00:36:36,409 --> 00:36:39,143 At the Mary Elizabeth hotel, a hub for pimps 779 00:36:39,176 --> 00:36:42,109 and drug dealers, Clay was to share a dingy room 780 00:36:42,143 --> 00:36:44,443 with one double bed and no air conditioning 781 00:36:44,476 --> 00:36:46,776 with a Jamaican heavyweight. 782 00:36:49,409 --> 00:36:51,976 The next morning, Clay reported to dundee's 783 00:36:52,009 --> 00:36:55,209 5th street gym in Miami beach. 784 00:36:55,243 --> 00:36:57,709 ♫ The Parkays' "Get It" playing ♫ 785 00:37:01,376 --> 00:37:03,043 BAND MEMBER: Not yet! 786 00:37:03,076 --> 00:37:05,143 MAN: 5th street gym was just a walkup, 787 00:37:05,176 --> 00:37:10,576 old public boxing gym that Clay first went to when he was 18. 788 00:37:10,609 --> 00:37:15,609 Crickety stairs, rum-addled drunks laying on the steps 789 00:37:15,643 --> 00:37:18,576 that you had to walk over to get upstairs. 790 00:37:18,609 --> 00:37:20,776 NARRATOR: The gym was home to black, white, 791 00:37:20,809 --> 00:37:24,509 and Cuban boxers, all toiling under the watchful eyes 792 00:37:24,543 --> 00:37:28,243 of a ragtag crew of regulars one writer dubbed 793 00:37:28,276 --> 00:37:30,676 the "pugilistic college of cardinals," 794 00:37:30,709 --> 00:37:35,943 who stood ringside and appraised dundee's trainees. 795 00:37:35,976 --> 00:37:38,476 None was impressed with Clay. 796 00:37:38,509 --> 00:37:40,976 "He keeps his hands too low," they agreed. 797 00:37:41,009 --> 00:37:43,276 "He's off balance when he punches, 798 00:37:43,309 --> 00:37:45,943 he's a headhunter." 799 00:37:45,976 --> 00:37:49,876 The Cubans called him "Niño Con Boca Grande"... 800 00:37:49,909 --> 00:37:52,876 The kid with the big mouth. 801 00:37:52,909 --> 00:37:56,509 Angelo dundee also saw a flawed fighter 802 00:37:56,543 --> 00:37:59,343 but one with exceptional hand and foot speed 803 00:37:59,376 --> 00:38:03,176 and a tireless work ethic, and he was sure 804 00:38:03,209 --> 00:38:06,976 he could help smooth Clay's rough edges. 805 00:38:07,009 --> 00:38:10,043 DUNDEE: You can't directly tell him, "do this." 806 00:38:10,076 --> 00:38:12,009 This is a cardinal sin. 807 00:38:12,043 --> 00:38:13,743 Say this workout today. 808 00:38:13,776 --> 00:38:16,243 I'll go over and tell him, "gee, that wasn't too bad 809 00:38:16,276 --> 00:38:17,809 "for the first day. 810 00:38:17,843 --> 00:38:19,219 "Your jab wasn't as sharp as I'd like it, 811 00:38:19,243 --> 00:38:20,976 but a real good jab." 812 00:38:21,009 --> 00:38:22,385 Well, thusly, the next day he'll be using his jab 813 00:38:22,409 --> 00:38:24,476 more effectively, 814 00:38:24,509 --> 00:38:26,085 but if I tell him "your jab is terrible," 815 00:38:26,109 --> 00:38:28,476 then I'd be hitting the wrong kind of a note. 816 00:38:28,509 --> 00:38:32,643 You got to work on him psychologically. 817 00:38:32,676 --> 00:38:34,419 KINDRED: Other trainers might have insisted that 818 00:38:34,443 --> 00:38:37,443 "you fight my way," but Angelo was smart enough, 819 00:38:37,476 --> 00:38:38,943 genius enough really, 820 00:38:38,976 --> 00:38:41,576 to just let him be and guide him 821 00:38:41,609 --> 00:38:44,209 rather than teach him. 822 00:38:44,243 --> 00:38:47,009 NARRATOR: Each day, Clay Rose before dawn, 823 00:38:47,043 --> 00:38:50,543 laced on a pair of army boots, and did his roadwork. 824 00:38:50,576 --> 00:38:55,409 ♫ ♫ 825 00:38:55,443 --> 00:38:58,209 He ran the streets and causeways of overtown, 826 00:38:58,243 --> 00:39:02,776 at times backwards, shadowboxing as he went. 827 00:39:02,809 --> 00:39:07,243 Then he jogged the 4 1/2 miles from north Miami to 5th street, 828 00:39:07,276 --> 00:39:10,309 where, while climbing the stairs to the second floor, 829 00:39:10,343 --> 00:39:14,076 he sometimes announced his arrival by hollering, 830 00:39:14,109 --> 00:39:16,976 "Angelo, line up all your bums. 831 00:39:17,009 --> 00:39:20,043 I'm gonna knock them all out." 832 00:39:20,076 --> 00:39:22,609 In the gym, he'd hit the speed bag, 833 00:39:22,643 --> 00:39:25,543 then the heavy bag, do his calisthenics 834 00:39:25,576 --> 00:39:27,209 before a full-length mirror, 835 00:39:27,243 --> 00:39:29,476 and spar with other young fighters, 836 00:39:29,509 --> 00:39:32,743 increasing his stamina while dundee carefully coaxed 837 00:39:32,776 --> 00:39:37,943 him into refining his best punch, the jab. 838 00:39:37,976 --> 00:39:40,409 MAN: The early Cassius took from Ray Robinson. 839 00:39:40,443 --> 00:39:43,009 Ray Robinson was a dancer. 840 00:39:43,043 --> 00:39:47,143 Cassius, like expanded the, uh, notion of dancing. 841 00:39:47,176 --> 00:39:51,909 Typically a boxer is taught to stay in the pocket 842 00:39:51,943 --> 00:39:54,809 and parry a punch. 843 00:39:54,843 --> 00:39:56,609 This guy would do something 844 00:39:56,643 --> 00:39:58,243 that it's like sacrilege in boxing. 845 00:39:58,276 --> 00:40:01,343 You don't lean back, man, but he leaned back. 846 00:40:01,376 --> 00:40:03,643 DUNDEE: I mean, Cassius Clay has his own style. 847 00:40:03,676 --> 00:40:05,409 There's no other fighter like him. 848 00:40:05,443 --> 00:40:07,519 Now see, that almost did it. See? He's out. He's out. 849 00:40:07,543 --> 00:40:09,443 Oh, god, oh, god. 850 00:40:09,476 --> 00:40:12,609 Look at it. Take him out. 851 00:40:12,643 --> 00:40:14,419 This is the style that can win the heavyweight 852 00:40:14,443 --> 00:40:16,476 championship of the world. 853 00:40:16,509 --> 00:40:18,743 NARRATOR: In his first two months in Miami, 854 00:40:18,776 --> 00:40:21,309 Clay fought 4 times. 855 00:40:21,343 --> 00:40:24,809 On December 27 in his second professional fight, 856 00:40:24,843 --> 00:40:27,909 he defeated herb siler by technical knockout 857 00:40:27,943 --> 00:40:30,209 in 4 rounds. 858 00:40:30,243 --> 00:40:35,043 In January 1961, Clay celebrated his 19th birthday 859 00:40:35,076 --> 00:40:38,876 by dispatching Tony esperti in the third. 860 00:40:38,909 --> 00:40:42,243 3 weeks later, Clay needed just one round 861 00:40:42,276 --> 00:40:45,743 to knock out Jim Robinson. 862 00:40:45,776 --> 00:40:49,476 In February, Clay sparred with former heavyweight champion 863 00:40:49,509 --> 00:40:52,476 Ingemar Johansson, who was in Miami to promote 864 00:40:52,509 --> 00:40:56,409 his upcoming title fight with Floyd Patterson. 865 00:40:56,443 --> 00:40:58,509 Clay skipped around Johansson while peppering 866 00:40:58,543 --> 00:41:01,243 the Swede with sharp jabs. 867 00:41:01,276 --> 00:41:04,876 Johansson failed to land a single punch, 868 00:41:04,909 --> 00:41:07,176 and his manager cut the session short 869 00:41:07,209 --> 00:41:10,343 after just two rounds. 870 00:41:10,376 --> 00:41:12,309 "I'm the one who should be fighting Patterson, 871 00:41:12,343 --> 00:41:15,076 not you, sucker," Clay taunted. 872 00:41:18,176 --> 00:41:21,843 On April 19 in front of more than 5,000 fans 873 00:41:21,876 --> 00:41:24,809 at Louisville's freedom hall, Clay recovered 874 00:41:24,843 --> 00:41:27,709 from a vicious first-round punch to his jaw 875 00:41:27,743 --> 00:41:30,309 to break Lamar Clark's nose and knock him out 876 00:41:30,343 --> 00:41:33,343 in the second round just as he'd predicted 877 00:41:33,376 --> 00:41:36,809 he would before the fight. 878 00:41:36,843 --> 00:41:38,943 "He has the fastest hands of any heavyweight 879 00:41:38,976 --> 00:41:42,009 I've seen any place," Clark's manager marveled, 880 00:41:42,043 --> 00:41:44,009 predicting that Clay was "not many fights 881 00:41:44,043 --> 00:41:46,176 from a championship." 882 00:41:46,209 --> 00:41:52,009 ♫ ♫ 883 00:41:52,043 --> 00:41:54,043 In June, Clay reluctantly flew 884 00:41:54,076 --> 00:41:56,676 to Las Vegas for his next match. 885 00:41:56,709 --> 00:41:59,409 "I'm not afraid of the fight," he told a reporter, 886 00:41:59,443 --> 00:42:01,976 "I'm afraid of the flight." 887 00:42:02,009 --> 00:42:05,043 His opponent was Duke Sabedong, 888 00:42:05,076 --> 00:42:10,209 a towering Hawaiian notorious for his dirty tactics. 889 00:42:10,243 --> 00:42:14,376 Clay won a unanimous decision. 890 00:42:14,409 --> 00:42:17,743 Before the fight, Clay had appeared on a local radio 891 00:42:17,776 --> 00:42:20,009 show with George Wagner, 892 00:42:20,043 --> 00:42:21,676 a well-known professional wrestler 893 00:42:21,709 --> 00:42:25,409 who called himself gorgeous George. 894 00:42:25,443 --> 00:42:27,909 REMNICK: He would come in with a jeweled cape, 895 00:42:27,943 --> 00:42:31,509 and he would have one person putting the pomade in his hair, 896 00:42:31,543 --> 00:42:33,543 and people would boo and boo and boo, 897 00:42:33,576 --> 00:42:36,243 and some people would cheer and cheer and cheer. 898 00:42:36,276 --> 00:42:39,043 And Clay sees this, and he thinks, "oh, my god. 899 00:42:39,076 --> 00:42:42,009 Look at the attention he gets." 900 00:42:42,043 --> 00:42:44,243 ALI: I saw him talking once about "how pretty I am. 901 00:42:44,276 --> 00:42:45,876 I cannot be beat." 902 00:42:45,909 --> 00:42:47,743 He said, "look at my beautiful silver hair. 903 00:42:47,776 --> 00:42:49,443 "No man in the world can beat me. 904 00:42:49,476 --> 00:42:52,043 "I'm the greatest wrassler that ever lived. 905 00:42:52,076 --> 00:42:53,252 "When I go into that ring I'm gonna 906 00:42:53,276 --> 00:42:54,543 "annihilate the bum. 907 00:42:54,576 --> 00:42:56,109 I'm beautiful." 908 00:42:56,143 --> 00:42:57,943 And that night when gorgeous George went 909 00:42:57,976 --> 00:42:59,919 to the wrassling ring, all the ladies were booing, 910 00:42:59,943 --> 00:43:02,009 and the people were so mad, and the place was full. 911 00:43:02,043 --> 00:43:05,043 Everybody paid a high price to come in, 912 00:43:05,076 --> 00:43:08,709 and at that moment I said, "this is a good idea." 913 00:43:08,743 --> 00:43:11,276 REMNICK: Clay... he's a sponge. 914 00:43:11,309 --> 00:43:15,876 His genius is to know how to deploy it to his ends. 915 00:43:15,909 --> 00:43:17,743 NARRATOR: Back in Miami, he appeared 916 00:43:17,776 --> 00:43:20,776 on local television and radio, granting interviews 917 00:43:20,809 --> 00:43:24,743 to any writer who asked, telling one, "I'm the best friend 918 00:43:24,776 --> 00:43:26,843 a reporter ever had." 919 00:43:26,876 --> 00:43:30,176 And he was beginning to attract national attention. 920 00:43:30,209 --> 00:43:38,209 ♫ ♫ 921 00:43:38,276 --> 00:43:41,509 KINDRED: He was 19 years old in Miami beach when he heard 922 00:43:41,543 --> 00:43:44,009 that flip schulke, a photographer 923 00:43:44,043 --> 00:43:47,976 for "life" magazine, wanted to shoot pictures of him training. 924 00:43:48,009 --> 00:43:50,543 So he invited him to come watch him. 925 00:43:50,576 --> 00:43:53,609 He took the ordinary pictures like running on the beach, 926 00:43:53,643 --> 00:43:55,976 all that stuff. 927 00:43:56,009 --> 00:43:59,309 Clay said, "do you want to see me train underwater?" 928 00:43:59,343 --> 00:44:07,343 ♫ ♫ 929 00:44:08,876 --> 00:44:12,076 Later, schulke realized when they're done that 930 00:44:12,109 --> 00:44:14,009 he'd been had. 931 00:44:14,043 --> 00:44:16,176 Cassius Clay had never trained underwater. 932 00:44:16,209 --> 00:44:18,443 Nobody trains underwater, 933 00:44:18,476 --> 00:44:20,376 but Clay understood the promotion business 934 00:44:20,409 --> 00:44:22,709 to know that if you're in "life" magazine, 935 00:44:22,743 --> 00:44:24,809 a lot of people are going to see it. 936 00:44:24,843 --> 00:44:26,843 So he invented this on the spot, 937 00:44:26,876 --> 00:44:29,476 and schulke was amazed, thought that it was a sign 938 00:44:29,509 --> 00:44:31,509 of just pure genius, 939 00:44:31,543 --> 00:44:34,076 and it was. 940 00:44:34,109 --> 00:44:36,909 NARRATOR: Before fights, he applied 3 coats of polish 941 00:44:36,943 --> 00:44:40,076 to his white shoes, covered his arms and torso 942 00:44:40,109 --> 00:44:43,843 in a thin layer of vaseline to emphasize his muscles, 943 00:44:43,876 --> 00:44:46,643 and wore a white satin robe and white trunks 944 00:44:46,676 --> 00:44:48,676 into the ring. 945 00:44:48,709 --> 00:44:51,576 "The women says, 'land, ain't he nice and neat'," 946 00:44:51,609 --> 00:44:53,209 explained Clay. 947 00:44:53,243 --> 00:44:56,009 "If the women come, the men got to follow. 948 00:44:56,043 --> 00:44:58,243 Ain't that so?" 949 00:44:58,276 --> 00:45:01,476 Not everyone appreciated his cockiness. 950 00:45:01,509 --> 00:45:02,752 REPORTER: Let me see you close your mouth 951 00:45:02,776 --> 00:45:04,143 and just keep it closed. 952 00:45:04,176 --> 00:45:05,809 Well, you know that's impossible. 953 00:45:05,843 --> 00:45:06,943 No, no, now keep it closed. 954 00:45:06,976 --> 00:45:08,076 You know that's impossible. 955 00:45:08,109 --> 00:45:09,243 I'm the greatest. 956 00:45:09,276 --> 00:45:10,776 I'm knocking out all bums, 957 00:45:10,809 --> 00:45:13,643 and if you get too smart, I'll knock you out. 958 00:45:13,676 --> 00:45:16,009 NARRATOR: In October, Clay predicted the round 959 00:45:16,043 --> 00:45:18,476 in which he would defeat his next opponent, 960 00:45:18,509 --> 00:45:21,443 the argentinian Alex miteff. 961 00:45:21,476 --> 00:45:25,809 "Miteff," he said, "must fall in 6." 962 00:45:25,843 --> 00:45:27,076 ANNOUNCER: Clay has really 963 00:45:27,109 --> 00:45:28,476 opened fast. 964 00:45:31,109 --> 00:45:34,143 BENTT: What made Cassius special was his mastery 965 00:45:34,176 --> 00:45:36,776 of the craft at, like, that young age. 966 00:45:36,809 --> 00:45:38,976 This guy was able to have his opponent, like, 967 00:45:39,009 --> 00:45:42,543 5, 6 inches in front of him, throw, like, you know, 968 00:45:42,576 --> 00:45:45,243 a bunch of shots, clean shots, effective shots, 969 00:45:45,276 --> 00:45:49,276 and pirouette around the guy. 970 00:45:49,309 --> 00:45:52,943 No one is able to do that as fluidly, 971 00:45:52,976 --> 00:45:57,009 as seamlessly as him. 972 00:45:57,043 --> 00:45:59,143 How he did it? I have no idea. 973 00:45:59,176 --> 00:46:03,809 ANNOUNCER: At 188 pounds, Clay is lightning fast. 974 00:46:03,843 --> 00:46:06,876 MAN: His speed, both his hand speed 975 00:46:06,909 --> 00:46:11,043 and his foot speed was just incredible. 976 00:46:11,076 --> 00:46:14,009 (crowd cheering) 977 00:46:14,043 --> 00:46:16,243 If you throw a punch too far out, 978 00:46:16,276 --> 00:46:18,909 which most novice fighters do, 979 00:46:18,943 --> 00:46:20,476 you're too far away from your opponent, 980 00:46:20,509 --> 00:46:23,209 you're not going to hit your opponent, 981 00:46:23,243 --> 00:46:25,976 or if you get too close, you don't have the leverage 982 00:46:26,009 --> 00:46:27,543 on your opponent, 983 00:46:27,576 --> 00:46:29,776 and if you're too close, you're easier to tie up. 984 00:46:29,809 --> 00:46:31,943 So it takes a great talent. 985 00:46:31,976 --> 00:46:34,876 You have to be at the exact distance 986 00:46:34,909 --> 00:46:37,143 almost to the inch away to land 987 00:46:37,176 --> 00:46:39,943 the most effective punch. 988 00:46:39,976 --> 00:46:42,109 ANNOUNCER: Miteff paid for that. 989 00:46:42,143 --> 00:46:44,109 ROBERTS: And Cassius could do this. 990 00:46:44,143 --> 00:46:45,709 He did it innately. 991 00:46:45,743 --> 00:46:48,676 ANNOUNCER: Miteff's left eye closing rapidly, 992 00:46:48,709 --> 00:46:51,709 a trickle of blood below it. 993 00:46:51,743 --> 00:46:54,276 And miteff down! 994 00:46:54,309 --> 00:47:02,309 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 995 00:47:03,243 --> 00:47:04,709 He doesn't know where he is. 996 00:47:04,743 --> 00:47:07,276 They're going to stop it, and they should. 997 00:47:07,309 --> 00:47:10,043 NARRATOR: Clay stopped miteff in the sixth round 998 00:47:10,076 --> 00:47:11,909 just as he said he would. 999 00:47:11,943 --> 00:47:17,543 ANNOUNCER: And the winner by a tko, Cassius Clay! 1000 00:47:17,576 --> 00:47:21,076 (cheering and booing) 1001 00:47:21,109 --> 00:47:22,485 REPORTER: Where do you rate yourself today 1002 00:47:22,509 --> 00:47:24,543 in the heavyweight ranks? 1003 00:47:24,576 --> 00:47:26,476 Well, Jim, most people say I'm crazy 1004 00:47:26,509 --> 00:47:28,609 or punch drunk for saying these things, 1005 00:47:28,643 --> 00:47:32,776 but I would rate myself about number two now. 1006 00:47:32,809 --> 00:47:34,709 NARRATOR: He claimed to be "embarrassed to get 1007 00:47:34,743 --> 00:47:37,543 into the ring" with the unranked Willie Besmanoff, 1008 00:47:37,576 --> 00:47:40,776 whom he promised to knock out in round 7. 1009 00:47:40,809 --> 00:47:43,709 When the German boxer began to wobble in the fifth, 1010 00:47:43,743 --> 00:47:47,543 Clay slowed his attack, toying with him for two rounds 1011 00:47:47,576 --> 00:47:51,509 before making good again on his prediction. 1012 00:47:51,543 --> 00:47:55,076 BOYD: Cassius Clay... He understood verbal warfare. 1013 00:47:55,109 --> 00:47:58,209 So not only am I going to beat you physically, 1014 00:47:58,243 --> 00:48:01,676 I'm going to tell you how bad I'm going to beat you, 1015 00:48:01,709 --> 00:48:05,776 and if you're better than me, you'll shut me up. 1016 00:48:05,809 --> 00:48:07,543 You'll make me stop talking. 1017 00:48:07,576 --> 00:48:09,519 If not, you're going to have to listen to me talk. 1018 00:48:09,543 --> 00:48:12,543 I'm going to add to the humiliation. 1019 00:48:12,576 --> 00:48:15,509 It's an added layer, and if you can't get 1020 00:48:15,543 --> 00:48:17,876 beyond the psychological warfare, 1021 00:48:17,909 --> 00:48:19,776 it's unlikely that you're going to win 1022 00:48:19,809 --> 00:48:22,276 the physical warfare. 1023 00:48:22,309 --> 00:48:24,143 NARRATOR: Clay's professional record 1024 00:48:24,176 --> 00:48:26,943 was now 10-0, his future bright, 1025 00:48:26,976 --> 00:48:29,309 and his confidence soaring. 1026 00:48:29,343 --> 00:48:32,843 "I got the height, the reach, the weight," he declared. 1027 00:48:32,876 --> 00:48:35,843 "To beat me, you got to be greater than great." 1028 00:48:35,876 --> 00:48:37,476 RAY CHARLES: ♫ you know the night time ♫ 1029 00:48:37,509 --> 00:48:39,509 RAELETTES: ♫ night and day ♫ 1030 00:48:39,543 --> 00:48:43,109 NARRATOR: In late 1961, Cassius Clay was dividing 1031 00:48:43,143 --> 00:48:45,909 his time between Louisville and Miami, 1032 00:48:45,943 --> 00:48:48,076 where he continued to pursue boxing 1033 00:48:48,109 --> 00:48:50,476 with a single-minded zeal. 1034 00:48:50,509 --> 00:48:53,909 Still just 19 but now mainly on his own, 1035 00:48:53,943 --> 00:48:56,776 Clay had become a familiar face in overtown, running a tab 1036 00:48:56,809 --> 00:48:59,643 at the famous chef restaurant 1037 00:48:59,676 --> 00:49:01,776 and composing rhymes for the other clients 1038 00:49:01,809 --> 00:49:05,676 at Sonny Armbrimster's barber shop. 1039 00:49:05,709 --> 00:49:08,376 When local hustlers invited him to the sir John 1040 00:49:08,409 --> 00:49:11,743 or Harlem square, where Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, 1041 00:49:11,776 --> 00:49:14,709 and b.B. King performed, Clay joined them 1042 00:49:14,743 --> 00:49:18,243 for the music but drank only orange juice 1043 00:49:18,276 --> 00:49:22,109 and never stayed long. 1044 00:49:22,143 --> 00:49:25,076 When he ventured beyond overtown to white Miami, 1045 00:49:25,109 --> 00:49:27,443 where African-Americans were regularly harassed 1046 00:49:27,476 --> 00:49:31,543 by the local police, Clay kept his cool. 1047 00:49:31,576 --> 00:49:35,076 At a department store, a white photographer looked on 1048 00:49:35,109 --> 00:49:39,043 as Clay was scolded by a clerk for handling a shirt. 1049 00:49:39,076 --> 00:49:42,509 The photographer was indignant, but Clay said, 1050 00:49:42,543 --> 00:49:44,643 "I don't want to make a big mess here. 1051 00:49:44,676 --> 00:49:46,376 It's not a big deal." 1052 00:49:46,409 --> 00:49:51,143 DEMONSTRATORS: ♫ freedom ♫ 1053 00:49:51,176 --> 00:49:53,076 ♫ freedom ♫ 1054 00:49:53,109 --> 00:49:55,343 MARTIN LUTHER KING: Now it is true that men have always 1055 00:49:55,376 --> 00:49:58,209 cried out for freedom, 1056 00:49:58,243 --> 00:50:03,576 but in the past, these cries for freedom were 1057 00:50:03,609 --> 00:50:08,609 in many instances solo voices crying for freedom, 1058 00:50:08,643 --> 00:50:11,676 but the difference today is that this solo voice 1059 00:50:11,709 --> 00:50:14,676 has been transformed into a mighty chorus, 1060 00:50:14,709 --> 00:50:17,943 singing with amazing Harmony, 1061 00:50:17,976 --> 00:50:20,376 "we want to be free." 1062 00:50:20,409 --> 00:50:22,176 It is true that we... 1063 00:50:22,209 --> 00:50:23,852 NARRATOR: Civil rights groups had been challenging 1064 00:50:23,876 --> 00:50:27,109 segregation with non-violent action on buses 1065 00:50:27,143 --> 00:50:31,543 and at lunch counters across the south, 1066 00:50:31,576 --> 00:50:34,343 but when asked about racial injustice, 1067 00:50:34,376 --> 00:50:37,643 Clay said he wished to protect the white Louisville syndicate 1068 00:50:37,676 --> 00:50:39,709 that managed his career. 1069 00:50:39,743 --> 00:50:42,176 "I don't join any groups or nothing because it might 1070 00:50:42,209 --> 00:50:45,909 embarrass my sponsors," he told one reporter. 1071 00:50:45,943 --> 00:50:48,709 He knew speaking out on matters of race would 1072 00:50:48,743 --> 00:50:52,209 only harm his chances of one day getting a title fight. 1073 00:50:52,243 --> 00:50:54,709 KING: And that is another thing that you are saying 1074 00:50:54,743 --> 00:50:56,876 to Louisville, Kentucky, and that you are saying 1075 00:50:56,909 --> 00:51:01,476 to the nation in this movement, that the negro is eternally 1076 00:51:01,509 --> 00:51:04,176 through with segregation. 1077 00:51:06,176 --> 00:51:10,076 NARRATOR: Still, the memory of Emmett till haunted him, 1078 00:51:10,109 --> 00:51:13,809 and his father's ever-present anger at racial oppression 1079 00:51:13,843 --> 00:51:17,509 continued to stir his own conscience. 1080 00:51:17,543 --> 00:51:21,309 LOUIS X: Why are we called negro? 1081 00:51:21,343 --> 00:51:26,309 Why are we deaf, dumb, and blind? 1082 00:51:26,343 --> 00:51:29,409 NARRATOR: Years earlier, Clay had purchased a record 1083 00:51:29,443 --> 00:51:34,243 called "a white man's heaven is a black man's hell," 1084 00:51:34,276 --> 00:51:36,976 written and performed by Louis X, 1085 00:51:37,009 --> 00:51:38,909 a minister for the nation of islam, 1086 00:51:38,943 --> 00:51:42,276 which Clay listened to over and over. 1087 00:51:42,309 --> 00:51:45,376 LOUIS X: A white man's heaven is a black man's hell. 1088 00:51:45,409 --> 00:51:48,443 NARRATOR: One day in Miami, Clay spotted a black man 1089 00:51:48,476 --> 00:51:51,376 in a suit selling copies of the newspaper 1090 00:51:51,409 --> 00:51:53,409 "Muhammad speaks." 1091 00:51:53,443 --> 00:51:56,609 MAN: I was selling the papers one day on the streets, 1092 00:51:56,643 --> 00:51:58,776 and he saw me. 1093 00:51:58,809 --> 00:52:01,443 He said, "hey, brother! 1094 00:52:01,476 --> 00:52:03,943 "Why are we called negroes? 1095 00:52:03,976 --> 00:52:06,609 "Why are we blind, deaf, and dumb? 1096 00:52:06,643 --> 00:52:08,076 "Why everybody making progress, 1097 00:52:08,109 --> 00:52:10,976 and we lagging so far behind?" 1098 00:52:11,009 --> 00:52:12,319 I hollered... I looked back at him, 1099 00:52:12,343 --> 00:52:13,743 I said "hey, man! 1100 00:52:13,776 --> 00:52:15,643 You hip to the teachings, ain't yeah?" 1101 00:52:15,676 --> 00:52:18,309 He said, "yeah. I'm Cassius Clay. 1102 00:52:18,343 --> 00:52:20,176 "I'm gonna be the next heavyweight champion 1103 00:52:20,209 --> 00:52:21,843 of the world." 1104 00:52:21,876 --> 00:52:24,009 NARRATOR: A one-time pool shark from Atlanta, 1105 00:52:24,043 --> 00:52:26,843 Abdul rahman... Known as captain Sam... 1106 00:52:26,876 --> 00:52:29,643 Had abandoned a life of hustling when he heard the teachings 1107 00:52:29,676 --> 00:52:34,676 of the nation of islam's leader Elijah Muhammad. 1108 00:52:34,709 --> 00:52:37,143 ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: The so-called American negro 1109 00:52:37,176 --> 00:52:45,176 has to be completely reeducated that he now can move out 1110 00:52:46,176 --> 00:52:50,176 in the world and feel that he is the equal 1111 00:52:50,209 --> 00:52:56,776 of other civilized beings and does not feel ashamed 1112 00:52:56,809 --> 00:52:59,043 to be called a black man. 1113 00:52:59,076 --> 00:53:03,543 ♫ ♫ 1114 00:53:03,576 --> 00:53:05,843 NARRATOR: Captain Sam encouraged Clay to attend 1115 00:53:05,876 --> 00:53:08,576 meetings at temple no. 29, 1116 00:53:08,609 --> 00:53:13,376 a vacant storefront that had been turned into a mosque. 1117 00:53:13,409 --> 00:53:16,443 "The first time I felt truly spiritual in my life 1118 00:53:16,476 --> 00:53:19,209 was when I walked into the Muslim temple in Miami," 1119 00:53:19,243 --> 00:53:21,643 Clay later recalled. 1120 00:53:21,676 --> 00:53:24,243 "A man named brother John was speaking, 1121 00:53:24,276 --> 00:53:28,209 and I could reach out and touch what he was saying." 1122 00:53:28,243 --> 00:53:31,376 God was black, preached the minister. 1123 00:53:31,409 --> 00:53:33,409 There was no chance of reconciliation 1124 00:53:33,443 --> 00:53:35,776 with white people, who had deliberately stolen 1125 00:53:35,809 --> 00:53:38,376 the black man's identity. 1126 00:53:38,409 --> 00:53:42,343 Only by embracing Allah would black people overcome 1127 00:53:42,376 --> 00:53:44,276 white cruelty. 1128 00:53:44,309 --> 00:53:47,009 MAN: Elijah Muhammad presented islam as this alternative 1129 00:53:47,043 --> 00:53:49,776 to christianity, "the black man's religion," 1130 00:53:49,809 --> 00:53:52,209 and that was a selling point that Elijah Muhammad used, 1131 00:53:52,243 --> 00:53:55,243 and it was pretty effective. 1132 00:53:55,276 --> 00:53:58,043 WOMAN: He's stepping into an alternate reality, 1133 00:53:58,076 --> 00:54:01,643 where up is down and down is up and black is sacred 1134 00:54:01,676 --> 00:54:03,643 and black is valuable. 1135 00:54:03,676 --> 00:54:06,609 You know, your mind is blown. 1136 00:54:06,643 --> 00:54:08,676 Something like that definitely has enormous 1137 00:54:08,709 --> 00:54:10,809 transformative power. 1138 00:54:10,843 --> 00:54:12,476 MUWAKKIL: Especially for the lower-income 1139 00:54:12,509 --> 00:54:14,776 and lesser-educated African-Americans 1140 00:54:14,809 --> 00:54:19,376 who he was targeting at that time. 1141 00:54:19,409 --> 00:54:23,109 NARRATOR: Elijah Muhammad was born Elijah Poole, 1142 00:54:23,143 --> 00:54:28,176 the son of a baptist preacher, in rural Georgia in 1897. 1143 00:54:28,209 --> 00:54:31,209 When Poole was 14, a white mob lynched 1144 00:54:31,243 --> 00:54:33,876 his friend Albert Hamilton, who was accused 1145 00:54:33,909 --> 00:54:36,609 of assaulting a white woman. 1146 00:54:36,643 --> 00:54:39,343 The angry crowd had dragged Hamilton from a jail cell, 1147 00:54:39,376 --> 00:54:41,843 hung him from a tree, and shot him 1148 00:54:41,876 --> 00:54:44,409 more than 300 times. 1149 00:54:44,443 --> 00:54:47,309 Poole resolved that he would, he said, "find a way 1150 00:54:47,343 --> 00:54:50,409 to avenge him and my people." 1151 00:54:52,876 --> 00:54:56,409 In 1923, Poole moved to Detroit, 1152 00:54:56,443 --> 00:54:59,576 where he fell under the sway of a self-styled Messiah 1153 00:54:59,609 --> 00:55:02,409 named w.D. Fard. 1154 00:55:02,443 --> 00:55:05,643 A charismatic orator, fard had invented 1155 00:55:05,676 --> 00:55:08,509 an elaborate history and theology for black people 1156 00:55:08,543 --> 00:55:11,676 rooted in the belief that they were the earth's 1157 00:55:11,709 --> 00:55:15,709 original inhabitants, ruling for trillions of years 1158 00:55:15,743 --> 00:55:19,743 under the banner of islam until they were undermined 1159 00:55:19,776 --> 00:55:23,076 by a race of "white devils," who would one day face 1160 00:55:23,109 --> 00:55:27,443 a brutal end at the hand of Allah. 1161 00:55:27,476 --> 00:55:30,443 He preached black separatism, self-determination, 1162 00:55:30,476 --> 00:55:33,609 and clean living and sometimes assigned 1163 00:55:33,643 --> 00:55:36,209 converts new surnames to replace 1164 00:55:36,243 --> 00:55:39,176 their "slave names." 1165 00:55:39,209 --> 00:55:44,543 Fard called his group the lost-found nation of islam. 1166 00:55:44,576 --> 00:55:50,076 Poole, his latest convert, became Elijah Muhammad. 1167 00:55:50,109 --> 00:55:52,409 MUWAKKIL: There was a tradition of those kinds of groups. 1168 00:55:52,443 --> 00:55:54,876 There was the Moorish Science Temple 1169 00:55:54,909 --> 00:55:56,509 of Noble drew Ali. 1170 00:55:56,543 --> 00:55:58,743 There was the black Hebrew organization 1171 00:55:58,776 --> 00:56:00,609 of this guy by the name black zarab. 1172 00:56:00,643 --> 00:56:02,643 There was Marcus Garvey's 1173 00:56:02,676 --> 00:56:04,776 united negro improvement association, 1174 00:56:04,809 --> 00:56:07,909 and the nation of islam was just one of them. 1175 00:56:07,943 --> 00:56:11,809 They call black christianity the white man's religion, 1176 00:56:11,843 --> 00:56:15,776 and christianity was deeply rooted in black America, 1177 00:56:15,809 --> 00:56:18,243 and anyone who looked at themselves as an enemy 1178 00:56:18,276 --> 00:56:20,476 to that tradition was seen as someone 1179 00:56:20,509 --> 00:56:23,009 who was almost demonic, 1180 00:56:23,043 --> 00:56:26,609 and it was that kind of fear about them. 1181 00:56:26,643 --> 00:56:30,309 NARRATOR: When fard mysteriously vanished in 1934, 1182 00:56:30,343 --> 00:56:32,476 Elijah Muhammad took control, 1183 00:56:32,509 --> 00:56:34,943 called himself the "Messenger of Allah," 1184 00:56:34,976 --> 00:56:38,009 and relocated to Chicago. 1185 00:56:38,043 --> 00:56:40,843 He went to prison rather than register for the draft 1186 00:56:40,876 --> 00:56:43,943 during the second world war, continued to preach 1187 00:56:43,976 --> 00:56:45,909 separation of the races, 1188 00:56:45,943 --> 00:56:48,643 and spoke of the "mother plane," 1189 00:56:48,676 --> 00:56:51,043 a wheel-shaped spacecraft he claimed 1190 00:56:51,076 --> 00:56:53,143 was hovering miles above the earth, 1191 00:56:53,176 --> 00:56:56,109 waiting to annihilate the "white devils" 1192 00:56:56,143 --> 00:56:59,076 on judgment day. 1193 00:56:59,109 --> 00:57:01,509 Though Elijah Muhammad borrowed abundantly 1194 00:57:01,543 --> 00:57:04,876 from Muslim teachings, his message of separatism 1195 00:57:04,909 --> 00:57:07,776 and claim to be a prophet diverged sharply 1196 00:57:07,809 --> 00:57:10,343 from traditional islam, a religion founded 1197 00:57:10,376 --> 00:57:13,976 in the eighth century that, by 1950, 1198 00:57:14,009 --> 00:57:17,609 had more than 400 million followers around the world. 1199 00:57:19,543 --> 00:57:22,143 The nation of islam was an American hybrid. 1200 00:57:22,176 --> 00:57:27,743 It used certain tenets of islam, but other tenets 1201 00:57:27,776 --> 00:57:32,176 were made up by them or improvised. 1202 00:57:32,209 --> 00:57:34,676 They tried to americanize it to the point 1203 00:57:34,709 --> 00:57:37,476 where it was not authentic. 1204 00:57:37,509 --> 00:57:41,809 Elijah was not the prophet Muhammad. 1205 00:57:41,843 --> 00:57:44,909 MAN: Elijah Muhammad... His model was do for self. 1206 00:57:44,943 --> 00:57:47,343 Black people need to do for themselves, 1207 00:57:47,376 --> 00:57:48,909 they need to build for themselves, 1208 00:57:48,943 --> 00:57:50,609 they need to start their own businesses. 1209 00:57:50,643 --> 00:57:52,943 You need to control your own communities. 1210 00:57:52,976 --> 00:57:55,209 Let's quit begging white people for jobs. 1211 00:57:55,243 --> 00:57:58,009 Let's make jobs for ourselves. 1212 00:57:58,043 --> 00:58:00,376 We had to be self-independent 1213 00:58:00,409 --> 00:58:04,343 instead of being in some welfare line or employment, 1214 00:58:04,376 --> 00:58:05,909 looking for a job. 1215 00:58:05,943 --> 00:58:07,776 We was trying to make jobs for ourselves, 1216 00:58:07,809 --> 00:58:09,876 trying to keep the money in our neighborhood 1217 00:58:09,909 --> 00:58:13,943 in the neighborhood to enrich the neighborhood. 1218 00:58:13,976 --> 00:58:17,109 NARRATOR: Elijah Muhammad purchased a farm in Michigan 1219 00:58:17,143 --> 00:58:19,109 and opened a clothing store, bakery, 1220 00:58:19,143 --> 00:58:24,143 and restaurant in Chicago serving mostly black customers. 1221 00:58:24,176 --> 00:58:25,743 We hate ourselves. 1222 00:58:25,776 --> 00:58:27,376 That's right. That's right! 1223 00:58:27,409 --> 00:58:29,576 Because of the teachings 1224 00:58:29,609 --> 00:58:32,443 and the training of our slave masters. 1225 00:58:32,476 --> 00:58:33,909 Yes, sir! 1226 00:58:33,943 --> 00:58:35,443 You need to move away 1227 00:58:35,476 --> 00:58:37,209 from these white people. 1228 00:58:37,243 --> 00:58:38,619 You don't want to integrate with these white people, 1229 00:58:38,643 --> 00:58:40,243 you want to move away from them. 1230 00:58:40,276 --> 00:58:43,209 Your slave master and all his children 1231 00:58:43,243 --> 00:58:47,143 are none other than the devil. 1232 00:58:47,176 --> 00:58:49,976 AUSTON: He was generally regarded by members 1233 00:58:50,009 --> 00:58:52,143 of that movement as the messenger 1234 00:58:52,176 --> 00:58:53,743 of Allah or god. 1235 00:58:53,776 --> 00:58:55,943 He was highly revered, and they answer 1236 00:58:55,976 --> 00:58:58,009 to his dictates. 1237 00:58:58,043 --> 00:59:00,843 This an affirmation of black humanity 1238 00:59:00,876 --> 00:59:05,109 and black dignity as individuals and as a collective. 1239 00:59:05,143 --> 00:59:08,009 Here's hope in the form of a tangible program 1240 00:59:08,043 --> 00:59:10,809 that you can follow that will get you there. 1241 00:59:10,843 --> 00:59:12,576 ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: I say, get out of that 1242 00:59:12,609 --> 00:59:13,843 slavery teaching. 1243 00:59:13,876 --> 00:59:15,643 That's the white man's teaching 1244 00:59:15,676 --> 00:59:17,476 to keep you blind, deaf, and dumb 1245 00:59:17,509 --> 00:59:21,076 to the knowledge of self. 1246 00:59:21,109 --> 00:59:23,143 MAN: The nation of islam had a presence 1247 00:59:23,176 --> 00:59:26,376 in American prisons and you can encounter a guy 1248 00:59:26,409 --> 00:59:30,176 who was not very educated, didn't do very well in school, 1249 00:59:30,209 --> 00:59:32,109 maybe even dropped out, went to prison, 1250 00:59:32,143 --> 00:59:34,209 and joined the nation of islam. 1251 00:59:34,243 --> 00:59:36,109 Comes out of prison, and now you have to have 1252 00:59:36,143 --> 00:59:39,043 a dictionary to have a conversation with him. 1253 00:59:39,076 --> 00:59:43,543 Mastery of standard English now is no longer indexed 1254 00:59:43,576 --> 00:59:46,976 to any kind of uncle tomism, but now is equated 1255 00:59:47,009 --> 00:59:51,309 with what it means to be a dignified black man. 1256 00:59:51,343 --> 00:59:53,776 RAHMAN: This man saved thousands and thousands of people 1257 00:59:53,809 --> 00:59:57,843 from the gutter and took many out of the gutter. 1258 00:59:57,876 --> 01:00:01,176 Many drug addicts cleaned up under his teachings, 1259 01:00:01,209 --> 01:00:03,143 so you can't do nothing but marvel over a man 1260 01:00:03,176 --> 01:00:04,843 can do that. 1261 01:00:04,876 --> 01:00:06,643 NARRATOR: The nation appealed at first mostly 1262 01:00:06,676 --> 01:00:11,176 to poor African-Americans, but by the late 1950s, 1263 01:00:11,209 --> 01:00:14,609 Elijah Muhammad's message of black empowerment began reaching 1264 01:00:14,643 --> 01:00:16,909 some members of the black middle class 1265 01:00:16,943 --> 01:00:21,443 frustrated with the slow pace of change. 1266 01:00:21,476 --> 01:00:27,176 The nation of islam was such a fringe group that 1267 01:00:27,209 --> 01:00:29,943 very few certainly white Americans 1268 01:00:29,976 --> 01:00:31,843 had ever heard of it. 1269 01:00:31,876 --> 01:00:33,385 MIKE WALLACE: Even the clothes they wear... 1270 01:00:33,409 --> 01:00:36,343 ROBERTS: But 1959, Mike Wallace did 1271 01:00:36,376 --> 01:00:37,976 a big documentary on it 1272 01:00:38,009 --> 01:00:39,709 "the hate that hate produced." 1273 01:00:39,743 --> 01:00:43,009 These homegrown negro American muslims 1274 01:00:43,043 --> 01:00:46,143 are the most powerful of the black supremacist groups. 1275 01:00:46,176 --> 01:00:48,776 They have their own parochial schools, 1276 01:00:48,809 --> 01:00:52,209 where Muslim children are taught to hate the white man. 1277 01:00:52,243 --> 01:00:55,509 AUSTON: This documentary was designed to be provocative 1278 01:00:55,543 --> 01:00:57,743 and frightening actually 1279 01:00:57,776 --> 01:01:00,476 to your average white viewer. 1280 01:01:00,509 --> 01:01:02,209 MINISTER: I charge the white man with being 1281 01:01:02,243 --> 01:01:04,676 the greatest troublemaker on earth. 1282 01:01:04,709 --> 01:01:06,185 WALLACE: The white man has been put on trial 1283 01:01:06,209 --> 01:01:07,676 for his sins against the black man. 1284 01:01:07,709 --> 01:01:09,743 He has been found guilty. 1285 01:01:09,776 --> 01:01:11,509 The sentence is death. 1286 01:01:11,543 --> 01:01:15,643 MINISTER: Guilty as charged. 1287 01:01:15,676 --> 01:01:19,343 AUSTON: "Oh, my god. This is what these angry black people 1288 01:01:19,376 --> 01:01:21,576 are planning to do." 1289 01:01:21,609 --> 01:01:25,709 This is a moment of real panic for a lot of white people 1290 01:01:25,743 --> 01:01:27,676 when this documentary airs, 1291 01:01:27,709 --> 01:01:31,943 and I think it was... It was meant to be that. 1292 01:01:31,976 --> 01:01:34,943 NARRATOR: In Miami, Cassius Clay quietly continued 1293 01:01:34,976 --> 01:01:38,876 to attend meetings at temple no. 29. 1294 01:01:38,909 --> 01:01:42,943 REMNICK: He becomes attracted to its message of pride, 1295 01:01:42,976 --> 01:01:45,776 of not depending on the beneficence and favors 1296 01:01:45,809 --> 01:01:48,843 of whites and white politics, 1297 01:01:48,876 --> 01:01:52,609 and it's married to a sense of religion and a rhetoric 1298 01:01:52,643 --> 01:01:55,276 of no more slave name, a new name, 1299 01:01:55,309 --> 01:01:57,343 and he gets caught up, 1300 01:01:57,376 --> 01:01:59,243 and the message, which was so ironic because 1301 01:01:59,276 --> 01:02:02,876 he's surrounded by white people a lot, 1302 01:02:02,909 --> 01:02:06,643 of separatism. 1303 01:02:06,676 --> 01:02:08,809 EARLY: You basically see yourself as having removed 1304 01:02:08,843 --> 01:02:10,643 yourself from the outside world. 1305 01:02:10,676 --> 01:02:12,543 Even though you're interacting with it, 1306 01:02:12,576 --> 01:02:15,409 you have basically removed yourself from it. 1307 01:02:15,443 --> 01:02:19,643 That's appealing, but it's also dangerous. 1308 01:02:19,676 --> 01:02:22,276 The reason why it was so appealing is because cults 1309 01:02:22,309 --> 01:02:24,143 give you this vision of utopia, 1310 01:02:24,176 --> 01:02:26,576 this vision of having this community of people 1311 01:02:26,609 --> 01:02:28,309 that you would be around, 1312 01:02:28,343 --> 01:02:30,443 this vision that we were all marching forward 1313 01:02:30,476 --> 01:02:33,343 for this goal of liberating black people, 1314 01:02:33,376 --> 01:02:37,776 and you had this god Allah, and you saw how black women 1315 01:02:37,809 --> 01:02:39,943 were being respected and how black men 1316 01:02:39,976 --> 01:02:42,343 were looked up to. 1317 01:02:42,376 --> 01:02:44,943 It seemed like a dream. 1318 01:02:44,976 --> 01:02:46,676 That's what cults do to people. 1319 01:02:46,709 --> 01:02:50,409 They offer you a kind of dream. 1320 01:02:50,443 --> 01:02:51,652 I predicted to win the championship 1321 01:02:51,676 --> 01:02:53,109 at the age of 21. 1322 01:02:53,143 --> 01:02:55,576 I'm out to break Floyd Patterson's record, 1323 01:02:55,609 --> 01:02:58,243 and by this day, my 20th birthday today, 1324 01:02:58,276 --> 01:03:01,943 January the 17th, that leaves me exactly one year 1325 01:03:01,976 --> 01:03:04,476 to reach my goal. 1326 01:03:04,509 --> 01:03:08,509 NARRATOR: In early February of 1962, Angelo dundee got 1327 01:03:08,543 --> 01:03:11,776 a phone call from a promoter at Madison square garden, 1328 01:03:11,809 --> 01:03:15,043 who offered Clay a fight against Sonny banks, 1329 01:03:15,076 --> 01:03:18,643 a hard-punching journeyman from Detroit. 1330 01:03:18,676 --> 01:03:20,009 It would be his first fight 1331 01:03:20,043 --> 01:03:23,809 at boxing's most celebrated venue. 1332 01:03:23,843 --> 01:03:26,309 Clay boasted to sportswriters that banks 1333 01:03:26,343 --> 01:03:30,643 would fall in the fourth round. 1334 01:03:30,676 --> 01:03:33,076 JOHNNY ADDIE: From Louisville, Kentucky, 1335 01:03:33,109 --> 01:03:40,509 wearing white trunks, weighing 194.5 pounds, 1336 01:03:40,543 --> 01:03:44,309 the former olympic champion and undefeated 1337 01:03:44,343 --> 01:03:49,843 as a professional Cassius Clay, Clay. 1338 01:03:49,876 --> 01:03:53,309 His opponent, from Detroit, Michigan, 1339 01:03:53,343 --> 01:03:57,043 Sonny banks, banks. 1340 01:03:57,076 --> 01:03:58,709 DON DUNPHY: Round one! 1341 01:03:58,743 --> 01:04:00,443 10 rounds scheduled. 1342 01:04:00,476 --> 01:04:02,043 If banks does anything, 1343 01:04:02,076 --> 01:04:03,309 it's figured to be early. 1344 01:04:03,343 --> 01:04:04,509 He's a power puncher 1345 01:04:04,543 --> 01:04:06,276 early in a fight. 1346 01:04:06,309 --> 01:04:07,876 Clay is the most loquacious 1347 01:04:07,909 --> 01:04:09,543 heavyweight since Jack sharkey. 1348 01:04:09,576 --> 01:04:16,109 ♫ ♫ 1349 01:04:16,143 --> 01:04:19,076 There goes Clay on the floor! 1350 01:04:19,109 --> 01:04:21,843 NARRATOR: When Clay was knocked down in the first, dundee was 1351 01:04:21,876 --> 01:04:24,109 afraid his boxer's career was over 1352 01:04:24,143 --> 01:04:26,676 before it had really started. 1353 01:04:26,709 --> 01:04:30,043 "Cassius went down eyes closed," dundee remembered, 1354 01:04:30,076 --> 01:04:31,743 "but when his butt hit the floor, 1355 01:04:31,776 --> 01:04:34,543 they opened and lit up." 1356 01:04:34,576 --> 01:04:36,419 BENTT: You have to get knocked down at some point. 1357 01:04:36,443 --> 01:04:37,985 If the fighter who got knocks down panics, 1358 01:04:38,009 --> 01:04:39,109 guess what. 1359 01:04:39,143 --> 01:04:40,943 I gotcha. 1360 01:04:40,976 --> 01:04:43,076 Because, if I knock you down, that means I can 1361 01:04:43,109 --> 01:04:46,143 knock you out. 1362 01:04:46,176 --> 01:04:48,076 Cassius never panicked. 1363 01:04:48,109 --> 01:04:49,909 He knew how to respond to it. 1364 01:04:49,943 --> 01:04:53,443 He knew how to stay poised and stay in control. 1365 01:04:53,476 --> 01:04:56,943 DUNPHY: First time that Cassius Clay was ever down. 1366 01:04:56,976 --> 01:04:59,743 NARRATOR: In the second round, he took command, 1367 01:04:59,776 --> 01:05:03,009 bewildering banks with blow after blow. 1368 01:05:03,043 --> 01:05:05,043 BENTT: He stayed loyal to his jab 1369 01:05:05,076 --> 01:05:07,576 and then went to work on him. 1370 01:05:07,609 --> 01:05:09,376 DUNPHY: Round 4. 1371 01:05:12,309 --> 01:05:17,243 Now Clay seems to be coming on a little bit. 1372 01:05:17,276 --> 01:05:18,643 REFEREE: Hold it, hold it, hold it. 1373 01:05:18,676 --> 01:05:20,143 NARRATOR: In the fourth round, 1374 01:05:20,176 --> 01:05:22,076 the referee had seen enough 1375 01:05:22,109 --> 01:05:25,076 and called the match in favor of Clay... 1376 01:05:25,109 --> 01:05:28,276 ADDIE: Winner by tko Cassius Clay. 1377 01:05:28,309 --> 01:05:31,509 NARRATOR: Just as he had predicted. 1378 01:05:31,543 --> 01:05:34,309 "Watching him get up off the floor against banks 1379 01:05:34,343 --> 01:05:37,643 and then recover to win," dundee remembered, 1380 01:05:37,676 --> 01:05:40,276 "that's the night I fell in love with the kid." 1381 01:05:43,043 --> 01:05:46,676 Between fights he continued to talk, offering a quip, 1382 01:05:46,709 --> 01:05:50,509 poem, or prediction to every reporter he could 1383 01:05:50,543 --> 01:05:53,843 and doubling down on his guarantee that he would soon 1384 01:05:53,876 --> 01:05:57,809 become the youngest heavyweight champion ever. 1385 01:05:57,843 --> 01:06:01,109 My last 3 fights, I predicted a 4-round knockout. 1386 01:06:01,143 --> 01:06:03,509 I knocked out Sonny banks in 4 rounds, 1387 01:06:03,543 --> 01:06:05,209 I knocked out Don Warner in 4 rounds, 1388 01:06:05,243 --> 01:06:09,809 and I just annihilated George Logan in 4 rounds. 1389 01:06:09,843 --> 01:06:12,076 NARRATOR: White sportswriters started calling him 1390 01:06:12,109 --> 01:06:15,176 "mighty mouth," "Cassius the gaseous," 1391 01:06:15,209 --> 01:06:16,976 the "Louisville lip." 1392 01:06:17,009 --> 01:06:19,809 Nothing would please people more, one reporter said, 1393 01:06:19,843 --> 01:06:23,043 than to see Cassius "gag on a glove." 1394 01:06:23,076 --> 01:06:25,409 MAN: He was rude, rude to his opponents. 1395 01:06:25,443 --> 01:06:27,576 Before a fight he would insult them, 1396 01:06:27,609 --> 01:06:29,143 he would mock them, he would predict 1397 01:06:29,176 --> 01:06:31,009 bad things for them. 1398 01:06:31,043 --> 01:06:33,409 He didn't know much about losing in the early days. 1399 01:06:33,443 --> 01:06:35,509 It wasn't proper behavior. 1400 01:06:35,543 --> 01:06:37,576 NARRATOR: To them, he was nothing like the revered 1401 01:06:37,609 --> 01:06:41,943 former champion of the 1930s and 1940s Joe Louis, 1402 01:06:41,976 --> 01:06:45,076 whose managers had demanded he refrain from celebrating 1403 01:06:45,109 --> 01:06:48,276 after defeating white opponents. 1404 01:06:48,309 --> 01:06:52,043 REMNICK: And these guys, these elders, were offended 1405 01:06:52,076 --> 01:06:54,743 by this "gaseous Cassius." 1406 01:06:54,776 --> 01:06:57,276 They just thought that he was impertinent, 1407 01:06:57,309 --> 01:07:00,909 that he offended their sense of athletic aesthetics. 1408 01:07:00,943 --> 01:07:02,509 "What's all this prancing around? 1409 01:07:02,543 --> 01:07:04,276 Stand and fight!" 1410 01:07:04,309 --> 01:07:06,909 LIPSYTE: The sportswriters were mostly older men, 1411 01:07:06,943 --> 01:07:08,609 white men. 1412 01:07:08,643 --> 01:07:10,252 Now there were a few of us younger guys around, 1413 01:07:10,276 --> 01:07:11,643 and we loved him. 1414 01:07:11,676 --> 01:07:12,976 It was wonderful. 1415 01:07:13,009 --> 01:07:16,209 I was around Cassius' age. 1416 01:07:16,243 --> 01:07:17,976 It was very exciting. 1417 01:07:18,009 --> 01:07:20,409 CLAY: Most people think because I can predict 1418 01:07:20,443 --> 01:07:22,643 a fight like this and make it come true, 1419 01:07:22,676 --> 01:07:25,743 they think that I am becoming overconfident. 1420 01:07:25,776 --> 01:07:27,943 I'm gunning for Floyd Patterson and Sonny liston, 1421 01:07:27,976 --> 01:07:31,376 and if they get in my way, I will annihilate them, also. 1422 01:07:31,409 --> 01:07:34,576 So there's this... this sort of mainstream sensibility 1423 01:07:34,609 --> 01:07:38,143 about how a man should conduct himself in public, 1424 01:07:38,176 --> 01:07:42,109 which is based purely on this sort of white male logic. 1425 01:07:42,143 --> 01:07:44,243 Cassius Clay's one of the first people to come along 1426 01:07:44,276 --> 01:07:45,819 in public and say, "I'm not going to follow 1427 01:07:45,843 --> 01:07:47,276 "those rules. 1428 01:07:47,309 --> 01:07:50,643 I'm going to say and do what I choose." 1429 01:07:50,676 --> 01:07:53,643 It's about independence. 1430 01:07:53,676 --> 01:07:58,309 In early June 1962, Abdul rahman invited Cassius 1431 01:07:58,343 --> 01:08:01,143 and his brother Rudy to a nation of islam rally 1432 01:08:01,176 --> 01:08:03,509 in Detroit later that month. 1433 01:08:03,543 --> 01:08:06,043 Though publicly associating with the sect could harm 1434 01:08:06,076 --> 01:08:09,143 Clay's chances of getting a title fight, 1435 01:08:09,176 --> 01:08:11,076 the brothers said yes. 1436 01:08:11,109 --> 01:08:16,376 RAHMAN: Clay was in Louisville, his car was in Miami, 1437 01:08:16,409 --> 01:08:20,676 so I drove his car from Miami to Louisville to pick him up, 1438 01:08:20,709 --> 01:08:23,343 and we drove from there on into Detroit 1439 01:08:23,376 --> 01:08:26,509 to hear the lecture of the honorable Elijah Muhammad. 1440 01:08:26,543 --> 01:08:28,976 NARRATOR: Before the rally, the 3 visited the luncheonette 1441 01:08:29,009 --> 01:08:31,476 next door to mosque no. 1, 1442 01:08:31,509 --> 01:08:33,376 where they met a well-known minister 1443 01:08:33,409 --> 01:08:36,209 from New York who was in town to deliver opening remarks 1444 01:08:36,243 --> 01:08:37,843 at the rally. 1445 01:08:37,876 --> 01:08:40,043 His name was Malcolm X. 1446 01:08:40,076 --> 01:08:42,543 Clay approached him, enthusiastically offered 1447 01:08:42,576 --> 01:08:45,809 his hand, and introduced himself. 1448 01:08:45,843 --> 01:08:47,809 EIG: When Malcolm met Cassius Clay, 1449 01:08:47,843 --> 01:08:50,343 he'd never heard of him, was not much of a boxing fan. 1450 01:08:50,376 --> 01:08:52,709 The nation of islam discouraged its members 1451 01:08:52,743 --> 01:08:55,243 from participating in sport and entertainment. 1452 01:08:55,276 --> 01:08:57,209 They didn't think it was serious enough. 1453 01:08:57,243 --> 01:08:58,743 It was seen as a distraction. 1454 01:08:58,776 --> 01:09:02,043 So he didn't recognize Cassius Clay. 1455 01:09:02,076 --> 01:09:04,109 NARRATOR: After a brief chat, Malcolm returned 1456 01:09:04,143 --> 01:09:06,309 to preparing for his address, 1457 01:09:06,343 --> 01:09:09,043 but the young fighter had left an impression. 1458 01:09:09,076 --> 01:09:12,409 Clay had a "contagious quality," Malcolm later recalled. 1459 01:09:12,443 --> 01:09:15,643 He was "clean cut and down to earth." 1460 01:09:15,676 --> 01:09:17,552 EIG: They quickly developed a friendship and a bond, 1461 01:09:17,576 --> 01:09:20,576 and Malcolm became a very important teacher 1462 01:09:20,609 --> 01:09:23,276 for Cassius, uh, teaching him about the nation of islam 1463 01:09:23,309 --> 01:09:25,376 and about what the religion meant. 1464 01:09:25,409 --> 01:09:28,109 They became good friends. 1465 01:09:28,143 --> 01:09:30,843 NARRATOR: Born in 1925 to parents who followed 1466 01:09:30,876 --> 01:09:33,909 the black separatist leader Marcus Garvey, 1467 01:09:33,943 --> 01:09:36,743 Malcolm little was introduced to the nation of islam 1468 01:09:36,776 --> 01:09:39,443 in the late 1940s while serving time 1469 01:09:39,476 --> 01:09:43,743 in a Massachusetts prison for burglary. 1470 01:09:43,776 --> 01:09:46,743 Deeply affected by Elijah Muhammad's teachings, 1471 01:09:46,776 --> 01:09:49,543 little wrote to the leader almost daily 1472 01:09:49,576 --> 01:09:53,276 and took the name Malcolm X. 1473 01:09:53,309 --> 01:09:55,809 Later after his release from prison, 1474 01:09:55,843 --> 01:09:58,243 Muhammad would make him principal minister 1475 01:09:58,276 --> 01:10:01,276 at temple no. 7 in Harlem. 1476 01:10:01,309 --> 01:10:02,709 Who are you? 1477 01:10:02,743 --> 01:10:04,243 You don't know. 1478 01:10:04,276 --> 01:10:06,909 Don't tell me negro. That's nothing. 1479 01:10:06,943 --> 01:10:08,385 What were you before the white man named 1480 01:10:08,409 --> 01:10:09,943 you a negro? 1481 01:10:09,976 --> 01:10:11,543 And where were you? 1482 01:10:11,576 --> 01:10:13,409 And what did you have? 1483 01:10:13,443 --> 01:10:15,043 What was yours? 1484 01:10:15,076 --> 01:10:17,376 What language did you speak then? 1485 01:10:17,409 --> 01:10:18,943 What was your name? 1486 01:10:18,976 --> 01:10:21,609 It couldn't have been Smith or Jones 1487 01:10:21,643 --> 01:10:23,009 or bunch or Powell. 1488 01:10:23,043 --> 01:10:24,709 That wasn't your name. 1489 01:10:24,743 --> 01:10:26,019 They don't have those kind of names where you and I 1490 01:10:26,043 --> 01:10:28,009 came from. 1491 01:10:28,043 --> 01:10:32,043 MUWAKKIL: When Malcolm came along, his charisma was married 1492 01:10:32,076 --> 01:10:34,909 to Elijah Muhammad's puritanical message, 1493 01:10:34,943 --> 01:10:36,909 and it took off. 1494 01:10:36,943 --> 01:10:39,076 I was mesmerized by the guy. 1495 01:10:39,109 --> 01:10:41,009 America is still a country 1496 01:10:41,043 --> 01:10:44,209 whose governmental system is based upon freedom, 1497 01:10:44,243 --> 01:10:47,576 justice, and equality for white people only. 1498 01:10:47,609 --> 01:10:50,776 MUWAKKIL: And I couldn't imagine anyone besting him 1499 01:10:50,809 --> 01:10:52,909 in an intellectual argument. 1500 01:10:52,943 --> 01:10:54,252 MALCOLM X: You haven't done the right thing... 1501 01:10:54,276 --> 01:10:55,476 MUWAKKIL: He was that sharp. 1502 01:10:55,509 --> 01:10:57,143 MALCOLM X: By my people, 1503 01:10:57,176 --> 01:10:59,043 and because you haven't done the right thing 1504 01:10:59,076 --> 01:11:03,443 by my people, now I got to do the right thing by you. 1505 01:11:03,476 --> 01:11:06,143 Your kingdom has got to go. 1506 01:11:06,176 --> 01:11:08,443 MUWAKKIL: Often when people had intellectual attainment, 1507 01:11:08,476 --> 01:11:10,376 they disdained, the street life, 1508 01:11:10,409 --> 01:11:13,276 and they had this aura of superiority. 1509 01:11:13,309 --> 01:11:15,643 Malcolm, he didn't have that at all. 1510 01:11:15,676 --> 01:11:17,609 He seemed to embrace the street life in a way 1511 01:11:17,643 --> 01:11:19,009 that few others had, 1512 01:11:19,043 --> 01:11:22,509 and that was a very unique thing. 1513 01:11:22,543 --> 01:11:24,476 NARRATOR: Many Americans, now familiar 1514 01:11:24,509 --> 01:11:27,676 with the non-violent actions of the civil rights movement 1515 01:11:27,709 --> 01:11:30,809 led primarily by southern ministers, were shocked 1516 01:11:30,843 --> 01:11:33,609 and frightened by what Malcolm X had to say. 1517 01:11:33,643 --> 01:11:36,443 MALCOLM X: No man can speak for negroes who tells 1518 01:11:36,476 --> 01:11:39,109 negroes love their enemy. 1519 01:11:39,143 --> 01:11:42,643 No man can speak for negroes who tells negroes 1520 01:11:42,676 --> 01:11:44,643 turn the other cheek. 1521 01:11:44,676 --> 01:11:47,443 There is no negro in his right mind today 1522 01:11:47,476 --> 01:11:51,243 who is going to turn the other cheek. 1523 01:11:51,276 --> 01:11:53,176 NARRATOR: As Malcolm's influence grew, 1524 01:11:53,209 --> 01:11:56,709 his activities drew increasing interest from the FBI, 1525 01:11:56,743 --> 01:11:59,943 which began tracking his every move, 1526 01:11:59,976 --> 01:12:04,676 surveillance that would continue until the end of his life. 1527 01:12:04,709 --> 01:12:06,285 ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: Stop trying to be in unity 1528 01:12:06,309 --> 01:12:08,343 with the people that don't want you. 1529 01:12:08,376 --> 01:12:11,343 They hate you and call you these black 1530 01:12:11,376 --> 01:12:12,776 so and so and so. 1531 01:12:12,809 --> 01:12:14,943 Get out of that people's faith. 1532 01:12:14,976 --> 01:12:17,243 NARRATOR: At the rally in Detroit that Cassius, Rudy, 1533 01:12:17,276 --> 01:12:19,776 and Abdul rahman had driven to, 1534 01:12:19,809 --> 01:12:23,543 the brothers hung on Elijah Muhammad's every word. 1535 01:12:23,576 --> 01:12:25,543 ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: He is through with you and I. 1536 01:12:25,576 --> 01:12:26,909 He has freed you and I. 1537 01:12:26,943 --> 01:12:28,809 Let's act like free men. 1538 01:12:28,843 --> 01:12:31,809 Do for our free selves. 1539 01:12:31,843 --> 01:12:35,476 ROBERTS: If Cassius comes out and says, "yes, I'm a member 1540 01:12:35,509 --> 01:12:38,809 of the nation of islam," his career is over. 1541 01:12:38,843 --> 01:12:41,909 You know, I mean boxing is in the doldrums anyway. 1542 01:12:41,943 --> 01:12:46,009 Just what we need now, a top contender affirming 1543 01:12:46,043 --> 01:12:48,409 his belief in the nation of islam. 1544 01:12:48,443 --> 01:12:50,809 He's not going to attract any big fights. 1545 01:12:50,843 --> 01:12:52,543 White America is not going to give 1546 01:12:52,576 --> 01:12:55,443 the heavyweight championship to a black Muslim. 1547 01:12:55,476 --> 01:12:59,176 Clay had to play it very coy. 1548 01:12:59,209 --> 01:13:01,609 NARRATOR: In July, Cassius Clay predicted he'd 1549 01:13:01,643 --> 01:13:05,509 knock out an Argentine contender named Alejandro Lavorante 1550 01:13:05,543 --> 01:13:08,743 in the fifth round and then once again 1551 01:13:08,776 --> 01:13:10,943 made good on that prediction. 1552 01:13:10,976 --> 01:13:13,609 He was now 15-0. 1553 01:13:13,643 --> 01:13:16,276 After the match, Clay spotted Archie Moore 1554 01:13:16,309 --> 01:13:17,676 at ringside. 1555 01:13:17,709 --> 01:13:18,819 "You're next, old man" he shouted 1556 01:13:18,843 --> 01:13:21,643 to his one-time trainer. 1557 01:13:21,676 --> 01:13:24,476 Moore claimed to be 45, though many believe 1558 01:13:24,509 --> 01:13:26,476 he was closer to 50, 1559 01:13:26,509 --> 01:13:28,776 but he needed the money and quickly agreed 1560 01:13:28,809 --> 01:13:30,876 to the fight. 1561 01:13:30,909 --> 01:13:33,909 Archie Moore was like the professor of fighters. 1562 01:13:33,943 --> 01:13:36,243 Archie Moore was incredibly brilliant, 1563 01:13:36,276 --> 01:13:39,643 but Archie Moore had the vanity of thinking 1564 01:13:39,676 --> 01:13:41,576 that he could figure out the young guy 1565 01:13:41,609 --> 01:13:44,076 and through positioning himself right and moving right 1566 01:13:44,109 --> 01:13:48,143 he could outsmart this young guy. 1567 01:13:48,176 --> 01:13:52,143 Let's just say the prerogatives of youth overcame him. 1568 01:13:52,176 --> 01:13:55,876 NARRATOR: Clay won by technical knockout in the fourth round. 1569 01:13:57,709 --> 01:14:01,743 By the end of 1962, Cassius Clay was ranked number 4 1570 01:14:01,776 --> 01:14:05,009 among heavyweight contenders, and he had begun 1571 01:14:05,043 --> 01:14:08,809 to look like a shrewd bet by his Louisville sponsors, 1572 01:14:08,843 --> 01:14:11,676 who were on pace to recoup their initial investment 1573 01:14:11,709 --> 01:14:13,876 in the coming year. 1574 01:14:13,909 --> 01:14:16,376 Mr. Cassius Clay, ladies and gentlemen. 1575 01:14:16,409 --> 01:14:20,043 (applause) 1576 01:14:20,076 --> 01:14:21,509 Jerry, i'm the greatest fighter 1577 01:14:21,543 --> 01:14:22,885 that's ever stepped foot in the ring. 1578 01:14:22,909 --> 01:14:24,352 I'm so great, I tell a clown what round 1579 01:14:24,376 --> 01:14:26,209 he's going down. 1580 01:14:26,243 --> 01:14:27,269 REPORTER: You seem to be making 1581 01:14:27,293 --> 01:14:28,152 predictions about fights. 1582 01:14:28,176 --> 01:14:29,652 CLAY: That's part of the Clay psychology 1583 01:14:29,676 --> 01:14:32,143 and also part of the Clay greatness. 1584 01:14:32,176 --> 01:14:33,643 And the Clay greatness. 1585 01:14:33,676 --> 01:14:34,952 Well, now you claim to be you're going to be 1586 01:14:34,976 --> 01:14:36,609 the next champion of the world. 1587 01:14:36,643 --> 01:14:38,143 Next champion of the world. 1588 01:14:38,176 --> 01:14:39,676 I'll hold the title for about 10 years 1589 01:14:39,709 --> 01:14:41,976 and then give it to my younger brother Rudolph. 1590 01:14:42,009 --> 01:14:43,476 NARRATOR: Though critics grumbled 1591 01:14:43,509 --> 01:14:45,009 that he still talked too much 1592 01:14:45,043 --> 01:14:47,609 and hadn't yet faced a worthy opponent, 1593 01:14:47,643 --> 01:14:51,143 Cassius Clay had the boxing world's attention. 1594 01:14:51,176 --> 01:14:53,176 "I don't care if this kid can't fight a lick," 1595 01:14:53,209 --> 01:14:56,209 said the former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey. 1596 01:14:56,243 --> 01:14:57,876 "I'm for him. 1597 01:14:57,909 --> 01:14:59,709 Things are live again." 1598 01:15:04,643 --> 01:15:09,409 FRED MCDOWELL: ♫ it was soon one morning ♫ 1599 01:15:09,443 --> 01:15:13,309 ♫ death come creepin' ♫ 1600 01:15:13,343 --> 01:15:17,143 ♫ soon when ♫ 1601 01:15:17,176 --> 01:15:20,143 ♫ death come creepin' in my room ♫ 1602 01:15:20,176 --> 01:15:26,409 MOSLEY: Poor men box because it's the only choice they have, 1603 01:15:26,443 --> 01:15:31,409 which is the reason that boxing itself is poetry. 1604 01:15:31,443 --> 01:15:33,085 "Why you want to get in the ring and get hurt?" 1605 01:15:33,109 --> 01:15:35,509 Said, "man, I can go down to the bar and get hurt. 1606 01:15:35,543 --> 01:15:37,185 "You know, I can go down there to the juke joint 1607 01:15:37,209 --> 01:15:39,209 and listen to Robert Johnson and get hurt." 1608 01:15:39,243 --> 01:15:40,785 He said, "at least when I get in the ring, 1609 01:15:40,809 --> 01:15:42,943 "they pay me, 1610 01:15:42,976 --> 01:15:46,609 and they got to wear gloves when they hit me." 1611 01:15:46,643 --> 01:15:48,509 MCDOWELL: ♫ o my lord ♫ 1612 01:15:48,543 --> 01:15:52,509 MOSLEY: You fight because you fight every day anyway. 1613 01:15:52,543 --> 01:15:54,509 A black man, but not just black men, 1614 01:15:54,543 --> 01:15:59,276 any poor... a Mexican or irishman or Jew... if they're fighting, 1615 01:15:59,309 --> 01:16:03,609 they're fighting for their lives, 1616 01:16:03,643 --> 01:16:05,683 and the only reason they're fighting for their lives 1617 01:16:05,709 --> 01:16:09,543 in the ring is because it's a little bit safer 1618 01:16:09,576 --> 01:16:15,309 than fighting for your life on the streets of America. 1619 01:16:15,343 --> 01:16:18,543 NARRATOR: In September 1962, heavyweight champion 1620 01:16:18,576 --> 01:16:20,843 Floyd Patterson was scheduled to fight 1621 01:16:20,876 --> 01:16:25,609 challenger Sonny liston at Chicago's Comiskey park. 1622 01:16:25,643 --> 01:16:28,109 Patterson was the sentimental favorite, 1623 01:16:28,143 --> 01:16:30,443 but the odds were against him. 1624 01:16:30,476 --> 01:16:33,109 TALESE: Floyd Patterson was a remarkable fighter 1625 01:16:33,143 --> 01:16:34,776 because he was a heavyweight champion 1626 01:16:34,809 --> 01:16:36,576 without being a heavyweight. 1627 01:16:36,609 --> 01:16:38,443 Patterson had a humility about him 1628 01:16:38,476 --> 01:16:41,809 and a certain righteousness about him that he appealed 1629 01:16:41,843 --> 01:16:43,443 to the white middle class, 1630 01:16:43,476 --> 01:16:47,809 the white sportswriter, the white element. 1631 01:16:47,843 --> 01:16:50,776 PATTERSON: I met the president of the United States. 1632 01:16:50,809 --> 01:16:53,643 He knew of my fight with liston, 1633 01:16:53,676 --> 01:16:57,943 and he had said to me, uh, you know, "Floyd, 1634 01:16:57,976 --> 01:16:59,852 "you want to try to keep the title because you represent 1635 01:16:59,876 --> 01:17:03,243 something good." 1636 01:17:03,276 --> 01:17:05,509 IZENBERG: Floyd's manager was Cus D'Amato, 1637 01:17:05,543 --> 01:17:10,343 and he discovered very early that Floyd really had 1638 01:17:10,376 --> 01:17:16,043 the quick hands of a cobra and the chin of a poet. 1639 01:17:16,076 --> 01:17:18,443 He didn't want him to fight Sonny liston. 1640 01:17:18,476 --> 01:17:20,385 Definitely did not want him to fight Sonny liston. 1641 01:17:20,409 --> 01:17:23,776 Floyd was baited into the fight because he decided 1642 01:17:23,809 --> 01:17:26,209 he was deputized to get rid of all bullies 1643 01:17:26,243 --> 01:17:28,376 and whatever else. 1644 01:17:28,409 --> 01:17:30,509 Cassius, in about a month from now, 1645 01:17:30,543 --> 01:17:32,143 Sonny liston is going to be trying to get 1646 01:17:32,176 --> 01:17:34,643 the championship from Floyd Patterson. 1647 01:17:34,676 --> 01:17:36,176 How do you see this fight? 1648 01:17:36,209 --> 01:17:37,576 Trying to get? 1649 01:17:37,609 --> 01:17:39,476 Sonny liston will get it. 1650 01:17:39,509 --> 01:17:41,252 I see Sonny liston knocking Floyd Patterson out 1651 01:17:41,276 --> 01:17:43,743 within the first 5 rounds. 1652 01:17:43,776 --> 01:17:47,343 In my estimation, Sonny liston is 1653 01:17:47,376 --> 01:17:51,043 a great American hero. 1654 01:17:51,076 --> 01:17:54,309 He had taken all the worst from everybody. 1655 01:17:54,343 --> 01:17:57,409 He's a man who doesn't know when he was born, 1656 01:17:57,443 --> 01:18:00,743 doesn't, have any relationship whatsoever with his father, 1657 01:18:00,776 --> 01:18:03,909 had a mother who kept on running away from him. 1658 01:18:03,943 --> 01:18:07,009 He was a man of extraordinary power 1659 01:18:07,043 --> 01:18:11,309 and an extraordinary focus, who took all the barbs 1660 01:18:11,343 --> 01:18:15,809 and arrows that everybody had to throw 1661 01:18:15,843 --> 01:18:18,476 and still made it. 1662 01:18:18,509 --> 01:18:21,143 Boxing is that guy, like liston, who just basically 1663 01:18:21,176 --> 01:18:23,743 climbs right up out of the mud. 1664 01:18:23,776 --> 01:18:26,843 They say, "where are you from?" He said, "I'm from back there." 1665 01:18:26,876 --> 01:18:28,209 You know. 1666 01:18:30,943 --> 01:18:33,309 NARRATOR: The son of an Arkansas sharecropper 1667 01:18:33,343 --> 01:18:37,643 who whipped him almost daily, Charles "Sonny" liston was 1668 01:18:37,676 --> 01:18:41,976 first introduced to boxing in 1950 by a prison chaplain 1669 01:18:42,009 --> 01:18:44,509 at Missouri state penitentiary, where he was 1670 01:18:44,543 --> 01:18:47,643 serving time for armed robbery. 1671 01:18:47,676 --> 01:18:51,743 Within 4 weeks, no inmates, including trained boxers, 1672 01:18:51,776 --> 01:18:55,009 would get in the ring with him. 1673 01:18:55,043 --> 01:18:58,743 He was paroled in October of 1952. 1674 01:18:58,776 --> 01:19:02,809 A local mob boss got liston a job at an ordnance plant 1675 01:19:02,843 --> 01:19:05,843 and entered him in amateur tournaments. 1676 01:19:05,876 --> 01:19:09,043 4 months later, after capturing the international 1677 01:19:09,076 --> 01:19:11,509 golden gloves heavyweight title, 1678 01:19:11,543 --> 01:19:13,976 liston turned professional. 1679 01:19:14,009 --> 01:19:17,109 Over the next 5 years, he worked in construction 1680 01:19:17,143 --> 01:19:19,776 and as a chauffeur and sometime enforcer 1681 01:19:19,809 --> 01:19:22,476 for the union bosses. 1682 01:19:22,509 --> 01:19:25,709 He was harassed constantly by St. Louis police, 1683 01:19:25,743 --> 01:19:27,843 who picked him up for "questioning" 1684 01:19:27,876 --> 01:19:31,109 more than 100 times. 1685 01:19:31,143 --> 01:19:34,176 In the ring, Sonny liston was nearly unbeatable, 1686 01:19:34,209 --> 01:19:37,009 using what one reporter called "a pile driver" 1687 01:19:37,043 --> 01:19:44,109 of a left hand to win 17 of his first 18 professional fights. 1688 01:19:44,143 --> 01:19:47,609 As liston climbed the ranks, Frank carbo, 1689 01:19:47,643 --> 01:19:51,209 a mob hitman who became a powerful boxing promoter, 1690 01:19:51,243 --> 01:19:55,443 took an interest and approached the small-time mobster 1691 01:19:55,476 --> 01:19:57,776 who thought he owned liston. 1692 01:19:57,809 --> 01:20:00,943 IZENBERG: Frankie carbo, who's running boxing said, 1693 01:20:00,976 --> 01:20:02,709 "here's 75,000. 1694 01:20:02,743 --> 01:20:04,376 "You never saw liston. 1695 01:20:04,409 --> 01:20:05,876 "You're never gonna see him again. 1696 01:20:05,909 --> 01:20:08,509 Forget it. He's my fighter." 1697 01:20:08,543 --> 01:20:10,485 He was in the hands of the mob, and the mob treated him 1698 01:20:10,509 --> 01:20:12,543 pretty well. 1699 01:20:12,576 --> 01:20:15,143 Sonny was illiterate, but by no means 1700 01:20:15,176 --> 01:20:17,876 was Sonny ignorant. 1701 01:20:17,909 --> 01:20:20,643 MOSLEY: I think people hated liston because he was a brute. 1702 01:20:20,676 --> 01:20:23,009 They hated him because he was deadly 1703 01:20:23,043 --> 01:20:24,676 and he was dangerous. 1704 01:20:24,709 --> 01:20:27,076 They hated him because of the corrupt country 1705 01:20:27,109 --> 01:20:28,676 they created. 1706 01:20:28,709 --> 01:20:30,376 That corruption co-opted him. 1707 01:20:30,409 --> 01:20:32,143 They hated him because he was illiterate, 1708 01:20:32,176 --> 01:20:34,643 but they didn't teach him how to read and write. 1709 01:20:34,676 --> 01:20:38,409 He's hated by white people and black people, 1710 01:20:38,443 --> 01:20:39,843 and he just never stopped. 1711 01:20:39,876 --> 01:20:41,576 He just kept right on going, 1712 01:20:41,609 --> 01:20:44,376 and if you're like a black man or a woman in America 1713 01:20:44,409 --> 01:20:46,476 and you see somebody like Sonny liston, you say, 1714 01:20:46,509 --> 01:20:51,143 "that's what they do to us." 1715 01:20:51,176 --> 01:20:53,509 NARRATOR: By the time liston challenged Floyd Patterson 1716 01:20:53,543 --> 01:20:56,309 for the heavyweight title in 1962, 1717 01:20:56,343 --> 01:21:00,909 he had 33 wins and just 1 loss. 1718 01:21:00,943 --> 01:21:02,809 "Patterson was the moral favorite," 1719 01:21:02,843 --> 01:21:05,376 the writer James Baldwin observed. 1720 01:21:05,409 --> 01:21:09,043 "People felt liston's victory would be a disaster." 1721 01:21:09,076 --> 01:21:12,476 ADDIE: Weighing 214 pounds, 1722 01:21:12,509 --> 01:21:17,676 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sonny liston. 1723 01:21:17,709 --> 01:21:19,276 (booing) 1724 01:21:19,309 --> 01:21:21,509 NARRATOR: Sonny liston understood. 1725 01:21:21,543 --> 01:21:23,876 "It's like a cowboy movie," he said. 1726 01:21:23,909 --> 01:21:25,943 "There's got to be good guys, 1727 01:21:25,976 --> 01:21:30,409 and there's got to be bad guys." 1728 01:21:30,443 --> 01:21:32,109 (bell rings) 1729 01:21:32,143 --> 01:21:33,919 CHRIS SCHENKEL: Sonny liston moves out to face 1730 01:21:33,943 --> 01:21:38,409 the big chance of his 28 years of a turbulent life. 1731 01:21:38,443 --> 01:21:40,419 The liston hook to the head is the first good punch 1732 01:21:40,443 --> 01:21:42,509 of the fight. 1733 01:21:46,309 --> 01:21:48,276 A left to grazing right and a solid left 1734 01:21:48,309 --> 01:21:51,709 to the cheekbone dropped the champion. 1735 01:21:51,743 --> 01:21:54,943 NARRATOR: It took liston just 2 minutes and 6 seconds 1736 01:21:54,976 --> 01:21:59,676 to become heavyweight champion of the world. 1737 01:21:59,709 --> 01:22:01,585 IZENBERG: It was clear to me that nobody would ever beat 1738 01:22:01,609 --> 01:22:03,343 Sonny liston and that he would be 107 1739 01:22:03,376 --> 01:22:06,243 and he would retire as the undefeated champion. 1740 01:22:09,543 --> 01:22:12,943 ROBERTS: Boxing was in the winter of its discontent. 1741 01:22:12,976 --> 01:22:15,943 Rumors that everything's fixed. 1742 01:22:15,976 --> 01:22:19,109 DUNPHY: Paret against the ropes, almost helpless. 1743 01:22:19,143 --> 01:22:21,643 A minute to go. 1744 01:22:21,676 --> 01:22:23,876 And they're gonna stop it. 1745 01:22:23,909 --> 01:22:26,143 They're gonna stop it as paret sags... 1746 01:22:26,176 --> 01:22:28,119 ROBERTS: And another major problem that had was just 1747 01:22:28,143 --> 01:22:30,809 the sheer violence of the sport. 1748 01:22:30,843 --> 01:22:32,476 DUNPHY: We're more concerned 1749 01:22:32,509 --> 01:22:34,843 about the condition of Benny "Kid" Paret. 1750 01:22:34,876 --> 01:22:37,009 ROBERTS: You had fights on television 1751 01:22:37,043 --> 01:22:38,809 that startled Americans. 1752 01:22:38,843 --> 01:22:41,543 You know, "do we want to watch this? 1753 01:22:41,576 --> 01:22:45,343 We've got to ban this sport." 1754 01:22:45,376 --> 01:22:49,143 NARRATOR: On February 4, 1963, Cassius Clay traveled 1755 01:22:49,176 --> 01:22:52,043 to Albany, New York, to appear as a witness 1756 01:22:52,076 --> 01:22:54,643 before a legislative committee considering a bill 1757 01:22:54,676 --> 01:22:57,943 that would abolish boxing in the state of New York 1758 01:22:57,976 --> 01:23:01,676 because of its brutality and ever-present corruption. 1759 01:23:01,709 --> 01:23:03,443 COMMITTEE MEMBER: Don't you think that 1760 01:23:03,476 --> 01:23:05,085 these predictions that you're making and the fact 1761 01:23:05,109 --> 01:23:07,543 that the last few fights have happened to end 1762 01:23:07,576 --> 01:23:10,543 in the exact round that you state have created 1763 01:23:10,576 --> 01:23:13,376 a bad image to the general public of boxing? 1764 01:23:13,409 --> 01:23:17,276 Well, no, it haven't. A few people... 1765 01:23:17,309 --> 01:23:18,743 Well, in other words, they say, 1766 01:23:18,776 --> 01:23:20,576 "it take a crook to know a crook." 1767 01:23:20,609 --> 01:23:23,076 Now, you prove... 1768 01:23:23,109 --> 01:23:26,209 (laughter) 1769 01:23:26,243 --> 01:23:30,243 ROBERTS: Cassius Clay comes like a breath of spring air. 1770 01:23:30,276 --> 01:23:34,043 Yes, he's outrageous. Yes, he's conceited. 1771 01:23:34,076 --> 01:23:37,643 Yes, he boasts constantly, but he's exciting, 1772 01:23:37,676 --> 01:23:41,143 and he's good-looking, and he's young. 1773 01:23:41,176 --> 01:23:42,585 COMMITTEE MEMBER: By the way, Cassius, 1774 01:23:42,609 --> 01:23:44,343 I think that point was well taken, 1775 01:23:44,376 --> 01:23:46,843 and I think that my colleagues in the legislature 1776 01:23:46,876 --> 01:23:49,076 got a little fun out of it, but go ahead. 1777 01:23:49,109 --> 01:23:51,009 CLAY: I have had 11 fights, 11 of them 1778 01:23:51,043 --> 01:23:53,076 I predicted just what would happen. 1779 01:23:53,109 --> 01:23:55,409 Now would you say all of these people are crooks, 1780 01:23:55,443 --> 01:23:57,309 all of the promoters are crooks? 1781 01:23:57,343 --> 01:23:59,043 COMMITTEE MEMBER: I asked you the question. 1782 01:23:59,076 --> 01:24:00,743 Well, that's just up to you to figure. 1783 01:24:00,776 --> 01:24:02,876 I tell the people that I'm the greatest, 1784 01:24:02,909 --> 01:24:05,576 so if I say he's gonna fall in 5 and he falls in 5, 1785 01:24:05,609 --> 01:24:08,576 well, that just makes me that much greater. 1786 01:24:08,609 --> 01:24:10,743 NARRATOR: Clay also promised the legislators 1787 01:24:10,776 --> 01:24:12,876 that he would sell out Madison square garden 1788 01:24:12,909 --> 01:24:15,976 for his upcoming fight with the number-3 ranked contender 1789 01:24:16,009 --> 01:24:19,443 Doug Jones, a feat no event held at the arena 1790 01:24:19,476 --> 01:24:23,243 had achieved in years. 1791 01:24:23,276 --> 01:24:26,176 On the train back from Albany to New York City, 1792 01:24:26,209 --> 01:24:29,776 a reporter warned Clay that a months-long printers strike 1793 01:24:29,809 --> 01:24:31,909 that had shuttered most of the city's 1794 01:24:31,943 --> 01:24:34,676 major daily newspapers could make it difficult 1795 01:24:34,709 --> 01:24:37,243 to publicize the fight. 1796 01:24:37,276 --> 01:24:39,409 Clay was undeterred. 1797 01:24:39,443 --> 01:24:42,643 He began a relentless promotional campaign. 1798 01:24:42,676 --> 01:24:44,085 REPORTER: Are you still plugging the line that you are 1799 01:24:44,109 --> 01:24:45,676 the greatest heavyweight alive? 1800 01:24:45,709 --> 01:24:47,609 I'm the greatest heavyweight on two feet today. 1801 01:24:47,643 --> 01:24:50,309 I'm the onliest man who calls the exact round 1802 01:24:50,343 --> 01:24:52,109 in which my opponent will fall months 1803 01:24:52,143 --> 01:24:54,176 before the fight. 1804 01:24:54,209 --> 01:24:56,076 NARRATOR: He traded jokes with Johnny Carson 1805 01:24:56,109 --> 01:24:59,309 on "the tonight show," read poetry at the bitter end, 1806 01:24:59,343 --> 01:25:01,543 a coffeehouse in greenwich village, 1807 01:25:01,576 --> 01:25:04,709 and held court in his room at the Plymouth hotel, 1808 01:25:04,743 --> 01:25:08,209 boasting that Doug Jones posed little threat 1809 01:25:08,243 --> 01:25:10,909 and wouldn't keep him from the "Tomato-Red Cadillac 1810 01:25:10,943 --> 01:25:14,076 Eldorado convertible with white leather upholstery" 1811 01:25:14,109 --> 01:25:16,576 that the Louisville sponsoring group had promised him 1812 01:25:16,609 --> 01:25:19,643 in victory. 1813 01:25:19,676 --> 01:25:21,152 Floyd Patterson won the world heavyweight 1814 01:25:21,176 --> 01:25:23,443 championship one month before he was 22 1815 01:25:23,476 --> 01:25:25,643 I just had a birthday January the 17th. 1816 01:25:25,676 --> 01:25:28,209 After I annihilate Doug Jones, 1817 01:25:28,243 --> 01:25:30,676 liston will be my meat. 1818 01:25:30,709 --> 01:25:32,976 MAN: ♫ o say can you see ♫ 1819 01:25:33,009 --> 01:25:35,376 NARRATOR: Madison square garden had sold its last seat 1820 01:25:35,409 --> 01:25:37,609 5 days before. 1821 01:25:37,643 --> 01:25:41,976 It was the arena's first-ever advance sellout. 1822 01:25:42,009 --> 01:25:43,443 SCHENKEL: It's standing room only 1823 01:25:43,476 --> 01:25:45,176 at Madison square garden in New York City, 1824 01:25:45,209 --> 01:25:47,309 where once again, the famous landmark has become 1825 01:25:47,343 --> 01:25:49,209 the mecca of boxing. 1826 01:25:49,243 --> 01:25:51,352 There is one young man who has made this all possible. 1827 01:25:51,376 --> 01:25:54,443 He is a 21-year-old heavyweight from Louisville, Kentucky, 1828 01:25:54,476 --> 01:25:57,209 named Cassius Marcellus Clay. 1829 01:25:57,243 --> 01:25:58,543 (bell rings) 1830 01:25:58,576 --> 01:25:59,809 Cassius Clay... 1831 01:25:59,843 --> 01:26:01,009 Watch his speedy left hand. 1832 01:26:01,043 --> 01:26:02,443 He's got a beauty. 1833 01:26:02,476 --> 01:26:04,243 BENTT: Styles make fights. 1834 01:26:04,276 --> 01:26:05,743 SCHENKEL: You just saw one 1835 01:26:05,776 --> 01:26:07,019 of Clay's habits, pulling away from punches 1836 01:26:07,043 --> 01:26:09,076 instead of trying to slip them. 1837 01:26:09,109 --> 01:26:10,843 BENTT: Doug Jones knew how to take advantage 1838 01:26:10,876 --> 01:26:13,909 of Clay's leaning back and hands dropped. 1839 01:26:13,943 --> 01:26:15,909 SCHENKEL: 2, 2 1/2, and there it is. 1840 01:26:15,943 --> 01:26:18,676 A good, solid punch. 1841 01:26:18,709 --> 01:26:22,009 BENTT: Doug Jones punched while Cassius was punching. 1842 01:26:22,043 --> 01:26:23,752 If you punch while he's punching, he's not able to 1843 01:26:23,776 --> 01:26:26,776 adjust to, like, you know, what's coming at him. 1844 01:26:26,809 --> 01:26:30,476 SCHENKEL: Clay was definitely shaken up by a shot 1845 01:26:30,509 --> 01:26:32,243 that cut him as he was backing away 1846 01:26:32,276 --> 01:26:34,443 from a punch instead of trying to slip it. 1847 01:26:34,476 --> 01:26:37,709 BENTT: When a fighter like Cassius gets hit with shots 1848 01:26:37,743 --> 01:26:39,609 that gets his attention, guess what. 1849 01:26:39,643 --> 01:26:42,743 He starts fighting with his back foot out the door, 1850 01:26:42,776 --> 01:26:45,943 without the confidence that he usually has. 1851 01:26:45,976 --> 01:26:50,409 As he's going back, just got nailed by a right hand. 1852 01:26:50,443 --> 01:26:53,376 NARRATOR: Jones peppered Clay with punches, 1853 01:26:53,409 --> 01:26:55,943 while weathering Clay's own assault. 1854 01:26:55,976 --> 01:26:58,476 SCHENKEL: 15 seconds to go. 1855 01:26:58,509 --> 01:27:02,476 Fans are probably booing about the prediction. 1856 01:27:02,509 --> 01:27:04,843 NARRATOR: When the bell rang ending the fourth round 1857 01:27:04,876 --> 01:27:08,276 with Jones still on his feet, the crowd jeered Clay 1858 01:27:08,309 --> 01:27:11,143 for failing to fulfill his prediction. 1859 01:27:11,176 --> 01:27:15,809 SCHENKEL: Cassius Clay punched away to no effect. 1860 01:27:15,843 --> 01:27:19,009 It's round 5 at the garden in New York. 1861 01:27:19,043 --> 01:27:20,976 BENTT: If Cassius Clay was in control, 1862 01:27:21,009 --> 01:27:23,343 he's dancing around the ring. 1863 01:27:23,376 --> 01:27:27,309 If you watch Clay, when he stops dancing, 1864 01:27:27,343 --> 01:27:28,643 he's uncomfortable, 1865 01:27:28,676 --> 01:27:32,309 and that's when he's vulnerable. 1866 01:27:32,343 --> 01:27:38,009 SCHENKEL: We have one minute left in round 5. 1867 01:27:38,043 --> 01:27:40,776 BENTT: Stylistically, Doug Jones solved Clay. 1868 01:27:40,809 --> 01:27:42,376 (bell rings) 1869 01:27:46,443 --> 01:27:49,809 NARRATOR: Before the seventh round, Angelo dundee warned Clay 1870 01:27:49,843 --> 01:27:52,176 that he could "kiss the Cadillac good-bye" 1871 01:27:52,209 --> 01:27:54,843 if he didn't get going. 1872 01:27:54,876 --> 01:27:59,643 Over the last 3 rounds, Clay out-punched Jones 1873 01:27:59,676 --> 01:28:01,676 but could not knock him out. 1874 01:28:01,709 --> 01:28:03,676 SCHENKEL: 5 seconds. 1875 01:28:03,709 --> 01:28:05,876 (bell rings) 1876 01:28:05,909 --> 01:28:09,976 NARRATOR: The judges would have to decide. 1877 01:28:10,009 --> 01:28:13,309 BENTT: I don't think that Clay was projecting body language 1878 01:28:13,343 --> 01:28:15,409 that he won the fight. 1879 01:28:15,443 --> 01:28:17,343 He looked dejected. 1880 01:28:17,376 --> 01:28:18,909 Doug Jones dominates Clay. 1881 01:28:18,943 --> 01:28:21,009 He out-punched him, he out-hustled him, 1882 01:28:21,043 --> 01:28:22,676 he controlled him. 1883 01:28:22,709 --> 01:28:24,352 Just because you do that, it doesn't mean you're 1884 01:28:24,376 --> 01:28:26,076 going to get the decision 1885 01:28:26,109 --> 01:28:28,476 because it's business. 1886 01:28:28,509 --> 01:28:30,843 ADDIE: Winner by unanimous decision 1887 01:28:30,876 --> 01:28:33,043 Cassius Clay. 1888 01:28:33,076 --> 01:28:34,385 SCHENKEL: There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. 1889 01:28:34,409 --> 01:28:36,109 NARRATOR: The crowd yelled, "fix!" 1890 01:28:36,143 --> 01:28:40,243 And hurled cigars and paper cups into the ring. 1891 01:28:40,276 --> 01:28:43,776 Some claimed that Clay's faults... he had no balance, 1892 01:28:43,809 --> 01:28:47,343 kept his hands too low, his punches lacked force... 1893 01:28:47,376 --> 01:28:49,776 Had never been more apparent. 1894 01:28:49,809 --> 01:28:52,709 "He has the stuff but needs a lot of seasoning," 1895 01:28:52,743 --> 01:28:56,076 former heavyweight champion gene tunney said. 1896 01:28:56,109 --> 01:28:58,076 Others were simply disappointed that 1897 01:28:58,109 --> 01:29:01,909 the young upstart hadn't been put in his place. 1898 01:29:01,943 --> 01:29:03,576 SCHENKEL: Cassius Clay is mimicking some 1899 01:29:03,609 --> 01:29:06,109 of the people who are booing the decision. 1900 01:29:06,143 --> 01:29:07,443 CLAY: I love it. 1901 01:29:07,476 --> 01:29:08,909 REPORTER: You love to be booed? 1902 01:29:08,943 --> 01:29:11,176 Boo, yell, scream, throw peanuts, 1903 01:29:11,209 --> 01:29:14,776 but whatever you do, pay to get in. 1904 01:29:14,809 --> 01:29:19,576 Sonny liston had been watching on closed-circuit in Miami. 1905 01:29:19,609 --> 01:29:23,976 "I'll get locked up for murder if I fight him," he said. 1906 01:29:24,009 --> 01:29:27,109 Don't you have any respect for him at all as a fighter? 1907 01:29:27,143 --> 01:29:28,843 As a fighter? 1908 01:29:28,876 --> 01:29:30,243 I think he should be locked up 1909 01:29:30,276 --> 01:29:33,376 for impersonating a fighter. 1910 01:29:33,409 --> 01:29:36,776 NARRATOR: Sore and exhausted, Clay was eager to relax 1911 01:29:36,809 --> 01:29:39,909 and fetch the Tomato-Red convertible that awaited him 1912 01:29:39,943 --> 01:29:43,076 at Louisville's standard Cadillac company. 1913 01:29:43,109 --> 01:29:45,909 MARVIN GAYE: ♫ you are ♫ 1914 01:29:45,943 --> 01:29:48,443 MAN: I'm telling you. Pretty, pretty. 1915 01:29:48,476 --> 01:29:50,743 A movie star. 1916 01:29:50,776 --> 01:29:52,976 NARRATOR: Though he had struggled against Jones, 1917 01:29:53,009 --> 01:29:55,143 Clay had much to celebrate. 1918 01:29:55,176 --> 01:29:57,443 He was now 18-0 and still 1919 01:29:57,476 --> 01:30:00,576 the number two contender behind the ex-champion 1920 01:30:00,609 --> 01:30:03,043 Floyd Patterson. 1921 01:30:03,076 --> 01:30:05,943 The media attention he had tirelessly courted... 1922 01:30:05,976 --> 01:30:10,143 Good or bad... now came in torrents. 1923 01:30:10,176 --> 01:30:12,119 CLAY: I'm the onliest poet in the fight game today, 1924 01:30:12,143 --> 01:30:13,476 the onliest prophet. 1925 01:30:13,509 --> 01:30:15,209 Don't be surprised of nothing I do. 1926 01:30:15,243 --> 01:30:17,243 I'll soon be in the movies. 1927 01:30:17,276 --> 01:30:19,643 I cut records, I sing, I can fight, 1928 01:30:19,676 --> 01:30:21,076 I can do anything. 1929 01:30:21,109 --> 01:30:22,943 That's why I say I am the greatest. 1930 01:30:22,976 --> 01:30:26,209 That's the name of the album, "I am the greatest!" 1931 01:30:26,243 --> 01:30:28,909 This is the legend of Cassius Clay, 1932 01:30:28,943 --> 01:30:32,409 the most beautiful fighter in the world today. 1933 01:30:32,443 --> 01:30:35,343 NARRATOR: "I'm the greatest. I'm the double greatest. 1934 01:30:35,376 --> 01:30:38,009 I will be a clean and sparkling champion," 1935 01:30:38,043 --> 01:30:40,143 he bragged to time magazine, which featured him 1936 01:30:40,176 --> 01:30:41,843 on its cover. 1937 01:30:41,876 --> 01:30:44,109 CLAY: He talks a great deal and brags indeedy 1938 01:30:44,143 --> 01:30:47,776 of a muscular punch that's incredibly speedy. 1939 01:30:47,809 --> 01:30:50,643 Alex poinsett of "ebony" magazine saw 1940 01:30:50,676 --> 01:30:54,743 in Clay's bravado more than playful boasting. 1941 01:30:54,776 --> 01:30:57,476 "Cassius Marcellus Clay is a blast furnace 1942 01:30:57,509 --> 01:31:00,643 of race pride," he wrote, "a pride scorched 1943 01:31:00,676 --> 01:31:04,476 with memories of a million little burns." 1944 01:31:04,509 --> 01:31:07,009 CLAY: For I am the man this poem is about, 1945 01:31:07,043 --> 01:31:10,076 the next champ of the world, there isn't a doubt. 1946 01:31:10,109 --> 01:31:12,843 This I predict, and I know the score. 1947 01:31:12,876 --> 01:31:16,243 I'll be champ of the world in '64. 1948 01:31:16,276 --> 01:31:18,976 JESSE JACKSON: It was very different to use that platform 1949 01:31:19,009 --> 01:31:21,076 really for self-affirmation 1950 01:31:21,109 --> 01:31:22,809 and promote himself as a fighter 1951 01:31:22,843 --> 01:31:26,743 and in his own way lift up black people. 1952 01:31:26,776 --> 01:31:29,476 "I am somebody, I am the greatest." 1953 01:31:29,509 --> 01:31:31,143 And most of all, I'm pretty. 1954 01:31:31,176 --> 01:31:33,743 Most fighters are ugly. 1955 01:31:33,776 --> 01:31:36,543 EARLY: What made Clay appealing to my generation 1956 01:31:36,576 --> 01:31:38,976 was that he was young, he was humorous, 1957 01:31:39,009 --> 01:31:41,876 and that's something that was very unusual 1958 01:31:41,909 --> 01:31:43,619 for a black public figure, particularly humorous 1959 01:31:43,643 --> 01:31:45,209 in the way that he was. 1960 01:31:45,243 --> 01:31:47,609 He wasn't some kind of stepin fetchit clown 1961 01:31:47,643 --> 01:31:49,543 or something like that. 1962 01:31:49,576 --> 01:31:54,443 Clay represented something for the generation I grew up in 1963 01:31:54,476 --> 01:31:57,176 that was different from my uncle's generation. 1964 01:31:57,209 --> 01:31:58,809 They were World War II, 1965 01:31:58,843 --> 01:32:00,576 they were the greatest generation, 1966 01:32:00,609 --> 01:32:03,509 their heroes were Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, 1967 01:32:03,543 --> 01:32:05,343 and people like that, 1968 01:32:05,376 --> 01:32:08,009 and Clay came along, and he was something different. 1969 01:32:08,043 --> 01:32:09,676 He was from my generation. 1970 01:32:09,709 --> 01:32:11,076 Well let me finish, let me talk! 1971 01:32:11,109 --> 01:32:12,352 This boy's modest. I'm the greatest. 1972 01:32:12,376 --> 01:32:13,876 He's not a talker. 1973 01:32:13,909 --> 01:32:15,085 I'm going to fight Sonny liston right after 1974 01:32:15,109 --> 01:32:16,843 I annihilate Henry Cooper, 1975 01:32:16,876 --> 01:32:18,876 and as soon as I annihilate Henry Cooper, I want 1976 01:32:18,909 --> 01:32:22,676 that big, ugly bear right in, uh... right here on Miami beach. 1977 01:32:22,709 --> 01:32:25,009 NARRATOR: With liston and Patterson slated for a rematch 1978 01:32:25,043 --> 01:32:28,209 that summer, Clay signed to fight England's 1979 01:32:28,243 --> 01:32:30,409 Henry Cooper. 1980 01:32:30,443 --> 01:32:32,185 IZENBERG: Well, there's a guy in England named Henry Cooper. 1981 01:32:32,209 --> 01:32:34,576 Today, he's named sir Henry Cooper, 1982 01:32:34,609 --> 01:32:37,576 and what he went through with his high cheek bones 1983 01:32:37,609 --> 01:32:40,209 and bleeding, he should be a sir. 1984 01:32:40,243 --> 01:32:42,709 Tremendous left hook that nobody appreciated 1985 01:32:42,743 --> 01:32:44,543 except the British. 1986 01:32:44,576 --> 01:32:46,876 CLAY: Well, Henry Cooper's not going to 5 rounds with me. 1987 01:32:46,909 --> 01:32:48,543 He's not going 5 rounds with you? 1988 01:32:48,576 --> 01:32:50,143 If he goes over 5, I won't return 1989 01:32:50,176 --> 01:32:51,709 to my country for 90 days. For 90 days. 1990 01:32:51,743 --> 01:32:54,043 And if he beats me, I'll retire. 1991 01:32:54,076 --> 01:32:55,809 NARRATOR: Arriving in London, Clay had 1992 01:32:55,843 --> 01:32:58,376 the outfitters to the Duke of Edinburgh tailor him 1993 01:32:58,409 --> 01:33:02,043 a red brocade cocktail jacket with a dragon motif 1994 01:33:02,076 --> 01:33:05,343 and bowler hat and hired a Rolls-Royce 1995 01:33:05,376 --> 01:33:06,976 to take him to promotions. 1996 01:33:07,009 --> 01:33:09,343 SINGER: ♫ yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♫ 1997 01:33:09,376 --> 01:33:12,543 NARRATOR: He called Cooper a tramp and a cripple, 1998 01:33:12,576 --> 01:33:15,043 bragged that he hadn't even bothered to train 1999 01:33:15,076 --> 01:33:18,676 and would still win in 5 rounds. 2000 01:33:18,709 --> 01:33:21,176 The British were not amused. 2001 01:33:21,209 --> 01:33:24,176 (fanfare) 2002 01:33:26,143 --> 01:33:27,785 HARRY CARPENTER: And I imagine there are a lot of people 2003 01:33:27,809 --> 01:33:29,285 sitting around the ringside here in the open air 2004 01:33:29,309 --> 01:33:31,176 at Wembley tonight who may well think 2005 01:33:31,209 --> 01:33:34,509 that by coming into the ring with that ridiculous crown 2006 01:33:34,543 --> 01:33:36,209 on his head Mr. Clay is doing his best 2007 01:33:36,243 --> 01:33:38,043 to cheapen the professional fight game, 2008 01:33:38,076 --> 01:33:40,743 and I must say I'm inclined to share those views myself. 2009 01:33:43,043 --> 01:33:46,409 JOHNNY BEST: Ladies and gentlemen, 2010 01:33:46,443 --> 01:33:48,776 the main event. 2011 01:33:48,809 --> 01:33:52,476 Presenting, from bellingham, 2012 01:33:52,509 --> 01:33:54,176 the heavyweight champion 2013 01:33:54,209 --> 01:33:55,309 of Great Britain 2014 01:33:55,343 --> 01:33:57,409 and the British empire, 2015 01:33:57,443 --> 01:33:59,409 Henry Cooper! 2016 01:33:59,443 --> 01:34:03,509 (cheering and applause) 2017 01:34:03,543 --> 01:34:09,643 From Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Marcellus Clay. 2018 01:34:09,676 --> 01:34:11,976 (booing) 2019 01:34:16,043 --> 01:34:17,976 NARRATOR: The crowd roared when Cooper bloodied 2020 01:34:18,009 --> 01:34:19,976 Clay's nose in the first. 2021 01:34:21,943 --> 01:34:24,476 In the second, Clay opened a small cut above 2022 01:34:24,509 --> 01:34:28,309 Cooper's left eye, which by round 3 had broken open, 2023 01:34:28,343 --> 01:34:32,143 sending blood flowing over Cooper's face. 2024 01:34:32,176 --> 01:34:33,709 (bell rings) 2025 01:34:33,743 --> 01:34:35,676 CARPENTER: Now Clay is just jabbing casually 2026 01:34:35,709 --> 01:34:37,243 with his left hand. 2027 01:34:37,276 --> 01:34:39,209 NARRATOR: But instead of finishing him off, 2028 01:34:39,243 --> 01:34:42,743 Clay seemed to be deliberately prolonging the fight. 2029 01:34:45,743 --> 01:34:49,343 (cheering and applause) 2030 01:34:49,376 --> 01:34:51,509 CARPENTER: The bell has sounded, 2031 01:34:51,543 --> 01:34:55,176 and he's up at about 3... Clay. 2032 01:34:55,209 --> 01:34:57,076 That was the end of the fourth round, 2033 01:34:57,109 --> 01:35:00,409 and he hit him about two seconds before the end of the round. 2034 01:35:00,443 --> 01:35:03,309 NARRATOR: Hoping to revive Clay, his corner men broke vials 2035 01:35:03,343 --> 01:35:05,976 of smelling salts under his nose 2036 01:35:06,009 --> 01:35:08,476 and dropped ice cubes into his trunks. 2037 01:35:08,509 --> 01:35:10,085 CARPENTER: They're working furiously on him 2038 01:35:10,109 --> 01:35:12,676 in the corner, Angelo dundee his trainer. 2039 01:35:12,709 --> 01:35:15,809 NARRATOR: It worked. 2040 01:35:15,843 --> 01:35:18,443 When the bell signaled the start of round 5, 2041 01:35:18,476 --> 01:35:20,676 Clay came out aggressively. 2042 01:35:20,709 --> 01:35:22,309 CARPENTER: And now round 5 is the round 2043 01:35:22,343 --> 01:35:25,443 in which Clay said he would beat Cooper. 2044 01:35:25,476 --> 01:35:28,809 And now Cooper's left eye is really in a shocking state. 2045 01:35:28,843 --> 01:35:30,509 It really is now. 2046 01:35:30,543 --> 01:35:32,443 And I think Tommy Little will have to stop this 2047 01:35:32,476 --> 01:35:34,909 because Cooper's eye is really 2048 01:35:34,943 --> 01:35:37,276 in an absolutely appalling state. 2049 01:35:37,309 --> 01:35:39,185 And now he's stepping in, and I think this is it! 2050 01:35:39,209 --> 01:35:41,943 The towel has come in from Cooper's corner, 2051 01:35:41,976 --> 01:35:45,143 and Tommy Little's looking at it, 2052 01:35:45,176 --> 01:35:46,385 and he's had to stop the fight. 2053 01:35:46,409 --> 01:35:47,876 NARRATOR: Clay had prevailed, 2054 01:35:47,909 --> 01:35:50,543 and he did it in the fifth round. 2055 01:35:50,576 --> 01:35:52,709 CARPENTER: Clay is getting bombarded with programs 2056 01:35:52,743 --> 01:35:54,476 from angry ringsiders. 2057 01:35:54,509 --> 01:35:55,476 CLAY: I'm always booed, everywhere I go I'm booed. 2058 01:35:55,509 --> 01:35:56,643 I like to be booed. 2059 01:35:56,676 --> 01:35:58,109 That's why I fight hard. 2060 01:35:58,143 --> 01:35:59,285 REPORTER: And you came in the ring 2061 01:35:59,309 --> 01:36:00,609 with a crown on your head. 2062 01:36:00,643 --> 01:36:01,709 Is that uh... 2063 01:36:01,743 --> 01:36:03,443 Because I am the king. 2064 01:36:03,476 --> 01:36:04,952 I understand you have a Queen of England, 2065 01:36:04,976 --> 01:36:06,176 but you don't have a king. 2066 01:36:06,209 --> 01:36:08,476 But what's Sonny liston, Cassius? 2067 01:36:08,509 --> 01:36:10,509 Sonny liston, that big, ugly bear? 2068 01:36:10,543 --> 01:36:12,876 Uh, he will fall in 8 rounds. 2069 01:36:12,909 --> 01:36:16,943 Liston will fall in 8 to prove that I am great. 2070 01:36:16,976 --> 01:36:18,809 Waiting for Clay in his dressing room 2071 01:36:18,843 --> 01:36:21,876 was Sonny liston's manager Jack Nilon. 2072 01:36:21,909 --> 01:36:24,643 "We want you bad," he told Clay and promised him 2073 01:36:24,676 --> 01:36:28,543 a fight after liston's rematch with Patterson. 2074 01:36:28,576 --> 01:36:33,943 ♫ ♫ 2075 01:36:33,976 --> 01:36:35,319 REPORTER: Sonny, well, you're looking forward, 2076 01:36:35,343 --> 01:36:37,609 I know to your fight against Patterson. 2077 01:36:37,643 --> 01:36:39,843 Do you expect that fight to go much differently 2078 01:36:39,876 --> 01:36:41,643 than it did last time around? 2079 01:36:41,676 --> 01:36:44,309 I don't think so. 2080 01:36:44,343 --> 01:36:46,109 What happens after Patterson? 2081 01:36:46,143 --> 01:36:47,876 Cassius in the line? 2082 01:36:47,909 --> 01:36:50,576 Yeah, he's right up front. 2083 01:36:50,609 --> 01:36:53,009 What about Cassius? 2084 01:36:53,043 --> 01:36:56,643 Well, I imagine that if he would come to me, 2085 01:36:56,676 --> 01:36:58,209 I'd kill him, and if he runs, 2086 01:36:58,243 --> 01:36:59,843 I'm gonna catch him and kill him. 2087 01:36:59,876 --> 01:37:01,776 B.B. KING: ♫ well, my bad luck ♫ 2088 01:37:01,809 --> 01:37:04,109 REPORTER: In Las Vegas, an eclipse of the sun is due, 2089 01:37:04,143 --> 01:37:08,376 but almost no one anticipates an eclipse of Sonny. 2090 01:37:08,409 --> 01:37:10,209 Liston is 5-1 on. 2091 01:37:10,243 --> 01:37:13,709 KING: ♫ bad luck is falling ♫ 2092 01:37:13,743 --> 01:37:15,643 ♫ falling down ♫ 2093 01:37:15,676 --> 01:37:18,576 NARRATOR: Liston knocked Patterson down 3 times 2094 01:37:18,609 --> 01:37:22,143 in a fight that lasted 2 minutes and 10 seconds, 2095 01:37:22,176 --> 01:37:28,276 just 4 seconds longer than their first bout. 2096 01:37:28,309 --> 01:37:31,409 Cassius Clay, in town for the fight, had not missed 2097 01:37:31,443 --> 01:37:34,376 his chance to needle the champ. 2098 01:37:34,409 --> 01:37:36,243 IZENBERG: Sonny liston was a serious gambler. 2099 01:37:36,276 --> 01:37:39,209 Clay is following him through the casino. 2100 01:37:39,243 --> 01:37:41,409 NARRATOR: "Look at the big, ugly bear," said Clay. 2101 01:37:41,443 --> 01:37:43,443 "He can't even shoot craps." 2102 01:37:43,476 --> 01:37:47,909 Furious, liston threatened to rip Clay's tongue out. 2103 01:37:47,943 --> 01:37:50,576 At that moment, liston disliked him intensely, 2104 01:37:50,609 --> 01:37:53,243 and Clay knew that he could get to liston. 2105 01:37:58,143 --> 01:38:02,109 (people screaming) 2106 01:38:02,143 --> 01:38:03,909 MALCOLM X: Martin Luther King teaches negroes 2107 01:38:03,943 --> 01:38:05,985 to love all white people no matter what they do to you, 2108 01:38:06,009 --> 01:38:08,009 and the same whites who he teaches negroes to love 2109 01:38:08,043 --> 01:38:10,843 sic dogs on him, sic dogs on their children, 2110 01:38:10,876 --> 01:38:13,943 dogs on their women, and dogs on their babies. 2111 01:38:13,976 --> 01:38:16,076 So I think it's very hypocritical on the part 2112 01:38:16,109 --> 01:38:18,676 of whites who accuse Mr. Muhammad of a hate teacher 2113 01:38:18,709 --> 01:38:20,943 because he says separation, and then sic dogs 2114 01:38:20,976 --> 01:38:23,643 on Martin Luther King, who is teaching integration. 2115 01:38:23,676 --> 01:38:25,909 It means that no matter what the negro does, 2116 01:38:25,943 --> 01:38:27,909 he is not going to get along with whites, 2117 01:38:27,943 --> 01:38:30,243 so I think that Mr. Muhammad's whole philosophy is more 2118 01:38:30,276 --> 01:38:34,243 intelligent than Mr. King's. 2119 01:38:34,276 --> 01:38:36,676 NARRATOR: Since returning from fighting Henry Cooper 2120 01:38:36,709 --> 01:38:39,143 in London, Clay had been slipping off to New York 2121 01:38:39,176 --> 01:38:42,243 whenever he could, visiting temple no. 7 2122 01:38:42,276 --> 01:38:45,743 and spending time with Malcolm X. 2123 01:38:45,776 --> 01:38:47,743 Clay faced more and more questions 2124 01:38:47,776 --> 01:38:50,776 from sportswriters determined to find out if he'd officially 2125 01:38:50,809 --> 01:38:54,343 joined the nation of islam. 2126 01:38:54,376 --> 01:38:57,476 That summer in Chicago, a reporter had tailed Clay's 2127 01:38:57,509 --> 01:39:00,709 Cadillac out of the alley behind a Muslim school 2128 01:39:00,743 --> 01:39:02,743 on the south side. 2129 01:39:02,776 --> 01:39:05,176 "Are you a black Muslim?" He yelled. 2130 01:39:05,209 --> 01:39:07,609 "No," said Cassius at first. 2131 01:39:07,643 --> 01:39:11,676 Then, after a pause, he added, "I don't know. 2132 01:39:11,709 --> 01:39:14,743 I'm for the black muslims." 2133 01:39:14,776 --> 01:39:18,009 Clay's sponsors grew worried, and he began to 2134 01:39:18,043 --> 01:39:20,076 question his relationship with them, 2135 01:39:20,109 --> 01:39:23,009 suggesting that he be paid more. 2136 01:39:23,043 --> 01:39:26,909 "I am my own master," he said, echoing Malcolm X. 2137 01:39:26,943 --> 01:39:31,343 "There is nobody telling me what to do." 2138 01:39:31,376 --> 01:39:34,209 Concerned that Clay was too inexperienced to beat 2139 01:39:34,243 --> 01:39:37,443 the overpowering Sonny liston, the Louisville group 2140 01:39:37,476 --> 01:39:40,343 nevertheless forged ahead to secure the fight 2141 01:39:40,376 --> 01:39:44,843 they feared might be his last. 2142 01:39:44,876 --> 01:39:47,209 I will be fighting Sonny liston as soon 2143 01:39:47,243 --> 01:39:49,276 as they get my money right. 2144 01:39:49,309 --> 01:39:52,043 Not only until then, and, uh... because this will be 2145 01:39:52,076 --> 01:39:53,843 the biggest gate in all history, 2146 01:39:53,876 --> 01:39:56,676 and I expect to be half rich after the fight. 2147 01:39:56,709 --> 01:39:58,976 NARRATOR: Liston's managers, eager to take advantage 2148 01:39:59,009 --> 01:40:02,909 of Clay's celebrity, agreed to a deal that would gross Clay 2149 01:40:02,943 --> 01:40:06,543 nearly $1 million, the largest payday ever 2150 01:40:06,576 --> 01:40:08,643 for a heavyweight challenger. 2151 01:40:08,676 --> 01:40:10,652 LITTLE RICHARD: ♫ gonna tell aunt Mary 'bout uncle John ♫ 2152 01:40:10,676 --> 01:40:14,209 NARRATOR: In early November, Clay left Chicago in an old bus 2153 01:40:14,243 --> 01:40:16,209 he'd bought and headed for Denver, 2154 01:40:16,243 --> 01:40:18,909 where Clay and liston planned to hold a press conference 2155 01:40:18,943 --> 01:40:21,976 to announce their fight. 2156 01:40:22,009 --> 01:40:25,176 At 1:00 in the morning, Cassius Clay steered his bus 2157 01:40:25,209 --> 01:40:29,876 into liston's neighborhood and leaned on the horn. 2158 01:40:29,909 --> 01:40:31,809 CLAY: I woke him up, and he came out 2159 01:40:31,843 --> 01:40:33,752 in the middle of the night in his underclothes, his robe, 2160 01:40:33,776 --> 01:40:35,243 and he had a big stick. 2161 01:40:35,276 --> 01:40:37,243 And I said "you big, ugly bear, you. 2162 01:40:37,276 --> 01:40:39,809 I'm gonna see you tomorrow for the signing, 2163 01:40:39,843 --> 01:40:42,043 "and I'm gonna knock you out in 8, 2164 01:40:42,076 --> 01:40:45,409 and if you want to go to heaven, I'll get you in 7." 2165 01:40:45,443 --> 01:40:48,076 And he got mad and we argued for about an hour, 2166 01:40:48,109 --> 01:40:50,309 and then the policemen came with dogs. 2167 01:40:50,343 --> 01:40:51,709 (dogs barking) 2168 01:40:51,743 --> 01:40:53,409 The scene that we had that night, 2169 01:40:53,443 --> 01:40:55,085 it would have made you think Martin Luther King 2170 01:40:55,109 --> 01:40:58,376 was demonstrating. 2171 01:40:58,409 --> 01:41:03,509 ♫ ♫ 2172 01:41:03,543 --> 01:41:05,809 NARRATOR: Later that day, Clay and liston went 2173 01:41:05,843 --> 01:41:07,743 before the press. 2174 01:41:07,776 --> 01:41:10,909 "I'm ready to go to war," Clay said. 2175 01:41:10,943 --> 01:41:13,443 Let's get it on! Want to go now? 2176 01:41:13,476 --> 01:41:14,676 (laughter) 2177 01:41:14,709 --> 01:41:16,309 I'll whoop you now. 2178 01:41:16,343 --> 01:41:18,076 It's going to take a good man to whoop me. 2179 01:41:18,109 --> 01:41:19,619 You can look at me. I'm loaded with confidence. 2180 01:41:19,643 --> 01:41:21,309 I can't be beat. 2181 01:41:21,343 --> 01:41:23,309 I had 180 amateur fights, 22 professional fights, 2182 01:41:23,343 --> 01:41:25,676 and I'm pretty as a girl. 2183 01:41:25,709 --> 01:41:28,776 (laughter) 2184 01:41:28,809 --> 01:41:30,443 NARRATOR: The fight was scheduled 2185 01:41:30,476 --> 01:41:34,409 for February after his 22nd birthday. 2186 01:41:34,443 --> 01:41:37,843 Though he now could no longer be the youngest champ ever, 2187 01:41:37,876 --> 01:41:41,776 he would finally get his shot at the title. 2188 01:41:41,809 --> 01:41:43,152 CLAY: Here is the eighth round exactly 2189 01:41:43,176 --> 01:41:44,743 as it will happen. 2190 01:41:44,776 --> 01:41:46,076 Clay comes out to meet liston, 2191 01:41:46,109 --> 01:41:47,943 and liston starts to retreat. 2192 01:41:47,976 --> 01:41:49,509 If liston goes back an inch farther, 2193 01:41:49,543 --> 01:41:51,676 he'll end up in a ringside seat. 2194 01:41:51,709 --> 01:41:54,309 Clay swings with a left. Clay swings with a right. 2195 01:41:54,343 --> 01:41:56,143 Look at young Cassius carry the fight. 2196 01:41:56,176 --> 01:41:57,509 Now Clay lands with a right. 2197 01:41:57,543 --> 01:41:59,343 What a beautiful swing, 2198 01:41:59,376 --> 01:42:01,943 and the punch raises the bear clear out of the ring. 2199 01:42:01,976 --> 01:42:03,276 (laughter) 2200 01:42:03,309 --> 01:42:04,809 Liston is still rising, 2201 01:42:04,843 --> 01:42:06,276 and the ref wears a frown, 2202 01:42:06,309 --> 01:42:08,043 for he can't start counting, 2203 01:42:08,076 --> 01:42:10,276 till Sonny comes down. 2204 01:42:10,309 --> 01:42:12,709 Who would have thought when they came to the fight 2205 01:42:12,743 --> 01:42:14,276 that they'd witness the launching 2206 01:42:14,309 --> 01:42:16,043 of a human satellite? 2207 01:42:16,076 --> 01:42:17,543 (laughter) 2208 01:42:17,576 --> 01:42:21,676 I am the greatest! 2209 01:42:21,709 --> 01:42:25,809 NARRATOR: Almost nobody gave Clay a chance. 2210 01:42:25,843 --> 01:42:28,309 TROUPE: We all thought he was talking so much 2211 01:42:28,343 --> 01:42:30,609 that he was scared to death. 2212 01:42:30,643 --> 01:42:32,843 That's why everybody said, "shut up, Clay. 2213 01:42:32,876 --> 01:42:34,476 "You're just scared. 2214 01:42:34,509 --> 01:42:37,643 You're just scared to fight this man." 2215 01:42:37,676 --> 01:42:40,376 Sonny liston was so formidable. 2216 01:42:40,409 --> 01:42:42,476 He just destroyed people. 2217 01:42:42,509 --> 01:42:45,409 It was like a bicycle against a tank. 2218 01:42:47,309 --> 01:42:50,009 If anybody tells you that they thought Clay 2219 01:42:50,043 --> 01:42:52,309 was gonna beat liston, they lying. 2220 01:42:52,343 --> 01:42:54,043 They are lying. 2221 01:42:54,076 --> 01:42:56,976 Who'd this guy ever fight? Who, Clay? 2222 01:42:57,009 --> 01:42:58,309 Yeah. He boxed London. 2223 01:42:58,343 --> 01:42:59,609 London. Boxed who? 2224 01:42:59,643 --> 01:43:01,109 Peter Cooper... I mean Henry Cooper. 2225 01:43:01,143 --> 01:43:03,043 You could lick Peter Cooper. 2226 01:43:03,076 --> 01:43:04,385 He'll freeze up when he gets in the ring. 2227 01:43:04,409 --> 01:43:05,643 I'll guarantee that. 2228 01:43:05,676 --> 01:43:06,952 REPORTER: What makes you so sure? 2229 01:43:06,976 --> 01:43:09,309 Liston is too powerful. 2230 01:43:09,343 --> 01:43:11,443 He'll knock him out in the second round. 2231 01:43:11,476 --> 01:43:13,109 Oh, yeah, I always pray for him. 2232 01:43:13,143 --> 01:43:16,043 I prayed for him during the... what do you call it... 2233 01:43:16,076 --> 01:43:17,809 The fight over in England, Cooper, 2234 01:43:17,843 --> 01:43:19,243 Henry Cooper fight. 2235 01:43:19,276 --> 01:43:22,076 When he knocked him down, I was praying. 2236 01:43:22,109 --> 01:43:23,943 NARRATOR: If Cassius Clay was concerned, 2237 01:43:23,976 --> 01:43:25,743 he didn't let on. 2238 01:43:25,776 --> 01:43:28,776 Sonny liston may have more power, Clay conceded, 2239 01:43:28,809 --> 01:43:31,709 but he believed that the great ones... like Joe Louis 2240 01:43:31,743 --> 01:43:35,309 and sugar Ray Robinson... Relied on footwork, rhythm, 2241 01:43:35,343 --> 01:43:38,409 and timing, not strength alone. 2242 01:43:38,443 --> 01:43:41,609 THE BEATLES: ♫ it's been a hard day's night ♫ 2243 01:43:41,643 --> 01:43:45,476 ♫ and I've been working like a dog ♫ 2244 01:43:45,509 --> 01:43:46,743 REPORTER: Ladies and gentlemen, 2245 01:43:46,776 --> 01:43:49,143 this is Cassius Marcellus Clay. 2246 01:43:49,176 --> 01:43:50,809 He's young, he's handsome. 2247 01:43:50,843 --> 01:43:52,543 They know it. 2248 01:43:52,576 --> 01:43:55,243 MAN: Dance for the crowd. Dance, boy. 2249 01:43:55,276 --> 01:43:56,809 Ahh! The world is watching you. 2250 01:43:56,843 --> 01:43:58,143 Ahh! 2251 01:43:58,176 --> 01:43:59,609 CLAY: I'm the champ. 2252 01:43:59,643 --> 01:44:01,476 I'm the biggest thing in history. 2253 01:44:01,509 --> 01:44:02,976 I'm the king! 2254 01:44:03,009 --> 01:44:04,609 MAN: Queen... The Queen of England... 2255 01:44:04,643 --> 01:44:05,943 The Beatles want my autograph. 2256 01:44:05,976 --> 01:44:07,276 Yes, they do. I'm, the king. 2257 01:44:07,309 --> 01:44:09,276 King of the ring! Ahh! 2258 01:44:09,309 --> 01:44:11,843 NARRATOR: As the fight approached, Clay and dundee 2259 01:44:11,876 --> 01:44:15,176 watched films of liston's recent fights, searching 2260 01:44:15,209 --> 01:44:18,409 for ways to elude his piston-like jab, 2261 01:44:18,443 --> 01:44:21,276 and films of sugar Ray Robinson, who had worn down 2262 01:44:21,309 --> 01:44:26,143 more powerful opponents with his nonstop motion. 2263 01:44:26,176 --> 01:44:29,076 Clay also held brutal sparring sessions, 2264 01:44:29,109 --> 01:44:30,976 preparing as though the fight would go 2265 01:44:31,009 --> 01:44:33,643 all 15 rounds. 2266 01:44:33,676 --> 01:44:36,809 He was certain he could outlast liston, 2267 01:44:36,843 --> 01:44:40,609 whose fights had rarely lasted more than a few rounds. 2268 01:44:40,643 --> 01:44:42,119 CLAY: I'm too fast. Champion from the crib. 2269 01:44:42,143 --> 01:44:43,909 I'm the king. King of the ring. 2270 01:44:43,943 --> 01:44:45,452 Born the champ. Born a champ from the crib. 2271 01:44:45,476 --> 01:44:46,943 BOTH: Ahh! 2272 01:44:46,976 --> 01:44:48,452 Drew "bundini" brown, a one-time member 2273 01:44:48,476 --> 01:44:51,343 of sugar Ray Robinson's entourage, 2274 01:44:51,376 --> 01:44:53,443 was now at Clay's side. 2275 01:44:53,476 --> 01:44:55,076 CLAY: You know how great I am. 2276 01:44:55,109 --> 01:44:56,352 I don't have to tell you about my strategy. 2277 01:44:56,376 --> 01:44:57,909 I'll let my trainer tell you. 2278 01:44:57,943 --> 01:44:59,252 Bundini, come here. Bundini, tell him. 2279 01:44:59,276 --> 01:45:00,576 What are we gonna do? 2280 01:45:00,609 --> 01:45:02,076 You're gonna float like a butterfly 2281 01:45:02,109 --> 01:45:03,243 and sting like a bee. 2282 01:45:03,276 --> 01:45:04,476 Ahh! 2283 01:45:04,509 --> 01:45:06,176 Rumble young man, rumble. 2284 01:45:06,209 --> 01:45:08,009 Ahh! 2285 01:45:08,043 --> 01:45:10,609 NARRATOR: When liston arrived at the Miami airport, 2286 01:45:10,643 --> 01:45:12,676 Clay was there to greet him. 2287 01:45:12,709 --> 01:45:14,409 CLAY: Well, just to show him how bold I am, 2288 01:45:14,443 --> 01:45:16,609 I'm ready to go to war if necessary. 2289 01:45:16,643 --> 01:45:18,376 I'm not jiving. 2290 01:45:18,409 --> 01:45:19,885 You think that's a good idea, Cassius? 2291 01:45:19,909 --> 01:45:21,343 It don't make me no difference. 2292 01:45:21,376 --> 01:45:22,676 I mean, I'm ready now. 2293 01:45:22,709 --> 01:45:24,019 I'm tired of waiting for this fight. 2294 01:45:24,043 --> 01:45:25,376 I'm nervous. He's got my job. 2295 01:45:25,409 --> 01:45:27,543 I'm the champ. 2296 01:45:27,576 --> 01:45:29,509 REPORTER: An unheard-of thing happened 2297 01:45:29,543 --> 01:45:31,343 at the main street gym in Miami. 2298 01:45:31,376 --> 01:45:34,676 Challenger Cassius invaded while liston was training. 2299 01:45:34,709 --> 01:45:36,276 CLAY: If you'd like to lose your money, 2300 01:45:36,309 --> 01:45:38,009 then be a fool and bet on Sonny, 2301 01:45:38,043 --> 01:45:39,285 but if you want to have a good day, 2302 01:45:39,309 --> 01:45:41,409 then put it on Clay. 2303 01:45:41,443 --> 01:45:43,009 RAHMAN: I asked him. 2304 01:45:43,043 --> 01:45:44,419 I said, "Ali, are you scared of liston?" 2305 01:45:44,443 --> 01:45:46,409 "Naw, man. I'mma chop him down." 2306 01:45:46,443 --> 01:45:48,376 He had that kind of attitude. 2307 01:45:48,409 --> 01:45:50,843 He said, "liston's going in the eighth." 2308 01:45:50,876 --> 01:45:52,509 "What you talking about? 2309 01:45:52,543 --> 01:45:54,543 The heavyweight champion, going in the eighth?" 2310 01:45:54,576 --> 01:45:56,176 Jabbing and left hooking, 2311 01:45:56,209 --> 01:45:59,543 jabbing and left hooking. 2312 01:45:59,576 --> 01:46:01,343 Yeah, I'm a pretty fighter... 2313 01:46:01,376 --> 01:46:05,143 RAHAMAN: When you know who you are, it removes fear, 2314 01:46:05,176 --> 01:46:07,409 and when you believe that you're serving god, 2315 01:46:07,443 --> 01:46:09,776 the true and the living god, once you believe that, 2316 01:46:09,809 --> 01:46:11,443 you don't fear nothing. 2317 01:46:11,476 --> 01:46:15,776 See, and that's the way he became. 2318 01:46:15,809 --> 01:46:18,309 NARRATOR: When he wasn't training for Sonny liston, 2319 01:46:18,343 --> 01:46:21,409 Clay spent whatever time he could with Malcolm X, 2320 01:46:21,443 --> 01:46:24,409 who had brought his family to Miami at Clay's expense 2321 01:46:24,443 --> 01:46:27,043 for a rare vacation. 2322 01:46:27,076 --> 01:46:30,476 Meanwhile, Elijah Muhammad saw no reason to identify 2323 01:46:30,509 --> 01:46:32,943 his movement with Cassius Clay. 2324 01:46:32,976 --> 01:46:35,609 Boxing was a "very wicked sport," he said, 2325 01:46:35,643 --> 01:46:39,376 and Clay was a loudmouth, sure to lose. 2326 01:46:39,409 --> 01:46:42,476 He ordered his newspaper "Muhammad speaks" 2327 01:46:42,509 --> 01:46:45,476 not to cover the coming fight. 2328 01:46:45,509 --> 01:46:48,143 Malcolm X had a different view. 2329 01:46:48,176 --> 01:46:50,943 The contest would pit islam against christianity, 2330 01:46:50,976 --> 01:46:56,876 he said, and Clay... and islam... Would emerge victorious, 2331 01:46:56,909 --> 01:46:59,809 but Malcolm's desire to see Clay succeed 2332 01:46:59,843 --> 01:47:02,709 had another dimension. 2333 01:47:02,743 --> 01:47:05,809 Back in late November, after Malcolm had said 2334 01:47:05,843 --> 01:47:09,109 that the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 2335 01:47:09,143 --> 01:47:12,643 had been a case of "chickens coming home to roost," 2336 01:47:12,676 --> 01:47:14,643 Elijah Muhammad had censured 2337 01:47:14,676 --> 01:47:16,743 his controversial minister, 2338 01:47:16,776 --> 01:47:18,843 ordering Malcolm to refrain from speaking 2339 01:47:18,876 --> 01:47:20,809 publicly or preaching 2340 01:47:20,843 --> 01:47:23,476 at mosque no. 7 for 90 days. 2341 01:47:23,509 --> 01:47:25,352 MALCOLM X: I've been in silence for the past 90 days 2342 01:47:25,376 --> 01:47:27,009 because of some statements I made 2343 01:47:27,043 --> 01:47:29,543 concerning the president of the United States, 2344 01:47:29,576 --> 01:47:31,209 which were distorted. 2345 01:47:31,243 --> 01:47:32,385 REPORTER: They were distorted? Yes. 2346 01:47:32,409 --> 01:47:34,143 What did you say, Malcolm? 2347 01:47:34,176 --> 01:47:35,652 Well, I said the same thing that everybody says, 2348 01:47:35,676 --> 01:47:37,843 that his assassination was the result 2349 01:47:37,876 --> 01:47:39,543 of the climate of hate. 2350 01:47:39,576 --> 01:47:41,976 Only I said, "the chickens came home to roost," 2351 01:47:42,009 --> 01:47:44,376 which means the same thing. 2352 01:47:44,409 --> 01:47:47,143 NARRATOR: The rebuke had shaken Malcolm X. 2353 01:47:47,176 --> 01:47:50,743 He had apologized instantly and begun trying to get back 2354 01:47:50,776 --> 01:47:53,709 into Elijah Muhammad's good graces. 2355 01:47:53,743 --> 01:47:55,876 If he could deliver the heavyweight champion 2356 01:47:55,909 --> 01:47:59,509 of the world into the fold, perhaps Elijah Muhammad 2357 01:47:59,543 --> 01:48:02,043 would forgive him, 2358 01:48:02,076 --> 01:48:05,909 but even before the suspension, long-standing differences 2359 01:48:05,943 --> 01:48:09,476 between the leader of the nation of islam and Malcolm X 2360 01:48:09,509 --> 01:48:14,576 had already begun to threaten his position in the sect. 2361 01:48:14,609 --> 01:48:18,576 MUWAKKIL: Malcolm, he had political aspirations. 2362 01:48:18,609 --> 01:48:20,409 He thought that the nation of islam should be 2363 01:48:20,443 --> 01:48:24,276 more active in the political arena. 2364 01:48:24,309 --> 01:48:26,243 Elijah Muhammad didn't feel that way, 2365 01:48:26,276 --> 01:48:29,176 and that caused friction. 2366 01:48:29,209 --> 01:48:31,709 NARRATOR: Malcolm had also become disillusioned 2367 01:48:31,743 --> 01:48:34,709 with what he viewed as morally indefensible behavior 2368 01:48:34,743 --> 01:48:38,743 by Elijah Muhammad, including financial corruption 2369 01:48:38,776 --> 01:48:43,176 and impregnating at least 7 of his secretaries. 2370 01:48:43,209 --> 01:48:45,176 Elijah Muhammad's lieutenants, 2371 01:48:45,209 --> 01:48:48,709 wary of Malcolm's rising public stature and determined 2372 01:48:48,743 --> 01:48:52,776 to guard their leader's exalted status among his disciples, 2373 01:48:52,809 --> 01:48:55,909 were plotting Malcolm's permanent expulsion 2374 01:48:55,943 --> 01:48:59,209 from the nation of islam. 2375 01:48:59,243 --> 01:49:01,843 A month before his bout with liston, 2376 01:49:01,876 --> 01:49:04,309 Clay had addressed 1,200 muslims gathered 2377 01:49:04,343 --> 01:49:06,909 at a ballroom in Harlem. 2378 01:49:06,943 --> 01:49:10,609 "I am a race man," he said to loud applause, 2379 01:49:10,643 --> 01:49:15,009 "and every time I go to a Muslim meeting, I get inspired." 2380 01:49:16,743 --> 01:49:19,609 Cassius Clay Sr. Complained that the muslims had been 2381 01:49:19,643 --> 01:49:22,209 brainwashing his son, 2382 01:49:22,243 --> 01:49:25,643 and when the fighter was seen in Miami with Malcolm X, 2383 01:49:25,676 --> 01:49:28,876 it seemed to confirm the rumors that Cassius Clay 2384 01:49:28,909 --> 01:49:31,576 had joined the nation of islam. 2385 01:49:33,809 --> 01:49:38,376 On February 22, 1964, 3 days before the fight, 2386 01:49:38,409 --> 01:49:41,876 with ticket sales well below expectations, 2387 01:49:41,909 --> 01:49:44,843 the promoter Bill MacDonald, who'd put up his own money 2388 01:49:44,876 --> 01:49:47,509 to stage the bout, visited Clay 2389 01:49:47,543 --> 01:49:50,943 and warned him that the fight would be called off 2390 01:49:50,976 --> 01:49:53,543 if he didn't disavow any association 2391 01:49:53,576 --> 01:49:56,109 with the nation of islam. 2392 01:49:56,143 --> 01:49:58,276 Clay refused. 2393 01:49:58,309 --> 01:49:59,876 "My religion's more important to me 2394 01:49:59,909 --> 01:50:03,309 than the fight," he told MacDonald. 2395 01:50:03,343 --> 01:50:05,676 ROBERTS: Finally somebody goes to Malcolm and says, 2396 01:50:05,709 --> 01:50:08,776 "look, your presence here is jeopardizing this fight. 2397 01:50:08,809 --> 01:50:10,676 "It's going to be called off. 2398 01:50:10,709 --> 01:50:12,476 Will you leave?" 2399 01:50:12,509 --> 01:50:15,476 And Malcolm says, "I'll leave, I'll leave for now, 2400 01:50:15,509 --> 01:50:16,943 but I'm coming back for the fight." 2401 01:50:16,976 --> 01:50:18,776 And they say, "fine." 2402 01:50:18,809 --> 01:50:21,843 So now Malcolm leaves, he goes back up to New York, 2403 01:50:21,876 --> 01:50:23,509 the fight's on. 2404 01:50:23,543 --> 01:50:25,909 I'm a champ! 2405 01:50:25,943 --> 01:50:27,676 I'm the real champ! 2406 01:50:27,709 --> 01:50:29,685 NARRATOR: On the morning of the fight, Cassius Clay 2407 01:50:29,709 --> 01:50:32,509 arrived at the Miami convention center wearing 2408 01:50:32,543 --> 01:50:36,676 a blue denim jacket with the words "bear huntin'" 2409 01:50:36,709 --> 01:50:38,476 embroidered on the back. 2410 01:50:38,509 --> 01:50:39,909 Where is he at? 2411 01:50:39,943 --> 01:50:41,743 I'm the king of the ring! 2412 01:50:41,776 --> 01:50:43,643 I'm the biggest thing in history! 2413 01:50:43,676 --> 01:50:45,676 NARRATOR: He was flanked by his brother Rudy, 2414 01:50:45,709 --> 01:50:49,009 sugar Ray Robinson, Angelo dundee, 2415 01:50:49,043 --> 01:50:51,843 William faversham of his Louisville sponsors, 2416 01:50:51,876 --> 01:50:54,809 and bundini brown. 2417 01:50:54,843 --> 01:50:57,309 You tell Joe Louis and Sonny liston that i'm 2418 01:50:57,343 --> 01:51:00,076 here with sugar ray! 2419 01:51:00,109 --> 01:51:01,709 Joe Louis is flatfooted, 2420 01:51:01,743 --> 01:51:03,743 and Sonny liston is flatfooted! 2421 01:51:03,776 --> 01:51:05,676 Sugar ray and I are two pretty dancers! 2422 01:51:05,709 --> 01:51:08,909 We can't be beat! 2423 01:51:08,943 --> 01:51:12,176 NARRATOR: An hour later, Clay emerged from his dressing room 2424 01:51:12,209 --> 01:51:13,843 and headed for the weigh-in. 2425 01:51:13,876 --> 01:51:17,343 ♫ ♫ 2426 01:51:17,376 --> 01:51:20,409 I predict that tonight somebody will die 2427 01:51:20,443 --> 01:51:22,943 at ringside from shock. 2428 01:51:22,976 --> 01:51:24,119 IZENBERG: I never saw anything like it in my life 2429 01:51:24,143 --> 01:51:25,709 at a weigh-in. 2430 01:51:25,743 --> 01:51:27,252 I mean, I saw guys stare each other down. 2431 01:51:27,276 --> 01:51:30,109 This is totally different. He's nuts. 2432 01:51:30,143 --> 01:51:34,176 If he's putting on an act, he should be on Broadway. 2433 01:51:34,209 --> 01:51:36,343 Except he was putting on an act. 2434 01:51:36,376 --> 01:51:37,943 Now liston comes out. 2435 01:51:37,976 --> 01:51:40,843 Liston looks at him and says, "shut up." 2436 01:51:40,876 --> 01:51:43,076 ANNOUNCER: Seemingly unperturbed by Clay's howling, 2437 01:51:43,109 --> 01:51:45,176 liston pointed out the round he expected 2438 01:51:45,209 --> 01:51:48,043 the fight to end. 2439 01:51:48,076 --> 01:51:51,543 (laughter) 2440 01:51:51,576 --> 01:51:53,209 REPORTER: Let's see this. 2441 01:51:53,243 --> 01:51:54,676 You ain't got a chance. 2442 01:51:54,709 --> 01:51:56,276 Let us see, let us see! 2443 01:51:56,309 --> 01:51:58,443 Ain't no way you can take me, and you know it! 2444 01:51:58,476 --> 01:51:59,943 MAN: The fine is $2,500 2445 01:51:59,976 --> 01:52:02,343 for his conduct on the platform. 2446 01:52:02,376 --> 01:52:05,509 And adding to the scene the friggin' commission doctor 2447 01:52:05,543 --> 01:52:07,943 says, "I just took his blood pressure. 2448 01:52:07,976 --> 01:52:09,852 "It's twice what it should be for a healthy man, 2449 01:52:09,876 --> 01:52:11,443 "normal man. 2450 01:52:11,476 --> 01:52:14,309 His heart looks like it's gonna explode." 2451 01:52:14,343 --> 01:52:16,085 NARRATOR: The doctor who took the reading worried 2452 01:52:16,109 --> 01:52:17,843 that Clay was gripped by what he called 2453 01:52:17,876 --> 01:52:21,276 "mortal fear" and wondered if it was even safe 2454 01:52:21,309 --> 01:52:23,776 for him to fight, 2455 01:52:23,809 --> 01:52:26,109 but an hour later when Clay's own doctor tested 2456 01:52:26,143 --> 01:52:31,276 him again, everything had returned to normal. 2457 01:52:31,309 --> 01:52:35,209 Clay went home and took a nap. 2458 01:52:35,243 --> 01:52:37,709 IZENBERG: My radio's on, and the news comes on. 2459 01:52:37,743 --> 01:52:40,543 There's a bulletin. Cassius Clay was spotted 2460 01:52:40,576 --> 01:52:43,076 at Miami international airport buying a ticket 2461 01:52:43,109 --> 01:52:45,043 for a foreign country. 2462 01:52:45,076 --> 01:52:49,143 The rumor through the press row was that 2463 01:52:49,176 --> 01:52:52,776 he was at the airport, that he had run away, 2464 01:52:52,809 --> 01:52:55,109 that he was not in the building, 2465 01:52:55,143 --> 01:52:57,709 and other reporters, they were filing this 2466 01:52:57,743 --> 01:53:01,476 and spreading this, and I kind of wandered around, 2467 01:53:01,509 --> 01:53:05,109 and I saw him watching his kid brother Rudy 2468 01:53:05,143 --> 01:53:06,643 have his first fight. 2469 01:53:06,676 --> 01:53:08,209 Keep moving and jab! 2470 01:53:10,209 --> 01:53:11,976 Take your time. MAN: Good going, Rudy. 2471 01:53:12,009 --> 01:53:13,509 Watch him! Hook him! 2472 01:53:13,543 --> 01:53:15,476 IZENBERG: He's standing in the aisle, 2473 01:53:15,509 --> 01:53:17,976 and he's giving in... he's gonna fight for the world title. 2474 01:53:18,009 --> 01:53:19,776 He's giving instructions to his brother 2475 01:53:19,809 --> 01:53:21,276 in a 4-round fight. 2476 01:53:21,309 --> 01:53:24,976 This guy seems to have fooled all of us. 2477 01:53:25,009 --> 01:53:28,609 He's tired. Tie him up! Tie him up! 2478 01:53:32,043 --> 01:53:33,709 NARRATOR: But back in his dressing room, 2479 01:53:33,743 --> 01:53:35,576 things grew tense. 2480 01:53:35,609 --> 01:53:38,143 Clay fidgeted nervously. 2481 01:53:38,176 --> 01:53:40,676 His doctor ferdie pacheco noticed he was 2482 01:53:40,709 --> 01:53:44,143 uncharacteristically anxious. 2483 01:53:44,176 --> 01:53:46,909 ROBERTS: Now he gets worried, he's paranoid. 2484 01:53:46,943 --> 01:53:50,809 His brothers in the nation had said, 2485 01:53:50,843 --> 01:53:52,543 "be aware of the white devil. 2486 01:53:52,576 --> 01:53:53,852 "They're going to do something to make you lose. 2487 01:53:53,876 --> 01:53:55,743 "The money is bet on Sonny liston. 2488 01:53:55,776 --> 01:53:57,876 "The mob's involved with this sport. 2489 01:53:57,909 --> 01:54:00,209 Be aware." 2490 01:54:00,243 --> 01:54:03,076 Then he sees a water bottle, and he thinks, 2491 01:54:03,109 --> 01:54:04,709 "there could be something in that water." 2492 01:54:04,743 --> 01:54:06,243 So he dumps the water out. 2493 01:54:06,276 --> 01:54:07,876 Then he fills it up again. 2494 01:54:07,909 --> 01:54:10,076 Then he tapes the top of the water bottle, 2495 01:54:10,109 --> 01:54:11,285 and he gives it to his brother, and he says, 2496 01:54:11,309 --> 01:54:13,609 "you watch over this." 2497 01:54:13,643 --> 01:54:16,643 NARRATOR: Later, Malcolm X joined Cassius and Rudy 2498 01:54:16,676 --> 01:54:22,643 as they faced east, bowed, and prayed to Allah. 2499 01:54:22,676 --> 01:54:27,909 ♫ ♫ 2500 01:54:27,943 --> 01:54:29,552 MAN ONE: Liston in the fourth round because 2501 01:54:29,576 --> 01:54:32,609 I really think liston is going to show that man 2502 01:54:32,643 --> 01:54:36,576 his mouthpiece ain't valuable. 2503 01:54:36,609 --> 01:54:38,185 MAN TWO: Fights are always won with fists 2504 01:54:38,209 --> 01:54:39,843 and not with mouth talk. 2505 01:54:39,876 --> 01:54:41,876 I pick liston to win by the fifth round. 2506 01:54:41,909 --> 01:54:43,443 Third round. Fifth round. 2507 01:54:43,476 --> 01:54:46,009 I expect in about two rounds. 2508 01:54:48,776 --> 01:54:52,709 NARRATOR: At 10 p.M., the fighters entered the arena. 2509 01:54:52,743 --> 01:54:55,576 Clay was an 8-to-1 underdog. 2510 01:54:55,609 --> 01:54:58,776 (crowd cheering) 2511 01:55:01,976 --> 01:55:05,276 FRANK FREEMAN: This bout, 15 rounds, 2512 01:55:05,309 --> 01:55:10,276 for the heavyweight championship of the world. 2513 01:55:10,309 --> 01:55:12,909 LIPSYTE: When the two men met in the ring 2514 01:55:12,943 --> 01:55:15,776 just before the fight began for the ring instructions, 2515 01:55:15,809 --> 01:55:21,276 I was struck by how much bigger Cassius Clay was 2516 01:55:21,309 --> 01:55:22,809 than Sonny liston. 2517 01:55:22,843 --> 01:55:25,343 He was taller, he was broad. 2518 01:55:25,376 --> 01:55:27,909 Was not quite as thick, 2519 01:55:27,943 --> 01:55:31,509 but this is not David and Goliath by any means. 2520 01:55:31,543 --> 01:55:32,885 REFEREE: Break, stop punching, and step back. 2521 01:55:32,909 --> 01:55:34,009 Good luck. 2522 01:55:34,043 --> 01:55:35,376 Shake hands. 2523 01:55:35,409 --> 01:55:37,276 (bell rings) 2524 01:55:40,576 --> 01:55:42,176 ANNOUNCER: Cassius Clay 2525 01:55:42,209 --> 01:55:43,509 on the move as we see, 2526 01:55:43,543 --> 01:55:46,009 looking to get Sonny to lunge. 2527 01:55:46,043 --> 01:55:49,709 Carrying his left hand dangerously low. 2528 01:55:49,743 --> 01:55:52,609 IZENBERG: Liston had a jab that could knock you out. 2529 01:55:52,643 --> 01:55:55,809 Jab, jab, and when that right hand came in, it was over. 2530 01:55:55,843 --> 01:55:59,709 I think he had expected to do that. 2531 01:55:59,743 --> 01:56:02,843 It becomes the bull and the matador. 2532 01:56:02,876 --> 01:56:04,709 Clay is boom, boom, 2533 01:56:04,743 --> 01:56:07,843 and liston is shocked. 2534 01:56:07,876 --> 01:56:12,209 ANNOUNCER: We're halfway through round one. 2535 01:56:12,243 --> 01:56:17,776 BENTT: Cassius has the mask of confidence. 2536 01:56:17,809 --> 01:56:22,076 "I may be retreating but you're chasing me, 2537 01:56:22,109 --> 01:56:24,709 and I'm setting traps for you." 2538 01:56:24,743 --> 01:56:26,285 ANNOUNCER: The right hand, the best punch 2539 01:56:26,309 --> 01:56:28,443 of the fight so far. 2540 01:56:28,476 --> 01:56:30,943 BENTT: "You follow me around everywhere you go, 2541 01:56:30,976 --> 01:56:34,076 I'll slap you again." 2542 01:56:34,109 --> 01:56:35,909 Sonny had never seen that before. 2543 01:56:35,943 --> 01:56:37,843 He wasn't prepared for it. 2544 01:56:37,876 --> 01:56:39,643 ANNOUNCER: We're down to the closing second 2545 01:56:39,676 --> 01:56:42,209 of this first round, and the long left lead 2546 01:56:42,243 --> 01:56:45,509 is making the difference so far by Mr. Clay. 2547 01:56:45,543 --> 01:56:47,743 BENTT: He's throwing his shots with his hands down. 2548 01:56:47,776 --> 01:56:49,319 You don't throw those kind of shots unless you 2549 01:56:49,343 --> 01:56:52,009 trust your talent. 2550 01:56:52,043 --> 01:56:53,743 (bell rings) 2551 01:56:53,776 --> 01:56:55,709 ANNOUNCER: The referee did not stop that round 2552 01:56:55,743 --> 01:56:57,243 when that bell sounded. 2553 01:56:57,276 --> 01:56:59,009 Perhaps the referee didn't hear it. 2554 01:56:59,043 --> 01:57:01,276 Into the corner is Cassius Clay, who is still doing 2555 01:57:01,309 --> 01:57:03,109 the talking. 2556 01:57:03,143 --> 01:57:05,043 Champion Joe Louis. 2557 01:57:05,076 --> 01:57:06,619 LOUIS: Well, Steve, I think this was the greatest round 2558 01:57:06,643 --> 01:57:08,576 of any a fight we've seen in a long time. 2559 01:57:08,609 --> 01:57:10,943 I hope that Clay don't get too much confidence, 2560 01:57:10,976 --> 01:57:13,709 or he gonna get knocked out. 2561 01:57:17,176 --> 01:57:19,643 ANNOUNCER: This youngster has his own style, 2562 01:57:19,676 --> 01:57:21,943 and it's confusing for the champion to fathom 2563 01:57:21,976 --> 01:57:23,643 this early in the fight. 2564 01:57:23,676 --> 01:57:26,243 (bell rings) 2565 01:57:26,276 --> 01:57:28,543 BENTT: When Clay came out in the third, 2566 01:57:28,576 --> 01:57:30,809 he's shooting jabs that were like razorblades. 2567 01:57:30,843 --> 01:57:32,809 ANNOUNCER: Wobbled! Sonny wobbled! 2568 01:57:32,843 --> 01:57:36,076 Cassius has him hurt! 2569 01:57:36,109 --> 01:57:39,243 BENTT: Sonny's essentially tamed by this point. 2570 01:57:39,276 --> 01:57:42,176 ANNOUNCER: He verbally challenges the champion. 2571 01:57:42,209 --> 01:57:46,176 IZENBERG: Nobody believed this guy could do this to liston, 2572 01:57:46,209 --> 01:57:51,009 and he dominates the round. 2573 01:57:51,043 --> 01:57:53,443 LIPSYTE: There was no question Clay took control 2574 01:57:53,476 --> 01:57:56,076 of the fight very quickly. 2575 01:57:56,109 --> 01:58:00,743 He hit liston at will, opened a cut under his eye. 2576 01:58:00,776 --> 01:58:04,009 NARRATOR: It was the first time in 34 professional fights 2577 01:58:04,043 --> 01:58:06,509 that Sonny liston had been cut. 2578 01:58:06,543 --> 01:58:08,709 (bell rings) 2579 01:58:08,743 --> 01:58:10,909 ANNOUNCER: The champion is strong, durable, 2580 01:58:10,943 --> 01:58:12,676 takes the good shot. 2581 01:58:12,709 --> 01:58:16,143 However, he is being outmaneuvered at most points 2582 01:58:16,176 --> 01:58:19,043 because this fellow has that awkwardly fast style 2583 01:58:19,076 --> 01:58:21,409 of going side to side, moving the upper part 2584 01:58:21,443 --> 01:58:24,676 of his body. 2585 01:58:24,709 --> 01:58:27,476 Half a minute more in round number 4. 2586 01:58:27,509 --> 01:58:29,676 ROBERTS: During the fourth round, 2587 01:58:29,709 --> 01:58:32,709 something gets in Clay's eyes. 2588 01:58:32,743 --> 01:58:36,576 And we can start to see him blinking. 2589 01:58:36,609 --> 01:58:40,109 At one point that liston rubs his gloves in a clinch 2590 01:58:40,143 --> 01:58:42,709 across Clay's eyes. 2591 01:58:42,743 --> 01:58:44,343 My guess is that's where something got 2592 01:58:44,376 --> 01:58:47,209 in Clay's eyes. 2593 01:58:47,243 --> 01:58:50,176 At the end of the fourth round, Clay goes back to his corner, 2594 01:58:50,209 --> 01:58:52,543 and by now he's in pain. 2595 01:58:52,576 --> 01:58:54,176 He can't see, 2596 01:58:54,209 --> 01:58:57,443 and he says to Angelo, "cut them off. 2597 01:58:57,476 --> 01:59:01,876 Cut the gloves off. I'm done. I can't fight." 2598 01:59:01,909 --> 01:59:06,276 REMNICK: The crowd is going bat... 2599 01:59:06,309 --> 01:59:10,376 The other corner senses blood, 2600 01:59:10,409 --> 01:59:15,409 and dundee does the best he can to wipe his eyes clean, 2601 01:59:15,443 --> 01:59:20,343 and he basically pushes him back into the fight. 2602 01:59:20,376 --> 01:59:22,285 ANNOUNCER: They're yelling from Cassius Clay's corner 2603 01:59:22,309 --> 01:59:24,943 something got in his right eye. 2604 01:59:24,976 --> 01:59:27,376 However, he's blinking badly. 2605 01:59:27,409 --> 01:59:29,609 REMNICK: And it is quite possible that this was 2606 01:59:29,643 --> 01:59:32,109 a deliberate act on by liston and the liston corner 2607 01:59:32,143 --> 01:59:35,076 to put what's called liniment on the gloves, which eventually 2608 01:59:35,109 --> 01:59:37,376 are gonna get in the other guy's eyes. 2609 01:59:37,409 --> 01:59:40,309 IZENBERG: And the chorus from Clay's corner was 2610 01:59:40,343 --> 01:59:43,043 stay the hell away, stay the hell away. 2611 01:59:43,076 --> 01:59:45,209 Stay the hell away. 2612 01:59:45,243 --> 01:59:47,152 RAHAMAN: When that happened, when I last saw him blind 2613 01:59:47,176 --> 01:59:50,943 like that, I said, "they done got to us." 2614 01:59:50,976 --> 01:59:52,876 ANNOUNCER: Sonny's gonna try to pull it off. 2615 01:59:52,909 --> 01:59:55,009 RAHAMAN: "They done got to us." 2616 01:59:58,776 --> 02:00:01,776 ANNOUNCER: Cassius still having some problems 2617 02:00:01,809 --> 02:00:03,543 with his... with his eyes. 2618 02:00:03,576 --> 02:00:05,276 He's blinking, and he's bouncing 2619 02:00:05,309 --> 02:00:06,876 away continually. 2620 02:00:06,909 --> 02:00:09,076 (bell rings) 2621 02:00:09,109 --> 02:00:13,276 NARRATOR: Clay somehow survived the fifth round. 2622 02:00:13,309 --> 02:00:15,909 In round 6, his eyes clear, 2623 02:00:15,943 --> 02:00:18,476 Clay stood flatfooted and launched jabs 2624 02:00:18,509 --> 02:00:21,776 at liston's head, swelling the champ's cheeks, 2625 02:00:21,809 --> 02:00:23,576 and drawing more blood from the cut 2626 02:00:23,609 --> 02:00:26,776 beneath his left eye. 2627 02:00:26,809 --> 02:00:31,643 ANNOUNCER: Easy target. Easy. 2628 02:00:31,676 --> 02:00:35,809 BENTT: If a fighter escapes getting that done to him, 2629 02:00:35,843 --> 02:00:39,943 the amount of venom that the fighter's gonna impress 2630 02:00:39,976 --> 02:00:43,076 to his opponent is increased, like, profoundly, man. 2631 02:00:43,109 --> 02:00:45,276 I'm trying to hurt you worse because 2632 02:00:45,309 --> 02:00:47,676 you tried to cheat me. 2633 02:00:49,976 --> 02:00:52,043 ANNOUNCER: Sonny can't seem to slip or knock down 2634 02:00:52,076 --> 02:00:54,243 that jab effectively. 2635 02:00:54,276 --> 02:00:57,343 Cassius throws it from all angles. 2636 02:00:57,376 --> 02:00:59,743 The crowd's now cheering the challenger. 2637 02:00:59,776 --> 02:01:01,843 Let's get over to our champion Joe Louis. 2638 02:01:01,876 --> 02:01:03,843 Joe, what do you think is going on 2639 02:01:03,876 --> 02:01:05,776 in Sonny's mind at this point? 2640 02:01:05,809 --> 02:01:07,652 LOUIS: Well, I think Sonny now's beginning to worry now. 2641 02:01:07,676 --> 02:01:10,176 At least his corner is beginning to worry now because... 2642 02:01:10,209 --> 02:01:12,243 NARRATOR: As Clay awaited the bell signaling 2643 02:01:12,276 --> 02:01:15,809 the start of round 7, he turned to the reporters 2644 02:01:15,843 --> 02:01:17,909 seated beside the ring. 2645 02:01:17,943 --> 02:01:21,909 "I'm gonna upset the world!" He yelled at them. 2646 02:01:21,943 --> 02:01:24,609 In liston's corner, trainers massaged 2647 02:01:24,643 --> 02:01:28,409 the champ's muscles and rubbed vaseline on his brow. 2648 02:01:28,443 --> 02:01:30,152 LOUIS: Oh, I think the corner men are beginning to 2649 02:01:30,176 --> 02:01:31,743 worry a little bit now. 2650 02:01:31,776 --> 02:01:33,743 Liston now I think he don't see too well out 2651 02:01:33,776 --> 02:01:36,143 of both his eyes now they may well puck out. 2652 02:01:36,176 --> 02:01:38,776 NARRATOR: After one trainer put in his mouthpiece, 2653 02:01:38,809 --> 02:01:41,443 liston spit it out. 2654 02:01:41,476 --> 02:01:42,909 (bell rings) 2655 02:01:42,943 --> 02:01:44,476 ANNOUNCER: They might be stopping it. 2656 02:01:44,509 --> 02:01:46,376 That might be all, ladies and gentlemen. 2657 02:01:46,409 --> 02:01:48,876 NARRATOR: He was finished. 2658 02:01:48,909 --> 02:01:51,609 Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. 2659 02:01:51,643 --> 02:01:55,009 Was now the heavyweight champion of the world. 2660 02:01:55,043 --> 02:01:58,043 (crowd cheering) 2661 02:01:59,743 --> 02:02:02,209 CLAY: I must be the greatest! 2662 02:02:02,243 --> 02:02:06,676 I am the king of the world! I'm a bad man! 2663 02:02:06,709 --> 02:02:09,376 He had liniment on his hands, he had liniment in his gloves. 2664 02:02:09,409 --> 02:02:12,709 My whole face was burning. 2665 02:02:12,743 --> 02:02:14,276 I am the greatest! 2666 02:02:14,309 --> 02:02:15,909 All I got to say is I beat liston like 2667 02:02:15,943 --> 02:02:17,409 he was an amateur. 2668 02:02:17,443 --> 02:02:19,243 I held my hands low, I leaned back, 2669 02:02:19,276 --> 02:02:21,009 I'm still pretty. 2670 02:02:21,043 --> 02:02:22,885 He was the one all cut up. I shook up the world. 2671 02:02:22,909 --> 02:02:25,509 Now what are you all going to say about that now, huh? 2672 02:02:25,543 --> 02:02:27,676 NARRATOR: After the fight, Sonny liston was taken 2673 02:02:27,709 --> 02:02:29,409 to the hospital. 2674 02:02:29,443 --> 02:02:31,276 "That wasn't the guy I was supposed to fight," 2675 02:02:31,309 --> 02:02:32,576 he muttered. 2676 02:02:32,609 --> 02:02:35,043 "That guy could hit." 2677 02:02:35,076 --> 02:02:36,709 Back to the microphone, Cassius, 2678 02:02:36,743 --> 02:02:38,409 to answer some questions. 2679 02:02:38,443 --> 02:02:39,552 All you reporters... All of you reporters 2680 02:02:39,576 --> 02:02:40,943 made it hard on liston. 2681 02:02:40,976 --> 02:02:41,943 Never write about me like that. 2682 02:02:41,976 --> 02:02:43,743 Never make me 6-1. 2683 02:02:43,776 --> 02:02:45,276 It just make me angry. 2684 02:02:45,309 --> 02:02:47,509 Never make me no underdog and never talk 2685 02:02:47,543 --> 02:02:49,143 about who's gonna stop me. 2686 02:02:49,176 --> 02:02:51,076 Ain't nobody gonna stop me! 2687 02:02:51,109 --> 02:02:53,376 Not a heavyweight in the world fast enough to stop me! 2688 02:02:53,409 --> 02:02:57,209 Oh, I'm so pretty. I shook up the world. 2689 02:02:57,243 --> 02:02:59,243 Now I'm through talking. 2690 02:02:59,276 --> 02:03:00,909 I'm through talking. 2691 02:03:00,943 --> 02:03:03,943 Now you write... You write the results. 2692 02:03:03,976 --> 02:03:05,809 MAN 1: I like Clay's style. 2693 02:03:05,843 --> 02:03:09,743 I like that old 1-2-3, 3-4-5. 2694 02:03:09,776 --> 02:03:15,076 Let's get together get some old... wide. 2695 02:03:15,109 --> 02:03:16,876 He's the greatest of them all! 2696 02:03:16,909 --> 02:03:18,709 He's the greatest! 2697 02:03:18,743 --> 02:03:20,909 Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee. 2698 02:03:20,943 --> 02:03:22,976 Cassius Clay! 2699 02:03:23,009 --> 02:03:24,709 3, 2, 1! 2700 02:03:24,743 --> 02:03:25,985 CLAY: World heavyweight champion Cassius Clay 2701 02:03:26,009 --> 02:03:27,543 in person. 2702 02:03:27,576 --> 02:03:29,376 I'm the greatest thing in the world. 2703 02:03:29,409 --> 02:03:30,809 You the greatest, baby. 2704 02:03:30,843 --> 02:03:33,576 CLAY: I'm a bad man. I'm a bad man. 2705 02:03:33,609 --> 02:03:34,809 You the greatest! 2706 02:03:34,843 --> 02:03:36,076 I didn't stop him. 2707 02:03:36,109 --> 02:03:37,376 I sent him to the hospital. 2708 02:03:37,409 --> 02:03:41,709 I got to be bad! I got to be bad! 2709 02:03:41,743 --> 02:03:44,709 Oh! It feels so good to be able to holler 2710 02:03:44,743 --> 02:03:48,076 when you know you're bad. 2711 02:03:48,109 --> 02:03:50,309 NARRATOR: Unprepared for Clay's victory, 2712 02:03:50,343 --> 02:03:53,176 the Louisville sponsoring group rushed to arrange 2713 02:03:53,209 --> 02:03:56,276 a celebration in Miami beach, 2714 02:03:56,309 --> 02:03:59,609 but Cassius Clay had other plans. 2715 02:03:59,643 --> 02:04:02,043 After midnight, he headed to the café 2716 02:04:02,076 --> 02:04:07,743 of the all-black Hampton house, where he ate vanilla ice cream. 2717 02:04:07,776 --> 02:04:12,843 Later, Clay, Malcolm X, football star Jim brown, 2718 02:04:12,876 --> 02:04:16,909 and singer Sam Cooke talked long into the night 2719 02:04:16,943 --> 02:04:20,809 about the 22-year-old boxer's future. 2720 02:04:20,843 --> 02:04:24,576 From now on, everything would be different. 2721 02:04:24,609 --> 02:04:27,409 He had scaled boxing's highest peak, 2722 02:04:27,443 --> 02:04:31,809 would no longer need to campaign for a shot at the title 2723 02:04:31,843 --> 02:04:34,443 or conceal his Muslim faith. 2724 02:04:35,876 --> 02:04:40,809 ♫ ♫ 2725 02:04:40,843 --> 02:04:43,509 EIG: Next morning, he's more subdued. 2726 02:04:43,543 --> 02:04:46,243 He's the heavyweight champion of the world. 2727 02:04:46,276 --> 02:04:49,009 New responsibilities have been accorded him. 2728 02:04:49,043 --> 02:04:50,883 Because I'm the world heavyweight champion now, 2729 02:04:50,909 --> 02:04:53,643 I don't have to holler and brag as loud as I used to. 2730 02:04:53,676 --> 02:04:55,609 I'm where I want to be now. 2731 02:04:55,643 --> 02:04:58,009 So all I have to do is listen to the people 2732 02:04:58,043 --> 02:04:59,343 tell me about how great I am. 2733 02:04:59,376 --> 02:05:01,209 I'm through talking. 2734 02:05:01,243 --> 02:05:03,119 EIG: He also makes a really important declaration. 2735 02:05:03,143 --> 02:05:06,709 CLAY: I don't have to be what you want me to be. 2736 02:05:06,743 --> 02:05:08,419 I'm free to be what I want to be and think what I 2737 02:05:08,443 --> 02:05:10,009 want to think. 2738 02:05:10,043 --> 02:05:11,376 EIG: Boom. 2739 02:05:11,409 --> 02:05:13,376 Muhammad Ali is born. 2740 02:05:13,409 --> 02:05:16,443 ♫ Beyoncé's "Freedom" playing ♫ 2741 02:05:16,476 --> 02:05:19,009 ♫ Freedom, freedom I can't move ♫ 2742 02:05:19,043 --> 02:05:22,076 ♫ freedom, cut me loose, hey, hey ♫ 2743 02:05:22,109 --> 02:05:24,543 ♫ freedom, freedom, where are you? ♫ 2744 02:05:24,576 --> 02:05:26,943 ♫ 'Cause I need freedom, too ♫ 2745 02:05:26,976 --> 02:05:29,543 ♫ I'll break chains all by myself ♫ 2746 02:05:29,576 --> 02:05:32,843 ♫ won't let my freedom rot in hell ♫ 2747 02:05:32,876 --> 02:05:35,509 ♫ hey, I'mma keep-a running ♫ 2748 02:05:35,543 --> 02:05:38,876 ♫ 'cause a winner don't quit on themselves ♫ 2749 02:05:38,909 --> 02:05:41,743 ♫ I'mma Wade, I'mma wave through the waters ♫ 2750 02:05:41,776 --> 02:05:44,409 ♫ till the tide don't move ♫ 2751 02:05:44,443 --> 02:05:47,276 ♫ I'mma riot, I'mma riot through your borders ♫ 2752 02:05:47,309 --> 02:05:50,243 ♫ call me bulletproof ♫ 2753 02:05:50,276 --> 02:05:53,043 ♫ lord, forgive me, I've been runnin' ♫ 2754 02:05:53,076 --> 02:05:55,776 ♫ runnin' blind in truth ♫ 2755 02:05:55,809 --> 02:05:58,609 ♫ I'mma Wade, I'mma wave through your shallow love ♫ 2756 02:05:58,643 --> 02:06:01,476 ♫ tell the deep I'm new ♫ 2757 02:06:01,509 --> 02:06:09,509 ♫ ♫ 2758 02:06:15,476 --> 02:06:23,476 ♫ ♫ 2759 02:06:30,409 --> 02:06:31,409 ♫ ♫ 2760 02:06:31,543 --> 02:06:33,409 ANNOUNCER: Next time on "Muhammad Ali"... 2761 02:06:33,443 --> 02:06:34,809 JACKSON: He's 22 years old, 2762 02:06:34,843 --> 02:06:37,476 and he's standing up to the whole establishment. 2763 02:06:37,509 --> 02:06:39,376 ANNOUNCER: The champ changes his name... 2764 02:06:39,409 --> 02:06:41,976 EARLY: He was vilified, and it was thought 2765 02:06:42,009 --> 02:06:43,643 that he was UN-American. 2766 02:06:43,676 --> 02:06:45,309 ANNOUNCER: Defends the title... 2767 02:06:45,343 --> 02:06:46,785 BENTT: That kind of like, you know, artistry 2768 02:06:46,809 --> 02:06:48,243 will never been seen again. 2769 02:06:48,276 --> 02:06:50,309 ANNOUNCER: And prepares for his greatest fight yet. 2770 02:06:50,343 --> 02:06:52,019 ALI: You want me to go somewhere and fight, 2771 02:06:52,043 --> 02:06:54,076 but you won't even stand up for me here at home. 2772 02:06:54,109 --> 02:06:56,943 I was positive he'd go to jail if he had to. 2773 02:06:56,976 --> 02:06:59,509 ANNOUNCER: That's next time on "Muhammad Ali." 2774 02:07:29,776 --> 02:07:31,343 MAN: ♫ ow, ow, ow ♫ 2775 02:07:31,376 --> 02:07:39,376 ♫ ♫ 2776 02:07:46,309 --> 02:07:51,676 ♫ ♫ 2777 02:07:51,709 --> 02:07:52,909 WOMAN: ♫ oh, ah ♫ 2778 02:07:52,943 --> 02:07:54,343 CROWD: Hey! 2779 02:07:54,376 --> 02:07:55,476 ♫ Oh, ah ♫ 2780 02:07:55,509 --> 02:07:56,743 Hey! 2781 02:07:56,776 --> 02:07:57,909 ♫ Oh, ah ♫ 2782 02:07:57,943 --> 02:07:59,609 Hey! 2783 02:07:59,643 --> 02:08:00,943 ♫ Oh, ah ♫ 2784 02:08:00,976 --> 02:08:02,243 Hey! 2785 02:08:02,276 --> 02:08:03,643 ♫ Oh, ah ♫ 2786 02:08:03,676 --> 02:08:04,943 Hey! 2787 02:08:04,976 --> 02:08:06,176 ♫ Oh, ah ♫ 2788 02:08:06,209 --> 02:08:07,643 Hey! 2789 02:08:07,676 --> 02:08:08,909 ♫ Oh, ah ♫ 2790 02:08:08,943 --> 02:08:10,343 Hey! 2791 02:08:10,376 --> 02:08:11,509 ♫ Oh, ah ♫ 2792 02:08:11,543 --> 02:08:13,309 Hey! 2793 02:08:13,343 --> 02:08:14,785 BUNDINI: You gonna float like a butterfly 2794 02:08:14,809 --> 02:08:16,143 and sting like a bee. 2795 02:08:16,176 --> 02:08:17,476 BUNDINI AND ALI: Ahh! 2796 02:08:17,509 --> 02:08:19,409 Rumble, young man, rumble. 2797 02:08:19,443 --> 02:08:20,976 Ahh! 2798 02:08:23,109 --> 02:08:24,143 ♫ ♫ 238631

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