All language subtitles for Muhammad.Ali.S01E02.720p.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV

Malcolm X, what do you think

of Cassius' victory in Miami?

I think it was a great victory.

He proved he was the best man.

And do you think
that Cassius' being

a black Muslim has had
anything to do with this victory?

Well, I haven't heard him
say he was a black Muslim.

He's a clean-living young man,

and this is the main thing that
the honorable Elijah Muhammad

does teach in spreading the
religion of Islam throughout the...

Among our people
in this country.

Mr. X, how long has
Cassius been a black Muslim?

Do you know that?

Uh, well I don't know.
Cassius is probably...

Probably more capable
of speaking for himself

than any other
man in this country.

♫ ♫

NARRATOR: On the morning
of February 26, 1964,

Cassius Clay returned to

the Miami beach
convention center,

where the previous night
he had beaten Sonny Liston

to claim the heavyweight title.

He was just 22 years old.

Clay gave a very
gentlemanly interview.

"I don't have to be
wild and crazy anymore.

I can be a nice gentleman,"

and all the older
reporters left very satisfied.

The younger reporters,
we stayed talking to him.

"What's this about you
and the black muslims?"

And suddenly he said,
"red birds stay with red birds,

"and blue birds with blue birds.

"You stay with people
of your own kind.

That's nature."

I don't have to be
what you want me to be.

I'm free to be what I
want to be and think

what I want to think, all right?

And that really sounded
like an athletic declaration

of independence, something
that we had never heard before

in any sport,

and it was a really a
very powerful moment,

and then he went on.

I wasn't forcing myself
in no neighborhoods

I'm not wanted.

I wasn't busting down no
schools and shaming America.

I wasn't doing nothing.

I was just around
colored people,

and now I'm catching
more hell than all the people

who's raising hell.

I like everybody, but one
negro coming to school

and the police force is
out there and the mayor

and the governor and
the firemen with the hoses

and race riots and
whooping them.

REPORTER: Do you
think it's awful?

Yes, awful. That's
why I'm not around it.

I might get killed.

NARRATOR: The next
day, he told a reporter,

"my religion is Islam.

"I believe Allah is god.

"I think this is the true
way to save the world,

which is on fire with hate."

MAN: He's 22 years old,

and he's standing up to
the whole establishment.

"I am the world champion.

"I have changed my religion,

and you're simply going
to have to accept it."

EARLY: His joining
a faith community,

which is in essence what he did,

it wasn't accepted.

It was seen more
as something political

because of the
racial aspect of it.

It was unacceptable to
many, many, white people,

of the time.

He was vilified,
and it was thought

that it was, um... He
was UN-American.

That was the big thing.

He was UN-American.

♫ ♫

Improved Captions by Sailor420
!!! Hope you enjoy the Mini-Series !!!

(barking)

GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL:
Demonstrations of all types

are prohibited.

Curfew at 9 pm.

REPORTER: Guardsmen
used teargas to break up

another negro protest.

(indistinct shouting)

NARRATOR: In the 4 years
it had taken Cassius Clay

to rise from little-known
olympic hopeful

to heavyweight champion of
the world, African-Americans

had waged a non-violent
campaign for integration,

organizing freedom rides,

challenging the unlawful
segregation of schools,

and staging a
massive demonstration

on the mall in Washington D.C.

KING: There will be neither
rest nor tranquility in America

until the negro is granted
his citizenship rights.

(indistinct chatter)

♫ ♫

(cheering)

NARRATOR: They were
met by a white America

violently determined to
maintain the racial status quo.

MEN: 2-4-6-8, we
don't want to integrate.

RING ANNOUNCER:
The winner by a tko

in the seventh
round Cassius Clay!

NARRATOR: Clay thrilled
those who identified

with his strong
sense of racial pride,

but many others
were angered by what

they regarded as
his lack of humility,

his refusal to abide
by the old social order,

and his association
with the nation of Islam,

which preached the
separation of the races.

To them, Cassius Clay
was ungrateful and offensive

and a threat that
needed to be stopped.

♫ ♫

MOSLEY: I was as a child
afraid of Cassius Clay

because he called
up violent emotions

in black men specifically
in the community.

I lived in watts at the time,

and what I saw in
him was something that

could cause anything to happen,

and it was true
of a lot of people.

Certainly everybody
was afraid of Malcolm X

because he said,
"they're stealing from us.

"They robbing from
us. They hate us.

They kill us."

We all knew it, but
you're not supposed

to be saying that,

and you could see it
resonating in people,

those people who were
living in that 500 years

of oppression.

Muhammad Ali was a
spark, and I was standing

in a field of gasoline
and thinking, "oh, no."

I don't... I'm
gonna be in trouble.

(bell rings)

(cheering and applause)

NARRATOR: On February 26,
1964, at an annual assembly

in Chicago, the nation
of Islam's head minister

Elijah Muhammad
praised Cassius Clay

for defeating Sonny Liston.

ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: He
was able by confessing

Allah is god and
Muhammad is his messenger.

(cheering)

That he whipped a much
tougher man than he.

(cheering)

The enemy wanted him
to come out all blasted.

Yes, sir! Yes, sir!

They had said that
he would... Heh heh...

Liston would tear up
that pretty face of yours...

(cheering)

But Allah and
myself said no, no.

(cheering and applause)

NARRATOR: Though Elijah
Muhammad had always

condemned sports as
frivolous entertainment,

he now ordered the editor
of the nation of Islam's

newspaper "Muhammad
speaks" to add 4 additional pages

dedicated to the new champion.

MAN: "Muhammad speaks."
What's up, my brother?

Suddenly Elijah Muhammad
has to think about this guy

a little differently

because had he
lost to Sonny Liston,

as everyone expected,
Elijah Muhammad could've

brushed him under the rug,

but now he's the heavyweight
champion of the world,

and suddenly Elijah
Muhammad realizes that

this could be an asset.

This could help
him with recruiting,

that maybe he shouldn't
be so fast to dismiss this kid.

NARRATOR: On march
1, Cassius Clay drove

to New York, where he
checked into the hotel Theresa

in Harlem, and
reunited with Malcolm X,

the Muslim minister who had
become his spiritual advisor

and close friend.

Elijah Muhammad
had suspended Malcolm

from the nation of Islam,
and with little chance

of being reinstated, he had
quietly begun making plans

to form his own movement,
one that he hoped

would include Cassius Clay.

That evening, the two men
joined a crowd of 500 people

at the trans-Lux
theatre in midtown

for a screening of
Clay's fight with Liston.

In the morning, Malcolm
took Cassius to the offices

of the "Amsterdam news,"
where the boxer told reporters

that he had renounced
the name Clay,

which the nation of Islam
considered a "slave name,"

and would now go by Cassius x.

Here's my buddy.

NARRATOR: On march 5, they
visited the United Nations.

"I'm champion of the
whole world," Cassius told

delegates from Africa and Asia,

who eagerly offered to
host him in their countries.

The boxer also announced
that he intended to move

to New York.

Well, yes, I'm
look... scouting now,

and some home on
the outskirts of town

I'll soon be picking.

REPORTER: Is this
the reason for your...

This particular
trip to New York?

Well, yes, I have
enterprise set up here.

I'm incorporated now,
and I have a lot of business

to attend to.

And like I said, this is
the center of the world.

A whole lot is going on here.

NARRATOR: In Chicago,
Elijah Muhammad fumed.

He ordered Clay to stop
seeing Malcolm immediately.

The next day, Elijah
Muhammad made a move

intended to secure
the boxer's allegiance

and permanently
marginalize Malcolm X.

"This Clay name has
no divine meaning,"

he declared in a radio address.

"I hope he will
accept being called

"by another name.

"Muhammad Ali is
what I will give to him

as long as he believes
in Allah and follows me."

EIG: For Elijah Muhammad,
it was a brilliant stroke

because it pulled Muhammad
Ali toward Elijah Muhammad

at a time when he
could've gone either way.

He could've gone toward Malcolm.

He could've split from
the nation of Islam,

but Elijah Muhammad,
by granting Ali this honor,

this special name was
saying, "you're my son.

You are, special to me,"
and that cemented their bond.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, Malcolm
tried repeatedly to reach

the boxer by phone
at the hotel Theresa,

but each call was answered by
one of Elijah Muhammad's men.

They refused to let
Malcolm speak to his friend.

Why do you insist
on being called

Muhammad Ali now?

That's the name given
to me by my leader

and teacher, the honorable
Elijah Muhammad.

That's my original name,
that's a black man name.

Cassius Clay was my slave name.

I'm no longer a slave.

What does it mean?

Muhammad means
"worthy of all praises,"

and Ali means "most high."

Do you intend to
fight under that name?

Yes, sir. I want to be
called by that name,

I write autographs
with that name.

I want to be known all
over the world as that name,

especially throughout
Asia and Africa

because that's the names
of our people over home.

INTERVIEWER: Malcolm
X, you've been very close

to the new heavyweight
champion Cassius Clay.

Do you expect that he might
leave the nation of Islam with you?

No. As I stated earlier today,

it's not my intention to
encourage any Muslim

who follows the honorable
Elijah Muhammad

to leave him.

In fact, it's my intention
to encourage all muslims

to remain under
the spiritual guidance

of the honorable
Elijah Muhammad.

That includes Cassius Clay.

NARRATOR: Having won
Muhammad Ali's loyalty,

Elijah Muhammad cut
off Malcolm X entirely,

forcing him and his
family from the home

the nation of
Islam had provided.

Followed everywhere by
members of the fruit of Islam,

Elijah Muhammad's
security force,

Malcolm X publicly
quit the sect.

He remained a
Muslim but would create

his own movement
committed to reaching

all African-Americans.

In the months ahead,
Malcolm would make

a pilgrimage to mecca that
would reshape his attitudes

toward Islam.

He was willing now to cooperate

with non-violent
civil rights activists,

and he would live each
day under the threat

of violence from
the nation of Islam.

REPORTER: I understand that
you're headed for Chicago

later on this afternoon to
meet with Elijah Muhammad?

Yes, sir. Having
dinner with him.

Uh-huh. One of the main reasons

is your friendship
with Malcolm X

for you joining the
black muslims, wasn't it?

No, I was a Muslim 4 years
before I met Malcolm X.

Oh, really?

He's a friend of yours
now though, isn't he?

Mm-hmm. Yes. He's
a brother of mine.

He's my brother. Whatever
he do, he's my brother.

Uh-huh. Now that he's split
away from the muslims...

I don't know about splitting.

I'll have to see a
higher authority on that.

That's one of my
main reasons for going

is to find out the real story.

I don't believe nothing
the press and people write.

NARRATOR: At his Chicago
mansion, Elijah Muhammad

lectured Ali and his
brother Rudy on Allah,

discussed the boxer's
future, and promised

to find him a Muslim
woman to marry.

He also introduced Ali to
his son Herbert, the owner

of a photography studio and
editor of "Muhammad speaks."

In time, Elijah Muhammad
and his son would control

nearly every
aspect of Ali's life.

NARRATOR: Back in New
York, the new champion

was besieged by reporters,
most of whom forgot...

Or declined... to call
him by his new name.

REPORTER: Cassius, when the fight
was over, you raised your hands...

NARRATOR: Attending a fight
at Madison square garden,

he insisted on being
introduced as Muhammad Ali.

The bout's promoters refused.

"I pity Clay and abhor
what he represents,"

wrote the veteran
sportswriter Jimmy cannon.

He accused the
boxer of using his faith

as a "weapon of wickedness
in an attack on the spirit."

Martin Luther King
Jr. charged that Ali

had become "a champion
of racial segregation."

Former champion Floyd
Patterson, a catholic,

compared the nation of
Islam to the ku klux klan

and offered to fight
for free in order to wrest

the title from Clay
and the black muslims.

Well, I made, the
challenge to Cassius Clay

because I feel that the
heavyweight championship

belongs to all Americans,
and it's something

that we should be proud of,

all Americans
should be proud of.

I also feel that it should not
be in the hands of one group

of people, and
that's the muslims.

NARRATOR: Before he left
town, Ali learned that, due

to his low score
on an aptitude test

he was unqualified
to serve in the military.

THE "NEW YORK TIMES:
Made it front page news.

"I just said I was the
greatest," Ali said.

"I never said I
was the smartest."

(crowd cheering)

NARRATOR: In may, Ali
began a month-long tour

of African countries.

In Accra, the capital of
Ghana, thousands gathered

at the airport to catch
a glimpse of the world's

new heavyweight champion.

(gentleman mike
ejeagha singing in igbo)

Outside his hotel, Ali
heard a familiar voice.

"Brother Muhammad,"
called Malcolm X, who was

on his own overseas tour.

He greeted Ali enthusiastically.

"I still love you,"
he told the boxer."

"You left the honorable
Elijah Muhammad," Ali said.

"That was the
wrong thing to do."

There was little else to say.

Malcolm walked away.

Ali met with Ghanaian
President Kwame Nkrumah,

sparred with his brother
Rudy, now known as Rahman,

before thousands at
a local sports stadium,

and took every opportunity
to engage the admirers

who turned up
everywhere Ali went.

He also spoke out
against integration

in America, advocating

for a separate state
for black people,

and dismissed the
sweeping civil rights bill

under consideration
in the U.S. congress

as "counterfeit money."

Later, he visited
Nigeria and Egypt,

where he and Herbert
Muhammad met

with president gamal
abdel nasser and prayed

with 1,500 worshippers at
Cairo's al-Hussein mosque.

The deep affection
africans showered on Ali

during his 5-week trip showed
that his success in the ring

and outspokenness beyond it
had won him an enormous following

well beyond the United States.

MAN: Well, remember that
the African continent itself

was in the throws of
liberation, you know,

from colonial status.

It was liberation time,
and Muhammad Ali was

a figure of liberation.

NARRATOR: Before leaving
Africa, Ali received

a cable from his former
friend and mentor.

"Because a billion of
our people in Africa, Asia,

"and Arabia love you
blindly, you must now be

forever aware of your
tremendous responsibility to them,"

Malcolm X wrote.

"You must never do or
say anything that will permit

"your enemies to distort
the beautiful image you have

here among our people."

MALCOLM X: I frankly
believe that Cassius is

in a better position than
anyone else to restore

the uh, uh... a
sense of racial pride

to not only our
people in this country

but all over the world,

and he is trying his
best to live a clean life

and project a clean
image, but despite this,

you find the press is
constantly trying to paint him

as something other
than what he actually is.

He doesn't smoke,
he doesn't drink.

In fact, if he was white,
they would be referring to him

as the all-American boy.

♫ Billie Holiday's "I Must
Have That Man!" playing ♫

HOLIDAY: ♫ don't want my mammy ♫

♫ I don't need a friend ♫

♫ my heart is broken,
it won't ever mend ♫

♫ I ain't much caring
just where I will end ♫

♫ I must have that man ♫

Remember, from 12 years
old, he's this boxer in training,

and I suspect that until
he married his first wife

he had not had a lot
of sexual adventures.

NARRATOR: One afternoon
in the summer of 1964,

while Muhammad Ali was
staying at the Roberts motel

in Chicago, Herbert
Muhammad stopped by

for a visit.

He was not alone.

Sonji roi was a
27-year-old cocktail waitress

and sometime fashion model
who had posed for Herbert

at his south side
photography studio.

Ali leapt up.

"I swear to god,
Herbert," he exclaimed,

"I was lying across the bed
praying to Allah for a wife,

and here she comes
through the door."

NARRATOR: That evening,
the two went for ice cream,

then dinner, and
finally returned

to sonji's apartment,
where they spent the night.

Herbert had not meant
for Ali to fall in love

with sonji, a non-Muslim,
but the two became

instantly inseparable.

Just 6 weeks after
meeting, they were married

in Gary, Indiana, by
a justice of the peace.

LIPSYTE: He was
obviously infatuated.

I can't tell you how many
times I was talking to him

and you would
hear this little voice

at the hotel door saying, "Ali,"

and he would, "I'll
talk to you guys later."

NARRATOR: On their
first trip to Louisville,

Ali's parents quickly took
to sonji, who helped Odessa

prepare fried chicken,
pored over Ali's scrapbooks,

and burst into laughter
when Odessa called

her son by an old
nickname, "tinky baby."

For Cassius sr. And Odessa,

unable to abide their
son's religious conversion

and worried that
the nation of Islam

would take his boxing
earnings, sonji offered hope

that Ali's devotion
to Elijah Muhammad

would be short-lived.

His parents were not
alone in their concern.

Ever since Ali had publicly
confirmed his membership

in the nation of Islam,

the wealthy Louisville
businessmen

who managed his
career had struggled

to adjust to their
boxer's new faith.

FAVERSHAM: I'm sorry to
say that it has cost Cassius

a great deal of outside money.

By outside, I mean of
course outside the ring.

EIG: Members of the Louisville
sponsoring group told him

right away "this
is career suicide.

"We have business
deals on our desk.

Coca-Cola wants you to do ads,"

and in fact, those
contracts all go away.

He says he doesn't care.

He's doing what he believes in.

Would you care to
make an estimate

of how much money you
think it might have cost him?

Well, uh, my own
personal opinion

is that we could
have made for him...

After taxes... And that's
important as you know, Harry...

I believe we could have
made him $1.5 million.

And this he has sacrificed?

And this, I'm afraid,
he has sacrificed so far.

Does it not also embarrass
the Kentucky businessmen?

After all, here you've got a
group of Kentucky christians

with a Muslim mouthpiece.

Well, uh, I don't think that
it's been that embarrassing.

Naturally, it's been startling.

But, uh, in the first place,

most of us feel that
a man has a right

to his own religion,
to his own faith,

and second place... And I
have repeated this many times...

If the black muslims
mean hatred,

then Cassius will never
be a true black Muslim

because he has no
hatred for anybody

in his soul or in his mind.

He is a very clean,
fine, nice young man.

NARRATOR: Until their
contract expired in 1966,

it remained the Louisville
group's job to arrange

Ali's fights, a task complicated
by some boxing officials

troubled by Ali's association
with the nation of Islam.

"Clay's conduct," the president

of the world boxing
association said,

"has been unbecoming
of a champion."

When Ali's sponsors
announced a November rematch

with Sonny Liston
in Boston, the w.B.A.

Refused to sanction the bout

and then stripped
Ali of their title.

Do you think you're
being persecuted

for some reason?

If I'm condemned
for being a Muslim,

you condemning me because
you hate to see a black man

stand on his own two feet.

You telling the black world
that you never want to see

a black man independent,

and this is all you're
doing, and just one...

This only makes me bigger.

NARRATOR: Promoters
went ahead with plans

for the fight anyway.

Other boxing organizations
and most sportswriters

and fans still recognized him
as the heavyweight champion.

Ali returned to Miami to train.

Since his first fight
with Liston in February,

Ali had grown
half an inch to 6'3"

and added two
inches to his biceps

and one inch to his forearms.

"I'm so beautiful,"
Ali declared,

"I should be chiseled in gold."

ALI: This will be the
greatest prediction

in the history of all boxing.

I've never been wrong.

To all of Miami, channel
4 made me great.

That's why I'll
stop Liston in 8.

How we gonna get
him? Gonna dance.

Float like a
butterfly... Butterfly...

ALI AND BUNDINI: And
sting like a bee. Ahh!

Rumble, young man rumble! Ahh!

NARRATOR: Sonny Liston,
determined to avenge

his earlier loss, trained
furiously for the rematch.

He swore off alcohol,
ran in the foothills west

of his Denver home,
and took instruction

in martial arts.

By November, he
was 10 pounds lighter

than he had been in Miami.

NARRATOR: 3 days before the
fight at the Boston garden,

Ali and his entourage had dinner

in his suite at the
Sherry biltmore hotel.

Soon, Ali began to complain
of pain in his stomach.

And he said "get me...
Get me to a doctor."

So at that time, you know,
as I say, we was hated.

I thought somebody
had poisoned him.

REPORTER: Heavyweight
champion Cassius Clay is

at this moment undergoing
an emergency operation

for an incarcerated hernia
at Boston city hospital.

Clay was rushed to
the hospital early tonight.

NARRATOR: The
operation was a success,

but it would be 3
months before Ali could

resume heavy training.

The fight was postponed.

MAN: Mr. Clay, you let us
know if you get tired, ok?

NARRATOR: Sonny Liston had
gotten into the best shape

of his life.

"That damned fool," he
said when he heard the news.

Then he mixed
himself a screwdriver.

Malcolm, a story under
the byline of Aubrey barnett

in a current issue of
a national magazine

says that the black
muslims are a fraud.

What is your comment on this?

Well, uh, Aubrey barnett is
a very intelligent, uh, person,

and he has a fine
academic background,

and I think that the story
in itself was very analytical,

and it was objective,
and it was true.

He says they're another
little money-grabbing scheme,

feeding on negro frustrations.

Is this true?

Well, if it is... And it is...

That's what it has
deteriorated to.

Uh, you still can't,
uh, blame the negro,

and you can't
blame the movement.

You have to blame
the society that lets

such frustrations
develop until, uh, this is

the result of it.

NARRATOR: On February
21, 1965, while addressing

a crowd at the audubon
ballroom in Manhattan,

Malcolm X was shot dead.

REPORTER: At 3:21
p.M., New York time,

8:21 in the evening over here,

Malcolm X Rose to speak
to his followers in Harlem.

One minute later, he was
shot down by 10 bullets.

18 minutes later, he was dead.

NARRATOR: Though it was unclear
who ordered the assassination,

all 3 of the gunmen who
were arrested were members

of the nation of Islam.

ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: The
way I see it Malcolm is

the victim of his own preaching.

He preached violence,

and so he become
the victim of it.

MAN: Mr. Mel Fisher
here from united press.

Mrs. Malcolm X, your husband

had a great many followers.

What will be their
reaction to what

has happened to him?

MAN: Next question.

Do you feel that the police
now have in their custody

the man or men who are
responsible for the death

of, uh, your husband?

NARRATOR: The
day of the funeral,

Muhammad Ali boxed
in an exhibition match

at a nation of Islam
event in Chicago.

ALI: Malcolm X and anybody
else who attacks or talks

about attacking Elijah
Muhammad will die.

No man can oppose the
messenger of almighty god

verbally or physically
and get away with it.

♫ ♫

NARRATOR: In may of
1965, Muhammad Ali

and his entourage
returned to Massachusetts,

where he continued training for
his rematch with Sonny Liston.

I'm gonna run
the bear up a tree.

It's up to you to get
him out of the tree.

Just point him out.

I'll show him to you.

NARRATOR: But less than
3 weeks before the bout,

Boston's district
attorney, concerned

about the promoters' mob
ties, sued to stop the fight.

Before a judge could
rule, a pawnshop owner

and sometime boxing
promoter in Lewiston, Maine,

offered the town's hockey rink.

IZENBERG: The match is
set for the arena that is

the home ice of the flying
dom's cyo hockey team,

and nobody in Lewiston
was opposed to Ali.

I think a lot of people
didn't even know who he was

at that point.

NARRATOR: 3 days before the
fight, abc's Howard Cosell,

a lawyer turned
sportscaster from Brooklyn,

brought a camera crew
to Ali's training camp.

REMNICK: Howard Cosell called
him Cassius Clay for a while,

but he got it early.

He got it earlier,
certainly than most,

certainly than most white
people and people on television,

and Ali appreciated this,

and Ali started
giving him access

and started making him
his kind of media wingman.

They were good for each
other, and they both knew it.

COSELL: And here fully
robed after the workout

you've just seen comes
the heavyweight champion

of the world himself.

Good to see you, champ.

Howard Cosell, the
world's greatest newscaster.

How're you feeling?

You're very kind, champ,

but let's get to cases.

You look almost
like you're ready

for the fight right now.

You about right. Almost ready.

After another week.

I'm a little tired now,
I'm working hard,

but for the big
night, I'll be ready.

I noticed you've
stopped with the poetry.

You're not making any
predictions. How come?

Well, I'm just... I have
a prediction for the fight,

but, uh, i'm... I think I'll
be wise not to release it

because so many people
believe in my predictions,

and they have been
accurate up to date.

I'm afraid that I might
hurt the gate if I let them

know what's gonna
happen, so I'll just hold

the surprise for them.

Let me say this
to you. Good luck.

I hope it's not an act.
I hope you mean it.

If it's an act, just look
at my record and see.

Have the other fights been acts?

Have they been acts? Not so far.

Well, what makes
you think I'm acting?

Ahh!

COSELL: And with that
final stage of the act,

we leave the heavyweight
champion of the world

Muhammad Ali or
Cassius Clay, as you will,

here at his training camp
in chicopee, Massachusetts.

We're going to
take you for a visit

to the challenger's camp
in Poland spring, Maine,

right after this message.

NARRATOR: As the match
neared, rumors flew

that Sonny Liston would
be killed by members

of the nation of Islam
unless he threw the fight

and that a carload of
Malcolm X's followers,

bent on revenge, were
driving north with plans

to shoot Ali.

ALI: What do I care
about some pistols?

Can't scare me with no pistols.

I walk through hell
every day, no guards,

don't need them.

This only propaganda to
make me think that I have

an enemy in the ring
and one behind my back

because common nature tells
you and the negro here in America

you have put fear in him
ever since he's been here,

and the only thing you
hope is some of it's still

in me, but it ain't.

NARRATOR: On the day of
the bout, officials combed

the arena one last time in
search of poison gas bombs

that had reportedly been
hidden among the supports.

"It will be a short
fight," Ali told a reporter

who rode with him from
his hotel to the arena.

Sonny Liston had spent
the day gripped by diarrhea,

his wife concerned
that he wasn't himself.

Recent training sessions
had been lackluster,

and he had resumed drinking.

COSELL: Let's go to the
central Maine youth center

and fight announcer
Johnny Addie.

ANNOUNCER: From St. Dominic's
arena, Lewiston, Maine.

The world's heavyweight
boxing championship.

Cassius Clay, now bouncing
in from the dressing room

on the far side of the
arena, loose and limber

with his very short
terrycloth robe.

Coming into the
ring, up the ring stairs,

and he's being booed.

(booing)

COSELL: All right. We're
just about ready to go.

Muhammad Ali saying a prayer

in his corner before coming out

to meet the challenger,

and now let's get to

the other television

commentator Steve Ellis.

ELLIS: As you know,
15 rounds or less,

the world's heavyweight
title, the big fight,

the big night, unusual
locale, Lewiston, Maine.

Round number one.

If you're gonna score
with us, well, get your pencil

and pad handy.

We're waiting for
that bell for round one.

Here we go.

NARRATOR: The fight
began at 10:40 p.M.

Liston was again
the favorite, 9-to-5.

He knew that the
only way he could win

was to get to Ali early.

IZENBERG: Liston comes
tearing out the corner,

and he's throwing punches,

and if you look at
the foo... You know.

When he misses a punch...

Anybody misses a
punch, they're off balance.

ELLIS: You'll note that
Cassius wants to stay out

in the center of the
ring, where he happens

to be the king.

Beautiful right-hand
shot that you saw.

That was the best
punch thus far landed

by the champion.

We note that early, halfway
through this first round,

that Sonny is shooting
mostly toward that body.

You know the old story.

You kill the body, and
the head might follow.

Knocked down,
ladies and gentlemen,

with a right-hand shot.

A right-hand shot on the chin.

NARRATOR: 2:12
into the first round,

Sonny Liston went down.

ELLIS: Sonny cannot move.

NARRATOR: It was all over.

IZENBERG: There was a punch.

Was it gonna keep
him down? Hell, no.

He looked up, and
this guy would not go

to a neutral corner,
and he's screaming.

"Get up sucker, no
one's gonna believe it."

ALI: He got hit hard.

I hit him with a punch
that Jack Johnson used

called the anchor punch.

How does it go?

ALI: It's a snap punch,
and you can't punch it

until the man is
coming in at you.

That's all. Just twist.

And you can't see it,
but if you were hit with it,

all of you would be out.

COSELL: Sonny, did
the punch surprise you?

Clay says... Yes, it did.

Clay says it was a new tactic...

The counter right.

It was a surprising punch.

BENTT: It was clean shot,
but it wasn't the kind of

clean shot to knock
out Sonny Liston.

When he gets knocked
down, it's... it's bad acting, man.

You know, like, horrible
acting, and he's, like,

turning over on the...

Come on, man. Really seriously?

There was no way in the
world that Muhammad Ali,

no matter how great he
was, would ever knock out

Sonny Liston with one shot.

To this day, this is one
of the great mysteries

of the history of sports.

Was that fight fixed?

Did... did Liston take a fall?

Was, in fact, the punch
so immensely swift

and devastating and hit
at just the right point that

it, in fact, was a
knockout punch?

Did Liston see after
watching Ali dance

around the ring, "you know what?

"I'm not gonna chase this guy.

"Enough's enough,

and the first time he
hits me, I'm out of here."

So I... I can't pretend
to know for certainty.

I really don't know.

It'll have... I think, I think
it's one of these things

that's gonna remain a mystery.

NARRATOR: Liston
boxed for 5 more years.

On January 5, 1971, his
wife Geraldine returned home

to find her husband dead
at the foot of their bed.

Though drugs had
been found at the scene

and some speculated that the
mob had ordered a hit on the boxer,

the medical examiner ruled
that Sonny Liston had died

of a heart attack.

MOSLEY: I don't think that
Liston could've avoided

what he became.

There was something,
there was an inner light to Ali,

and that light was
going to shine,

and people were
going to love him,

and there was an
inner darkness to Liston,

put in it by 500 years
of picking cotton.

You know?

And, you know, they...
They played the cards

they were dealt.

♫ ♫

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, Ali's
marriage was unraveling.

Alone in their Chicago
apartment, Ali had allowed

sonji to wear the
mini-skirts she preferred,

and he would
serenade her with songs

by Sam Cooke and Ben e.
King while she cooked dinner,

but he now grew upset
when she appeared in public

dressed in a fashion
he believed inappropriate

for the wife of a
practicing Muslim.

In June of 1965, Ali filed to
have their marriage annulled,

complaining that sonji
had falsely promised

to convert to Islam.

"They've stolen my
man's mind," said sonji,

who blamed Elijah
Muhammad for the collapse

of their marriage.

"I loved her only if
she would follow me

"in my way of life.

Next time I marry, it'll
be a girl of 17 or 18,"

Ali vowed, "one I raise
to my way of thinking."

♫ ♫

Ali's commitment
to the nation of Islam

continued to deepen.

He had grown especially
close to Elijah Muhammad's

son Herbert, who was
playing an increasingly

decisive role in
Ali's boxing career.

Herbert had a knack
for making money,

sometimes in ways that
violated his father's teachings.

According to FBI agents,
he photographed women

in the nude, made
pornographic films,

and siphoned money
from his father's businesses.

EIG: Herbert Muhammad is
the son of Elijah Muhammad,

so in many ways,
he's Ali's connection

to the religion, and he
mentors Ali in the ways

of the nation of Islam,
but at the same time,

he's a businessman
who really likes money,

really likes food,
really likes women.

He loved Ali, and they developed

this unbelievable closeness.

NARRATOR: During trips to
Louisville, Ali now stayed

at a hotel and spent
less time with his parents.

"The muslims keep him
away from me," complained

Cassius sr., who
called Herbert "dirty"

and warned his son that he
was going to wind up broke.

In September 1965,
Ali traveled to New York

to announce that
his next opponent

would be the former heavyweight
champion Floyd Patterson.

NARRATOR: Patterson, now
30, had been campaigning

for a shot at Ali ever
since he won the title.

He saw his challenge
as a moral crusade.

"The image of a black
Muslim as champion

is not good," he told the press.

"Cassius must be beaten."

Patterson said he intended
to "win the title back

for America."

Ali was livid.

"I'm an American," he said,

"but he's a deaf, dumb,
and blind so-called negro

who needs a spanking."

The press ate it up.

"It is Christian
against black Muslim.

It is good guy against
bad guy," wrote dick young

of the "New York daily news,"

who called the matchup

a holy war.

Floyd came across as
the white man's apologist,

and for us at that
time, that was enough.

This was during the period
of the long, hot summer riots.

Rebellion was in the air.

People thought
that revolution was

a real possibility, you know?

The smell of burning
cities made that

a serious plausibility,

and so this was a different era.

EDDIE FISHER: ♫ gave
proof through the night ♫

♫ that our flag
was still there ♫

♫ o say does that
star-spangled banner ♫

♫ yet wave ♫

♫ o'er the land of the free ♫

♫ and the home of the brave ♫

(cheering and applause)

RING ANNOUNCER:
From New York City,

wearing black trunks

the challenger Floyd Patterson.

(cheering and applause)

From Louisville, Kentucky,

wearing white trunks,

the heavyweight champion
of the world Muhammad Ali.

(booing)

ELLIS: Round 1, 15 rounds,

world heavyweight championship.

♫ ♫

(bell rings)

Now the round begins.

♫ ♫

NARRATOR: At first, Ali
jeered his challenger

as he danced playfully and
threw soft, glancing punches.

"Come on, American!"
Ali taunted Patterson.

"Come on, white American!"

MUWAKKIL: We thought that
Floyd needed to be tortured.

He needed his comeuppance,
and who better than Ali

to give it to him?

It indicated some of the
cruelty that would later

surface in Ali's life, you know,

but I think as a boxer,
you have to have

an inherent sense
of cruelty somewhere

if you're going to be
successful, I think.

(bell rings)

NARRATOR: As the fight
advanced, Ali added hooks

and uppercuts to his
assault, while Patterson

struggled to land
any blows of his own.

LIPSYTE: I loved Muhammad Ali.

I did not like everything
he did and said.

He punched Floyd just
hard enough to hurt him

but not to knock him out.

He kept the fight
going round after round,

punishing him.

Floyd Patterson
refused to call him

by his new rightful
name Muhammad Ali,

uh, you know, refused to
give him any kind of respect.

(bell rings)

ELLIS: Floyd's still in there.

Dr. Donald Romeo is in
the corner at the present time

talking with Floyd,
asking about his back.

That's the doctor on
the outside of the ring.

NARRATOR: Before round
11, a doctor was ordered

to examine the
challenger in his corner.

Patterson insisted
that the match go on.

ELLIS: Number 12 coming up.

(bell rings)

♫ ♫

This man is throwing
a variety of shots.

♫ ♫

Beautiful punches
by Cassius Clay,

the world champion.

Beautiful shots all the way.

LIPSYTE: It was cruel,
and it was humiliating,

and I don't think that
anybody really deserved that,

even though, you know,
Floyd had brought it on himself.

NARRATOR: Angelo
Dundee, tired of watching

his fighter toy with Patterson,
screamed, "knock him out

for Christ's sake!"

ELLIS: He's wobbling.

He's hurt.

He's on the receiving
end of good punches

all the way.

♫ ♫

What a marksman. A
minute to go in number 12.

What a marksman Cassius Clay is.

I believe they're
going to stop it.

(cheering and booing)

Somebody get a chair
down there, please.

(indistinct chatter)

(applause)

I'm very, very sorry because

of what happened here tonight.

I had hoped that I
could give all of you,

as well as the people all over
the world and in the audience,

a much better fight.

No, I couldn't knock him
OUT. REPORTER: Why not?

I took my best
punches. He wouldn't fall.

Surprised me.

He's a good fighter,

determined... good fighter.

Strong, surprised me.

I got two swollen hands. See?

REPORTER: Who are
you fighting next?

Who do you want me to fight?

You pick who you want to fight.

Who does the press
want me to fight?

Who do you think
you should fight?

The best man. Who
is the best man?

Who do you think? I
don't know. Find him.

(indistinct chatter)

NARRATOR: Ali was irrefutably
in a class of his own.

"Comparisons with
heavyweights of the past

are hardly relevant,"
wrote one sportswriter.

"Patterson had as much
chance of beating him

as the spirit of St. Louis would
have had against a jet fighter."

You're planning
on fighting this year

before the year is out?

Well, I don't
know. I might retire.

I'm considering retiring.

I'm really tired of fighting.

At your age? Yeah. I'm tired.

I don't have to fight no more.

Do you think you'll retire
before you have another fight?

I'm getting too great.

I can't even fly
planes without crowds

waiting for me.

Do you think you might
retire without another fight?

That's right. I
don't like boxing.

Boxing means nothing to me.

What do you like?

Ah, well I like just... I
like what all negroes like,

and what they're
fighting for is freedom.

REPORTER: If you quit
fighting, would you go

full-time into
civil rights work?

No, I don't know if
I call it civil rights.

What would you
do for an occupation

if you stop fighting?

I don't know what I would do.

God's got me here for something.

I can feel it.

I was born for everything
that I'm doing now.

♫ Charles Bradley's "The World
Is Going Up In Flames" playing ♫

BRADLEY: ♫ ohh ♫

BOYD: Right after the
signing of the voting rights act

is the beginning
of the watts riots,

and the watts riots
come to symbolize the fact

that things are far
from being solved.

There's unrest that
these bills won't reach.

MUWAKKIL: In the urban north,
we were a little bit estranged

from the stylistic methods
of the civil rights movement,

which was primarily
a southern-based

and agrarian-based
kind of thing.

They would have overalls on.

They would be singing
hymns and appeal

to clergy-oriented
kinds of things.

This wasn't our style, you know.

We were more secular.

We didn't want to wear
overalls, you know?

And so we wanted
another form of activism,

and the nation of Islam and
and Malcolm X had already been

very influential
in the urban north,

and black... uh, I
think, black activists

were more attracted
to that kind of activism

than they were to
the civil rights mode,

and so Muhammad Ali fit
perfectly with that model.

NARRATOR: By 1966,
Muhammad Ali had become

the highest-paid
athlete in the world.

Eager to capitalize
on that success,

Ali and Herbert Muhammad,

along with football
star Jim Brown

and a former prosecutor
from queens named Bob arum,

formed main bout, inc.

To manage supplemental
rights to all of Ali's fights,

including closed-circuit
broadcasts.

MAN: Closed-circuit
was, in the sixties,

the equivalent of what
pay-per-view is today.

We were limited at the
time to 350 locations...

Theaters, arenas...
Where we could show

the telecast of the fight.

While there had
been closed-circuit

before Muhammad Ali,
Muhammad Ali put closed-circuit

into another plateau.

NARRATOR: The Louisville
group was not a part

of the new enterprise.

Ali had told his backers
that he intended to renew

their agreement when
it expired later that year,

but it was clear to everyone
the near-total influence

the nation of Islam
had over their boxer.

"We had hoped to
be completely free

of underworld connections,"
one member wrote the group,

"but we seem to have
new ones in Chicago."

EIG: Ali still likes
these guys, and he still

really trusts them, and
they've treated him well,

and he continues to say he
loves and supports these guys,

and for a while, Herbert works

with the Louisville
sponsoring group,

but that becomes too
difficult after a while

and, eventually, the
Louisville sponsoring group

gives up, cuts its ties,
and Herbert becomes

Ali's full-time manager.

(machine guns firing)

(helicopter flying)

MAN: First one, set
up a ring of security.

NARRATOR: After the
United States escalated

its involvement in Vietnam
by committing combat soldiers

in 1965, the demand
for troops increased.

The selective service
lowered its standards.

Muhammad Ali, once
disqualified, was now

eligible for the draft.

LIPSYTE: I was in Miami to do
some feature story about him,

and he comes out,
and he is steaming.

He had just heard that he
had been reclassified 1-a.

ALI: I just can't
understand how they could

reclassify me as 1-a
when they were the ones

who said... the government
officials were the ones

who said that I was 1-y,
and that I wasn't qualified.

It was their decision.

Now all of a sudden,
I'm 1-a without any test,

without notifying me
or checking to see

if I'm any wiser than I was
the last time or any worser.

INTERVIEWER: If you are
drafted will you fight

for your country?

I'm not saying
nothing about things

that I don't have to say.

I don't have to say
nothing about that.

Uh, they haven't drafted me yet,

and it's a touchy thing,
a touchy question,

and I rather not say nothing.

NARRATOR: The next morning,
Muhammad Ali offered

a more coherent argument
against joining the military.

"I am a member of the
muslims, and we don't go to wars

unless they are
declared by Allah himself,"

he told a reporter for
the "Chicago daily news."

"I don't have no personal
quarrel with those viet congs."

LIPSYTE: "I ain't got nothin'
against them viet cong,"

and it was like
the world stopped.

There was a real
feeling that he was not

the right champion for America.

How could a
boxer, a violent man,

refuse to serve his country?

What's really important
was just how despised

Muhammad Ali was
throughout America.

People who felt that
they were patriots,

you know, people who were
sending their sons to war,

who had fought themselves
in World War II and Korea,

which was not that far back,

really saw this
reprehensible character

who was, you know,
making millions,

taking everything from America,

and giving nothing back.

NARRATOR: In 1966, an
overwhelming majority

of American citizens
supported the Vietnam war.

Jim Murray of the
"Los Angeles times"

called Ali "the greatest
American patriot

since Benedict Arnold."

"Go to some mother in
Iowa," Murray urged Ali,

and "suggest she
send her son instead."

Another writer called
him the worst influence

on people since Adolf Hitler.

Later that month,
Muhammad Ali applied

for conscientious
objector status based

on his religious beliefs.

MUWAKKIL: He was
emulating Elijah Muhammad,

who had refused to
enter the service himself

in the forties.

He was following the
dictates of the nation of Islam,

and that definitely
diminished his popularity

in America in general

and not just in the
white community.

There were a lot of
African-Americans,

a lot of black
people who thought

that he was insufficiently loyal

and inappreciative of
the opportunities he's had

as an American,
and he should show

his dedication to the
country and be willing to fight.

NARRATOR: Ali's next
fight had been scheduled

for march 29, 1966, in Chicago

against the 6'6" Ernie Terrell,

the boxer who had been awarded

the world boxing
association title

after they had
stripped it from Ali.

Most boxing fans
still viewed Ali

as the real champ,
and a defeat of Terrell

would cement his claim.

"I want our soldiers
and marines to see

what a real champion
looks like," said Terrell,

who promised to sign
up for an exhibition tour

in Vietnam after defeating Ali.

ARUM: And we
announced the fight,

and tickets were
going very well,

and we were securing
closed-circuit exhibitors

around the country.

I had hoped it would be the
biggest Ali promotion ever

at that point.

When Ali, said, "I got
nothing against the viet cong,"

mayor daley
immediately contacted

the Illinois athletic
commission and told them to

throw us out of Chicago.

NARRATOR: To salvage
the fight, Ali backed away

from his statements
and offered to come

before the Illinois state
athletic commission

to apologize,

but after having breakfast
with Elijah Muhammad

before the hearing,
he reversed course.

COMMISSIONER: I'm
asking you if you apologize

for the unpatriotic
remarks that you made.

Anything... I'm not
apologizing for nothing

like that because
I don't have to.

I'm apologizing to
the people who are

in charge of the
selective service.

Those are the people that
we'll take this up with them.

I'm not in court now for that.

I'm a champ of the world,
this is athletic commissioner,

and I'm here to
fight for the title,

and I'm just apologizing
for what I said

to the newspapers
and to the press

when I should've had
these things to say,

and they will from
now on be said

with the people who
are in charge of this.

Mr. Clay, when you...

Muhammad Ali, sir.

Mr. Clay...

Muhammad Ali, sir.

Or Mr. Muhammad Ali, either one.

I'm just Muhammad Ali, sir.

When you appeared before
this commission before,

if I recall correctly, you said

you were the people's champion.

Yes, sir.

Do you think that
you're acting like

a people's champion?

Yes, sir.

OTIS REDDING: ♫ I
was born by the river ♫

MAN: Is the fight on or
off? Is the fight on our off?

NARRATOR: That same day,
the Illinois Attorney General

declared the fight illegal.

We determined
that the application

and the license
violated state law.

I don't know what kind
of statements Clay made.

The only thing I can
figure out about Clay is he's

guilty of being stupid.

And once we got out
of Chicago, every city

in the United States
virtually did a pile-on,

and the pile-on was, "kalamazoo
will not accept the fight!"

You know, nobody asked
them, so it became obvious to me

that we couldn't do the
fight in the United States.

NARRATOR: Arum eventually
found a venue for the fight

in Toronto, Canada,

but Terrell rejected the
terms of the new contract

and pulled out.

With less than 3 weeks
to go, promoters scrambled

to find another opponent.

George Chuvalo, the Canadian
heavyweight champion,

agreed to take Terrell's place.

He's gonna fight George
Chuvalo in Toronto

because that patriotic
mayor daley of Chicago

had said he can't
abide a traitor's

fighting in his midst.

So I go up there, and I
come to Sully's ac gym.

I go in the back.

And Luis sarria,
the Cuban exile,

is giving him a massage.

He said, "what are
you doing here?"

I said, "well, somebody
said there's a fight."

He said, "no, you know,
this is not much of a fight."

I said, "well, I'll
tell you the truth.

"Muhammad, I'm
not gonna lie to you.

"A lot of young American
men who do not want to fight

"in this war for reasons
of conscience or religion

"or whatever else
are coming to Canada,

"and they've been
granted political asylum,

so I'm here to see
if you go home."

He got off that thing so
fast and got in my face,

I thought he was gonna hit me.

He said, "you know
better than that."

He said, "look"... and
these are the words.

I remember them so well.

"America is my birth country.

"No one's gonna chase
me out of my birth country.

"I belong in my birth country.

"Now I don't make the
laws in my birth country.

"So if the law says
I got to go to jail,

"I'll go to jail.

"Elijah did. I will do it,

"but I'm going home
to my birth country,

and you could tell
that to everybody."

I was positive he'd
go to jail if he had to.

REDDING: ♫ that I know ♫

NARRATOR: George Chuvalo
lasted all 15 rounds,

giving Ali what he called
his "toughest fight yet."

Since defeating Liston,
Ali had defended his title

only 3 times in
2 years, but now,

broke and behind on
alimony payments to sonji,

Ali fought 6 times over
the next 12 months.

♫ "Rule Britannia!" playing ♫

ARUM: We went to england
to fight Henry Cooper again.

We got up around noon.

The hotel was in
piccadilly circus.

Came outside, and
there were 5,000 people

chanting his name,

and you can't believe
what a tonic that was...

Because he was so
unpopular in the United States...

To go over to england and
to be greeted by the people

in London with that
type of admiration.

I mean, that really presaged

the way he would
be loved years later.

(crowd cheering)

REG GUTTERIDGE: Yes,
Henry Cooper's left eye

is badly cut.

A really bad one, which
is a right-hand clip there

in the far corner.

♫ ♫

No. It's all over.

NARRATOR: Ali defeated
Henry Cooper

by technical knockout

just as he had in
their previous match

and went on to beat two
more mediocre opponents

in Europe.

CHOIR: ♫ never shall be slaves ♫

NARRATOR: Between fights,
Ali had returned to Louisville

for a hearing on his application

for conscientious
objector status.

Ali would have to prove that
he was opposed to all wars,

that his opposition was
based on religious beliefs,

and that he was sincere
in holding those beliefs.

The FBI had interviewed his
family members and friends,

many of whom questioned
his judgment for joining

the nation of Islam
but not his sincerity.

The hearing examiner,
who was a retired

Kentucky circuit court
judge, concluded that Ali was

indeed entitled to
conscientious objector status

and recommended
that he be given a C.O.

The justice department,
notwithstanding

that recommendation, sent a
long letter to the draft board,

um, arguing that Ali
should not be given

conscientious objector status.

The Kentucky appeal
board could have rejected

the department
of justice letter,

but it didn't.

It continued to deny
his C.O. application

and didn't give any reasons why.

It just said, "no.
You're still 1-a,"

and as the case unfolded,
it became important

that the Kentucky appeal
board hadn't explained

why it did what it did.

NARRATOR: The decision
meant that the army could draft

Muhammad Ali at any time.

After 4 fights abroad,
Ali's promoters

had finally managed to
secure an American venue,

the astrodome in Houston, Texas,

a brand-new and
first-of-its-kind

domed stadium dubbed the
eighth wonder of the world.

Ali had agreed to fight
Cleveland "big cat" Williams,

an army veteran
who'd once been shot

by a police officer during
a drunk driving arrest.

Williams had knocked
out 51 of his 71 opponents.

It would be the largest audience

for an indoor boxing
match in history.

♫ Jimi Hendrix's "Are
You Experienced" playing ♫

BENTT: I think his masterpiece

is with Cleveland Williams.

That's Picasso, right?

That's baryshnikov, right?

That's miles Davis.

He throws, like, a
10-punch combination.

He's going backwards, man.

Now look. Ha ha! Look.

I don't know how to define
that. I'm not a scientist,

but, like, that, that kind
of like, you know, artistry

will never be seen again.

When he did that,
um, it looked effortless,

and, uh, it looked like, um...

He came out of the
womb doing that.

NARRATOR: Introducing a
new move he'd dubbed

the "Ali shuffle," he peppered
Williams with jab after jab

as the "big cat" struggled
to land a single punch.

Ali floored his
challenger 3 times

in the second round.

It was "a two-fisted assault
of vicious effectiveness,"

wrote frequent
critic Arthur daley,

who declared that Ali had
"won over all the doubters."

A minute into the third round,

the referee ended the fight.

DON DUNPHY: The champion
Cassius Clay will defend

that title once again,

and tonight he
successfully defended it

against the man who was
supposed to be the hardest hitter.

I intended to take a
rest after the hard, uh,

6 title fights I just had,
at least 6 months' rest,

but I just couldn't rest at
night staying home sleeping

and thinking about Terrell
claiming half of the title.

TERRELL: All of it. All of it.

(laughter)

I say that'll make it worser.

Claiming all the title, and
everywhere I go sincerely

throughout the streets of
America, north and south,

black and white, as far
as race is concerned,

old and young, women and men,

everybody's talking about it.

"What about Ernie Terrell?"

"When are you
going to fight Terrell?

"When are you
going to fight Terrell?"

NARRATOR: In December, Ali
and Ernie Terrell appeared

on abc's "wide world
of sports" to promote

their bout, scheduled
for February 6, 1967,

at the astrodome.

Why don't you call
me by my name, man?

Well, what's your name?

You told me your name was
Cassius Clay a few years ago.

I never told you my
name was Cassius Clay.

Well... My name is Muhammad Ali,

and you will
announce it right there

in the center of that
ring after the fight

if you don't do it now.

For the benefit
of this broadcast,

him, all right? Uh...

You acting just like
a old uncle Tom,

another Floyd Patterson.

I'm gonna punish you... Let
me tell you something, man.

You ain't got no
business calling me no...

Back off of me, back off of me.

Don't call me no uncle Tom, man.

That's what you
are. An uncle Tom.

Why you gonna
call me a uncle Tom?

I didn't do nothing to
you... You heard me.

For you to call me no uncle
Tom. Just back off of me!

And so ladies and
gentlemen... Uncle Tom!

As the two contestants
prepare for battle right now...

Back off of me, man.
Back off of me, man!

COSELL: Another interview
has been recorded

for posterity...

NARRATOR: "I want
to torture him,"

Ali said before the fight.

"I want to give him the
Patterson humiliation

and punish him."

COSELL: Perfect, that's it.

(smack)

ALI: Come on, man.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Come on, come. Keep shooting.

(bell rings)

♫ "Are You
Experienced" playing ♫

COSELL: The bell for round one.

♫ ♫

BENTT: This guy wanted
to crucify this "uncle Tom."

He would throw
a jab and twist it.

It's damaging.

You know, every
time threw a jab,

he's, like, saying,
"(bleep) You."

(bell rings)

I don't think we've ever
seen Muhammad display

that kind of contempt
for somebody.

CARPENTER: Muhammad
Ali now at his most taunting.

Got him with a right hand
at the end of that flurry.

Some southpaw in him.

Really trying to
perplex and worry

and torment Terrell.

BENTT: At that point
in Muhammad's life,

him not being called
Muhammad Ali from a black man,

how do we deal with uncle Toms?

We're gonna
publicly humiliate you,

and that's what Muhammad did.

One way or another,
you're gonna respect me.

ALI: What's my name?

CARPENTER: And now
Ali telling Terrell to fight,

"come on, fight"
he says, open up.

This is when Muhammad Ali
is at his least sportsman-like.

This is his taking
advantage of a man he knows

he's got whipped I think.

"Come on, Terrell"
he says, "fight, fight."

Hey!

♫ ♫

What's my name?

"What's my name?"

He's asking him
"what's my name?"

In the middle of the world
heavyweight championship fight.

♫ ♫

What's my name huh?

What's my name? What's my name?

CARPENTER: Terrell goes for him.

Oh, dear. This is not sport,

but this is Muhammad
Ali now doing just

what he said he would do,

and the corner... the Terrell
corner now having to work

desperately, furiously
fast to staunch the flow

of blood from the right eye.

Looks like a bad cut to
me, right up over the eye

just under the eyebrow.

RING ANNOUNCER: Round 9.

CARPENTER: And
there he goes again.

♫ ♫

These are some of the
most astonishing scenes

that you've ever seen
in a world heavyweight

championship fight.

♫ ♫

The chances he takes.

♫ ♫

(bell rings)

I was thrilled that he he
was... he beat up Terrell

and said, "what's my
name? What's my name?"

I just thought that it was
a sign that a new kind

of black athlete had appeared,

a whole new kind of black
consciousness had appeared.

It was a whole new kind
of black male dispensation

that had come about
as a result of that fight,

so that that fight
to me... And I think

for many other
young black people

such as myself at that time...

Was a kind of turning point.

NARRATOR: After 15
punishing rounds,

the decision was unanimous.

Muhammad Ali was now 28-0.

Ali's performance was
"a barbarous display

of cruelty," wrote Tex
maule in "sports illustrated."

Other columnists called
him "mean and malicious,"

"cocky" and "arrogant."

The "New York times"
recommended that

the New York state legislature
outlaw boxing altogether.

And I think this
proves to the public

and all of the doubters
out there that Ernie Terrell

has no class whatsoever
and you cannot compare him

even in my, uh, ranking.

I don't think you
have to say that really,

the man fought a
courageous fight.

You would say
everything if I had lost,

especially you.

Now, I won and
let me have my say.

Terrell... look. I proved
that he wasn't nothing.

All right. It's a joke
calling him a champion,

and he better pronounce
my name right from now on.

I'm tired of talking. All right.

The champ is tired.

Muhammad, come here.

Let me congratulate you.

Joe Louis tonight said
you're "a great fighter".

I don't need Joe Louis to
tell me I'm a great fighter.

I've been telling you
for the last 6 years.

♫ ♫

NARRATOR: In march, he
would face zora folley

at Madison square garden.

While training in the
arena's basement,

Ali was approached
by an up-and-coming

23-year-old heavyweight
from Philadelphia

who'd won his first
14 professional fights.

"I thought you
were much larger,"

Joe Frazier said to Ali.

"You look pretty small to me."

When Ali said he'd be
happy to fight Frazier

in two years, the younger
boxer promised to be ready.

Before leaving, Frazier
bought a $2.00 glossy print

of Ali and had the
champion sign it.

MAGIC SAM: ♫ hold
me in your arms ♫

IZENBERG: His last fight
was with zora folley.

He knocked him out.
Took 6 or 7 rounds.

The next morning, we're
in the lowe's midtown hotel,

and he comes in,
and I remember he cut

himself shaving.

He's got a band aid
here, and he looks at us,

and he says, "fellas, I don't
want to talk about my next fight

because I got a much
bigger fight coming."

NARRATOR: Before the folley
fight, Ali had received word

that he had been
drafted and would have

to report for induction
the following month.

While his lawyers prepared
to challenge the draft order,

Ali met privately with
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In Louisville.

King was in town
to protest the city's

segregated housing.

Though the two men differed
about black separatism,

they found common
ground in their views

on the war in Vietnam.

What did you discuss
back in the hotel room?

Nothing. Just friends.

Just like khrushchev and Kennedy

and everybody.

When people... Politicians

of all other white
races come together,

and they, although
they believe different,

they think different,
whites can come together

and discuss the common cause,

but whenever a few
of us come together,

the world is shook up,

and I say whatever went
back there is our business.

Reverend king, do you agree?

Oh, yes, yes.

We had a very good
discussion on many matters,

and of course
these are not things

that we would discuss here,

but we do have common problems

and common concerns,

and above all, as
Muhammad Ali has just said,

we are all victims of the
same system of oppression,

and even though we may
have different religious beliefs,

this does not at all bring about

a difference in terms
of our concerns.

ALI: Still brothers,
still brothers.

Do you share the same...
One more question.

Do you share the same
concern that Muhammad has

for his draft status?

Oh, I certainly do.

My views on the
draft are very clear.

I'm against it,

and I think the sooner
our country does away

with the draft, the better
it will be for everybody.

PROTESTERS: Get out, get
out, get out of Vietnam...

NARRATOR: In April of 1967,
hundreds of thousands

of anti-war protesters
marched in New York City,

but most Americans
still supported the war,

and criticizing U.S. policy
on Vietnam remained

politically treacherous,

especially for
African-Americans.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
Muhammad Ali's lawyers

had delayed his induction date
by claiming the boxer resided

in Houston, where he had
trained for his recent fights.

Now a new order
required him to report

to local draft board number 47

in Houston at 8:30
a.M. On April 28.

Before he left Louisville,
Ali gave a press conference

explaining his
position and his plans.

ALI: Why should me and
other so-called negroes go

10,000 miles away from
home here in America

to drop bombs and
bullets on other innocent

Brown people who's
never bothered us?

And I will say directly, no,
I will not go 10,000 miles

to help kill innocent people.

NARRATOR: 5 days later,
Muhammad Ali, flanked

by his lawyers, arrived at
the old post office building

in Houston.

Inside, as Ali
underwent his physical,

he joked with his fellow
recruits, demonstrating

the Ali shuffle
in his underwear.

Then at the induction
ceremony, Ali refused to

step forward when
his name was called.

A Navy lieutenant
explained the penalty

should he be found guilty
of refusing induction...

A $10,000 fine and
up to 5 years in prison.

Given another
chance to step forward,

Ali refused again.

ARMY OFFICIAL: Ladies
and gentlemen,

Mr. Muhammad Ali
has just refused to be

inducted into the United
States armed forces.

NARRATOR: The reaction
was swift and severe.

Within hours, the chairman
of the New York state

athletic commission
denounced his conduct

as "detrimental to the
interests of boxing,"

stripping him of his
license to fight in New York.

Almost every other
boxing commission

in the United
States followed suit.

The world boxing
association took away Ali's

title for a second time.

Well, at the time, I
was in the service,

and, um, I... one would think
that I would... would think of him

as a traitor or someone
who didn't want to do

what I'm doing, you know,

but I was all for it.

And I found that many
of the black servicemen

were all for it, as well.

They appreciated him
speaking up because

at the time there
was a lot of dissent

among African-American
servicemen.

This was the Vietnam
era, a lot of black men were

being killed.

They were thinking of
themselves as cannon fodder,

and I met some of the more...

Some of the most radical
figures I've ever met

in the ranks of the
air force and the army.

So uh, we... we
appreciated him speaking out

and saying things like that.

As much as I think everybody
should pull their tour,

I think they are overemphasizing

the need to bring Cassius
Clay into the service

if he professes to
be a Muslim minister.

His religious
beliefs are his own.

This country was set
up on the basic concept

of religious freedom, of
freedom of expression.

I don't believe that he
should be persecuted

or ridiculed because
of his beliefs.

Simply because Muhammad
Ali has these beliefs,

it's no reason why people
should... should go against him.

I think he is a great champion,

and, uh, they should
respect his beliefs.

That's why I'm here right now.

Do you think they're being
unnecessarily harsh on him?

I think they are.

Everybody knew that
if he had been drafted

into the army he would... Like
Joe Louis and Jack dempsey

and every other
boxer, he'd give shows.

He'd go and shake hands.

He'd be in charge of morale.

He wasn't gonna be
fighting the viet cong,

and he knew that.

Everybody knew that.

So what he was giving
up had to be for principle,

couldn't be for fear.

NARRATOR: On June
4, 1967, Jim Brown,

the retired football star,
convened a closed-door summit

of black athletes in Cleveland.

They invited Muhammad
Ali in hopes that he might

entertain a back-channel offer
from president lyndon Johnson

that would keep him out
of jail and in the boxing ring.

ABDUL-JABBAR: A number of
the participants were members

of the Cleveland browns.

Bill Russell was there, myself,

and a few other
people who were related

to sports, but we
all wanted to just see

what Muhammad Ali
was all about with regard

to his stance on Vietnam.

REPORTER: Jim, what do you think

of the possibility of ah
the champ going to jail,

and what ah, how do
you feel about the image

this might create
among negro athletes?

BROWN: Well as you know,
religion is based on belief.

We're all are of
various religions in here,

and once the champ
convinced us that it was

solely a religious matter and
that he believed completely,

then I had to leave
it at that and give him

respect as far as his belief.

We were unified.

You know, we stood behind him.

We wished him success,

but, you know, there was
nothing that we could say

formally that was gonna
mitigate what he had to go through.

NARRATOR: "I'm not worried
about Muhammad Ali,"

bill Russell said.

"He is better equipped than
anyone I know to withstand

"the trials in store for him.

What I'm worried
about is the rest of us."

ABDUL-JABBAR: All the
light in the room focused

on him it seemed.

You know, he kind
of attracted light.

You know, that
was, uh, who he was.

And I saw in
Muhammad Ali's character

the willingness to
take on the burdens

of all black Americans
in confronting the racism

that we all have to deal with.

He was willing to take that on,

and I wanted to
support him in that.

To me, it felt just like I
felt about Jackie Robinson.

You know, I watched
him, when I was a little boy,

and it seemed to me
that Muhammad Ali

just took up that mantle.

NARRATOR: Two weeks later,
an all-white Houston jury

found Ali guilty of
refusing the draft.

The judge, ignoring the
more lenient recommendation

of the prosecutor, sentenced
him to the maximum...

5 years in prison
and a $10,000 fine,

and he would have to
surrender his passport.

Ali's lawyers immediately
filed an appeal,

prepared to go all the
way to the supreme court

if necessary, a process
that could take years.

Ali remained free
but without his title

or a license to box.

He fully expected that
he would one day go to jail

for his beliefs.

We, who are followers of the
honorable Elijah Muhammad,

the religion of
Islam, we believe

in obeying the laws of the land.

We are taught to obey
the laws of the land

as long as it don't conflict
with our religious beliefs.

REPORTER: Will you go
into service as such?

This would be a thousand percent

against the teachings of the
honorable Elijah Muhammad,

the religion of Islam,
and the holy quran,

the holy book
that we believe in.

This would all be
denouncing and defying

everything that I stand for.

This would mean of course
that you stand the chance

of going to jail as a result

of not going into service.

Well, whatever the punishment,

whatever the persecution
is for standing up

for my religious beliefs,
even if it means facing

machine gun fire that day,

I will face it before
denouncing Elijah Muhammad

and the religion of Islam.

I'm ready to die. Mm-hmm.

JACKSON: When I think about
him saying, "if they wan to put me

"before a firing squad
tomorrow, I'm ready to die

before I abandon my religion,"

um...

That's it.

You can't teach that kind
of thing in lectures, in books.

That kind of thing
has to be modeled,

and models turn into traditions,

and traditions provide people
with the mechanical memory

to do the right thing.

That's what Muhammad Ali
represented in that moment.

I mean, anybody now
faced with a major decision

in which the right way is clear
and the wrong way is clear

but the consequences are
dire, now they have a model

that they can fall back
on psychologically,

emotionally, spiritually.

That's what Muhammad Ali
represented in that moment,

and that to me, that
moment will live on forever.

NARRATOR: Back in
the summer of 1966,

while in Chicago between
fights, Ali had been driving

around the south side with
a German photojournalist.

After Ali requested
that his driver return

to a nation of Islam
bakery for a third time,

the photographer followed
him inside and realized

the reason for
the frequent visits.

Behind the counter
stood a striking 16-year-old

named belinda Boyd.

BELINDA BOYD: Ali was
a very gorgeous guy,

good-looking.

I was attracted
to him right away.

He was a very warm,
down-to-earth, kind person.

Ali is very flirtatious, too.

I think that... I think
that's the charm

that I liked about him.

He was always happy.

NARRATOR: The daughter of
muslims, Boyd had attended

elementary and high school
at the university of Islam

in Chicago and had
been a frequent guest

at the home of Elijah Muhammad.

Herbert Muhammad had
encouraged Ali to pursue her,

and soon the two
were seeing each other

away from the bakery.

NARRATOR: On August 18,
1967, Muhammad and belinda

were married and moved
into a small brick house

on the south side.

Both were tall and athletic,

voluble and charming,

and belinda, who
had loved Muhammad

since she was a young teenager,

could mimic his Cadence.

The couple were so much
alike that Elijah Muhammad

once joked that Ali
had married his twin.

RASHEDA: My mom and
my dad were a lot alike.

I think she was good
for him in the sense

that she wasn't quiet and shy.

She was strong, and
she spoke her mind.

I think my dad was
attracted to her because

she was a strong woman

and she was a Muslim

and she had values that
my dad respected and loved.

NARRATOR: Without
income from fights,

money was tight.

Belinda sewed her
own clothes and dipped

into her college fund
to cover expenses.

Elijah Muhammad'd give us money.

He would give me
money to survive,

and I wouldn't let him know
it because I didn't want him

to feel bad as a man, not
being able to support us.

They struggled.

My dad couldn't make any money,

but my mom just deeply,
just truly loved him,

and she would've...
She didn't care

about any of that stuff.

She just really loved him,

and she'd follow him anywhere.

So my dad went on
the speaking circuit,

and he started to
speak at colleges

as a ways to make money.

Without any
further introduction,

the world heavyweight boxing
champion Muhammad Ali!

(cheering and applause)

First of all...

(man shouts)

First of all, I
would like to thank

the student governing
body for inviting me here

to speak at this beautiful
and worthy occasion tonight.

I went to some of
his college concerts,

and in the beginning,
they were terrible,

but then he really
started evolving.

NARRATOR: He had prepared
half a dozen speeches based

on the teachings
of Elijah Muhammad

and the political
humor of the activist

and comedian dick Gregory.

The black and white
problem in America is divine.

It's not a racial thing
where some organization

is going to free us.

Black people need
to know their culture.

Black people need
to know their name.

Black people are mentally dead.

This is why Elijah Muhammad
teaches us that Jesus said,

"you shall know the truth,

and the truth alone
will make you free."

Jesus didn't say,
"Abraham Lincoln

will make you free."

Jesus didn't say, "the congress

gonna make you free."

Jesus didn't say, "integration

and open housing
will make you free."

Jesus didn't say, "intermarriage

with white folks
will make you free."

Jesus said, "truth
make you free,"

and black people
are not free today

because they
don't know the truth,

and Elijah Muhammad
is the onliest man

with that truth.

MUWAKKIL: I worked for
"Muhammad speaks" at the time.

We followed him periodically.

We didn't want to be
too reverential toward him

because, again, the
official line of the nation

was anti-sport and play,

and so we didn't
want to, you know,

push that too far.

NARRATOR: He preached
at Muslim mosques

in San Francisco and
Miami, Houston and New York,

lectured at schools,
including appalachian state,

Howard university, and
the university of Chicago,

and addressed
anti-war protesters

and a black panther rally.

MUWAKKIL: So there were
these clashing sensibilities

out there, and
Muhammad Ali coming

from the nation of Islam,
which kind of represented

the black militant aspect
but yet resisting the war,

which coincided
with the hippie thing,

and so I think that was
indeed part of the reason

why he became such
a galvanizing figure.

(applause)

His ability to
embrace other groups,

even as he professed the
kind of racialist doctrine himself.

Only a few people
who have access

to that kind of complexity.

ALI: We have been brainwashed.

When you went to
church to look at Jesus,

you saw a white.

When you looked at the
angels, you saw whites.

Everything white.
Everything of authority white.

White owl cigars,
white swan soap,

king white soap, white
cloud tissue paper,

white rain hair rinse...
Wshewww... white tornado.

(laughter)

Who ever heard
of a white tornado?

Tornados are black.

You can see them
when they're coming.

Tornados are black.

Ain't no white tornados.

(cheering and applause)

What's so bad about black?

See, you've been tricked.

You've been tricked to
love others and hate yourself.

What Muhammad Ali did
was really tear the mask off

of comfort of white
people in being

in the most powerful
country in the world.

Comfort of our own
privilege and our own inability

to identify with
people of color,

and he did it with all
the tools that he had.

(people shouting)

ALI: I'm not gonna help
nobody get something

my negroes don't have.

If I'm gonna to
die, I'll die right now

right here fighting you.

If I want to die.

You my enemy.

My enemy is the white
people, not viet congs

or Chinese or Japanese.

You my opposer
when I want freedom.

You my opposer
when I want justice.

You my opposer
when I want equality.

You won't even stand
up for me in America

for my religious beliefs, and
you want me to go somewhere

and fight, but you
won't even stand up

for me here at home.

BOYD: He used his
tongue to lacerate racism

and white supremacy
and oppression

in American society.

He became more
militant, not less.

He became more
assertive, not less.

He became more
confrontational, not less.

He's not sugar coating it.

ALI: Have you ever wondered
why we take so much hell? Huh?

Served the country so
faithful for 400 years?

Fought in all of the wars
and still dying in the wars,

and right in my own
hometown, Louisville, Kentucky,

today people have been
beat up, kicked around,

pregnant women knocked around

just for trying to get a
better place to live in.

Have you ever wondered why?

Because we have
never heard the truth,

and truth makes you free.

Can't you look at me
and tell that I'm free?

Can't you hear the way I
talk and see that I'm free?

I don't have no bosses.

I have one boss,
and this is him,

the honorable Elijah Muhammad.

NARRATOR: In April 1968,
"esquire" magazine put Ali

on its cover, portraying
the exiled boxer

as St. Sebastian, a
Christian martyr persecuted

for his religious beliefs.

ALI: You have to be sick
mentally to want to force

yourself into places
where you're not wanted.

You see the man hate you.

You see they don't
want you down there.

Why don't you leave them
alone? We'll go on somewhere else.

You became
champion of the world,

everybody thought. "This
is a refreshing young man."

We found out you were a Muslim,

and people got scared.

I got bad all of a sudden.

I was a good boy
when I was hollering,

"I am the greatest!

"I cannot be beat!

I am pretty! I'm the
king! Hee hee hee!"

I was a good boy,

but when I said, "I'm a Muslim,

my religion is Islam,"
what's wrong with that?

What are you going to do now

as one of the prominent
black persons?

I can't be a leader, but I
can tell them about the leader.

All I can tell them is to
join onto their own kind,

accept their own kind.

Join onto their true
religion, which is Islam.

Join onto the Muslim
teachings, which is taught to us

by the honorable
Elijah Muhammad,

the onliest black man preaching
the truth to black people.

Clean up your own neighborhoods

and do something for yourself.

Quit begging to integrate
and beg to separate.

You're obviously not
uncomfortable with whites.

I don't think you are.

No, I'm uncomfortable. Uh...

Are you uncomfortable
with me right now?

No, I'm comfortable.

I'm real comfortable
with you because I know

how far to go with you.

I'm not going to go
home with you now

and flirt with your daughter.

I'm not going to
try to push you out

of your suburb.

I integrate so far.

See, we don't... that's
why I like governor Wallace.

He tells the truth about things.

You like George
Wallace? Yes, sir.

That truth he tells we like.

He tells the truth.

You believe that?

I see him telling the truth.

You don't believe he's
been a tough influence

in this country and
a bad influence?

Well, I don't agree with
everything nobody say,

but I like what he say
when he says that negroes

shouldn't force themselves
into white neighborhoods

and white people shouldn't
have to ah move out

of their neighborhoods just
because one negro comes.

They don't want to
sell the house to him,

they shouldn't, and
that makes sense.

If a person don't want
you. Why are you going

to push yourself on him?

And Wallace is
admitting this ain't right

and let the people do
what they want to do.

We want... White power!

EARLY: I think his talk
about black people

racially segregating
has a resonance

because of the white
backlash that's occurring

with this attempt
at integration,

that black people
are saying, "look.

"These white
people don't want us.

Do you see what's going on?"

I don't even think he
ever saw it in that way.

He just saw it as black people,
um, wanting to become people

out here in this
world that mattered

and that they... And
in order to matter,

we had to have our own land,

and we had to build up
ourselves as a people.

MARTHA BASS: ♫ walk with me ♫

NARRATOR: On April 4,
1968, while standing

on the balcony of
the Lorraine motel

in Memphis, Tennessee,
Martin Luther King

was assassinated.

BASS: ♫ walk with me ♫

♫ lord ♫

NARRATOR: "I am in
mourning," Ali told the press,

"for my black brother."

BASS: ♫ all along ♫

♫ walk with me ♫

♫ this old, tedious journey ♫

♫ lord ♫

♫ I want Jesus ♫

♫ just to walk with me ♫

♫ walk with me ♫

NARRATOR: In June, belinda
gave birth to a baby girl.

At Elijah Muhammad's suggestion,

they named her maryum.

In August, a reporter
visited Ali's home,

where he was spending some
quiet time with his daughter.

His lawyers had just
filed a petition asking

the supreme court to
reconsider his conviction.

"I'm not afraid to go to jail.

I'm ready to die for my people,"

he told the reporter.

Then he picked up maryum.

"Your daddy's fighting
for you," he said.

"Someday, you're going to
be able to walk with your head

"high and not beg for a job,

and you don't even know it."

NARRATOR: That winter,
the supreme court justices

voted privately to
reject Ali's petition,

a decision that should
have immediately sent

him to prison.

KRATTENMAKER: The clerk was
going to announce to the world

that the case had
been denied review,

which would mean everything's
over, he's going to jail,

but over the weekend,
a letter came in

from the department of justice,

and that letter stated
that, um, they had recently

discovered that Muhammad Ali
had been overheard on wiretaps

that the government
had been running

on Elijah Muhammad
and on Martin Luther King,

and that meant that Ali
was entitled to be informed

about those wiretaps to
see whether there might be

anything in them that is
exculpatory to his case.

The supreme court says,
"we are sending this case

"back down to be
reexamined in light

of the wiretapping issue."

So at the very 11th
hour, Ali is more or less

pulled out of jail and told
you can start all over again.

NARRATOR: It had been two
years since Ali's last fight.

Reporters were eager
to know if this meant

that he would fight again.

"I'm just thankful,"
he told them.

"It's all in the
hands of Allah."

REPORTER: You're still
content, you're still determined

to return to the ring
and fight once again

regardless of what happens?

Oh, yes, mainly to
pay bills, you know.

This is my main
meaning of livelihood,

and ah I would return mainly

to pay a lot of unpaid debts.

REPORTER: If the government
cleared this thing up, say, tonight

and you could fight
a month from now,

name me one person
you'd like to fight right away.

Well, uh...

I know you've seen
them all these...

I'm not out to fight
any of them really.

They all really want
to fight me because

I can't gain no prestige...

Which one would
make the best fight,

and draw the biggest crowd?

Joe Frazier.

NARRATOR: Despite his
exile, Muhammad Ali

had been closely
watching the boxing ranks,

where, in his absence, Joe
Frazier was now recognized

as the heavyweight
champion in 5 states.

"If the conviction is
overturned and Frazier offers,

I'll fight," Ali promised.

But Ali's claim that any
fight would only be to pay

off his debts undercut
Elijah Muhammad's teaching

that Allah would always provide.

The next day, Elijah
Muhammad summoned

Ali and belinda to his home.

He suspended the family
from the nation of Islam

and revoked Muhammad Ali's name.

BELINDA: "We fight
for our families,

"we fight for a living.

We don't fight for money."

So it's just... it's just
a way you say things,

and he got kicked out,

and when he got kicked
out, I got kicked out

because we're one.

It was torture to me

not being able to
go to the mosque,

not being able to go
pray with each other.

NARRATOR: In "Muhammad
speaks," which had once

celebrated the boxer
for his success in the ring,

Elijah Muhammad
now chastised him

for his desire to fight.

"Cassius Clay made a
complete fool of himself

for accepting the sport
which Allah condemns,"

the leader wrote.

Ali was outwardly repentant.

"What I said was out of
place," he told a reporter.

"He is the boss.

"I will be a Muslim
until the day I die.

"I only pray that
he will forgive me

and let me back."

Ali insisted that
he was retired.

"I'll never climb into the ring

or go in an arena again,"

but he never stopped
plotting his return to boxing.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
ignoring his own father,

Herbert Muhammad
continued to search for a venue

where the boxer
would not be barred.

He tried city after city.

Nothing worked out.

Then Atlanta began
to show promise.

Leroy Johnson, Georgia's
first black state senator

since reconstruction,
was eager to see Ali's

first fight in more than 3
years come to his hometown.

I went to the law books
and began to search the law,

and after maybe a couple
of hours I discovered

there was nothing in the
Georgia statute dealing

with boxing matches.

That meant it was
left up to Atlanta.

NARRATOR: The city of
Atlanta gave its approval.

The governor of
Georgia wasn't pleased.

LESTER MADDOX: I don't...
I don't see how this fight

could take place really anywhere
in the United States of America

by a man that has denounced
his country's uniform

and refused to be inducted

into the service
of this country,

so I've called for a day of
mourning because of this

that this tragic
thing has happened

in this United
States of America,

where men have fought so long

and their wives and children
have sacrificed so much.

NARRATOR: Before leaving
Chicago, Ali received

a package containing
a decapitated black dog

and a note reading,
"we know how to handle

black draft-dodging
dogs in Georgia."

To demonstrate that
Atlanta could stage the bout

without political
interference or violence,

senator Johnson arranged
for a pre-fight exhibition match

at morehouse college.

On September 2,
1970, 2,700 people,

including Martin Luther
King sr. And Ralph Abernathy,

filled the morehouse gym
to see Muhammad Ali spar

with 3 undistinguished
opponents.

JOHNSON: The gym was packed.

Black and white was there,

and morehouse is in the
heart of a black community,

and that served
as a cushion for us,

and we had no problems at all.

Nobody tried to invade
it or stop the fight.

NARRATOR: "The roof
did not fall in," reported

"sports illustrated,"
"no one threw a bomb.

Fire and brimstone
did not rain down."

Soon after, promoters
announced that Ali

would be fighting top-ranked
contender Jerry quarry

in Atlanta on October 26.

WOMAN: I think it's fine,
I think we should have

something like
that here in Atlanta.

I think it's time.

Well, I don't live
here in Atlanta,

but frankly I'd just
as soon he didn't

fight anywhere.

I think it would be
the greatest thing

that ever happened to Atlanta.

Well, I just don't
like to see our...

Us have that in our city.

Why is that?

NARRATOR: Joe Frazier's
manager promised Ali

a title match if he beat quarry.

"We'll fight him anyplace
in the United States

he can get a license," he said.

Though the bout in
Atlanta would proceed,

Muhammad Ali was still barred
from fighting anywhere else.

At the same time,
lawyers for the naacp,

including Michael
meltsner, had filed a lawsuit

against New York's
boxing commission,

claiming the commission
had illegally singled out Ali

and granted licenses to other
boxers convicted of crimes.

MELTSNER: We knew that some
licensees had criminal records,

but when we got into the files

of the athletic commission,
we were shocked at the numbers

and the range of
criminal offenses.

244 boxers had been
licensed by the New York state

athletic commission
with criminal records,

and they included
champions and contenders.

They included manslaughter,
second degree murder,

armed robbery, and the like.

It confirmed our sense
that Ali had been picked out,

singled out, for
treatment because

of his identity, because
of his affiliations

with the nation of Islam,
and because he was

a prominent black figure.

Judge Mansfield
said, "this is arbitrary.

It violates the constitution,
the equal protection clause,"

and he required the
state of New York

to give Ali a license.

By that time,
people were realizing

what a miscarriage of justice
that whole thing had been,

and judge Mansfield's
decision was

the first judicial decision
along those lines.

So Ali got his license
from New York,

and at that point,
Herbert came to me,

and he said, "Bob,
form a new company

and start promoting
Ali's fights."

NARRATOR: One afternoon
before his match

with Jerry quarry in Atlanta,

Ali and his entourage
screened a film

on the first African-American
heavyweight champion

Jack Johnson, who
had been arrested

on racially motivated
charges and fled

the country in 1913.

"His fights were canceled, too?

This is really
something," marveled Ali.

"My case revives his story."

Clay, I feel, has
been messed around,

and now's the chance
to prove himself.

If someone were to
give him the opportunity

to let him be himself,
and that's the only thing

he's asked for all
this particular time.

He didn't do nothing no more.

Just let him be himself.

I love freedom for everybody.

And this will free Muhammad.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: On October 26,
1970, Muhammad Ali fought

Jerry quarry before
5,000 spectators

at Atlanta's
municipal auditorium.

It would be his first
professional fight

in more than 3 1/2 years.

♫ Jimi Hendrix's
"Machine Gun" playing ♫

(cheering and applause)

♫ ♫

♫ ♫

BOYD: That night, Bundini
is constantly yelling,

"ghost in the house!

"There's a ghost in the house!

Ghost in the house!"

Well, that ghost is,
of course, the ghost

of Jack Johnson because
Jack Johnson fought his battles

at an earlier time
surrounded by issues

of what it meant to be
a black man in America

in the earliest part
of the 20th century.

It is now the 1970s, and
it turns out Muhammad Ali

is fighting a similar battle.

So the ghost of Jack Johnson

is the spirit that informs

Ali's return against
Jerry quarry,

and Bundini is the one
who gives voice to the fact

that this ghost is most
indeed in the house,

and Ali finished it in the ring.

NARRATOR: In the third
round, Ali opened a gash

above quarry's left eye.

The cut was so severe
that quarry's trainer asked

the referee to stop the fight.

He did, awarding Ali
a technical knockout

before the bell rang to
open the fourth round.

HENDRIX: ♫ hey,
and your bullets ♫

♫ keep knocking me down ♫

NARRATOR: After the
fight, Coretta Scott King

and Ralph Abernathy
presented Ali

with a Dr. Martin Luther
King memorial award.

I wanted to say
that you are not only

our champion in the boxing area,

but you are also a champion
of justice and peace...

Thank you. And human dignity.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

ABERNATHY: You are
the living example

of soul power.

This was the march on
Washington all in two fists.

MAN: So proud of you.
SECOND MAN: Say it again.

NARRATOR: Across the
country, more than 200 venues

had carried the fight on
closed-circuit television,

including New York City's
Madison square garden.

"If the crowd at the
garden was any indication,"

observed Murray chass
of the "New York times,"

"Muhammad Ali could
be elected both governor

"and United States
senator if he were running

in next Tuesday's election."

Muhammad Ali's return to
the ring had been a triumph,

but his future
remained uncertain.

Though determined to
regain the heavyweight title,

Ali still faced 5 years in
prison on draft evasion charges,

and his lengthy exile had
not come without a cost.

FUGI: ♫ ain't it funny how
the truth can walk up to you ♫

KINDRED: After the quarry fight,
I remember leaving the ring,

leaving the ringside that night,

walking with bud schulberg,
who knew a whole lot more

about boxing than I did,
and schulberg's only comment

on the fight was,
"he's lost a step."

FUGI: ♫ down, down, down ♫

KINDRED: Well, when you're
Muhammad Ali and you've

made your career by staying
one step ahead of everybody,

you can't lose a step.

FUGI: ♫ of the dawn ♫

♫ the truth is gonna
come this way ♫

♫ oh, yes, it is ♫

♫ and if you don't get your
mind together, people ♫

♫ ooh, ooh, you're
gonna have to beg ♫

♫ oh, yes, you are ♫

♫ you better get
your salvation ♫

♫ these are the
days of revelation ♫

♫ oh, yes, they are ♫

♫ everybody wants to live ♫

♫ and nobody wants to die ♫

♫ unh, but they
won't live the truth ♫

♫ they'd rather live a lie ♫

♫ yeah, but today,
they are laughing ♫

♫ tomorrow, they're
gonna cry, cry, cry, cry ♫

♫ but, people, you can
make it if you only try ♫

♫ yeah, yeah,
yeah, you got to try ♫

♫ you got to love one another ♫

♫ ooh, ooh ♫

♫ you got to turn around
and love your brother ♫

♫ oh, yes, you better ♫

♫ don't you see we
don't have much further ♫

♫ if we keep on, keep on
destroying each other? ♫

♫ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah ♫

♫ you better get
your salvation ♫

♫ these are the
days of revelation ♫

♫ oh, yes, they are ♫

ANNOUNCER: Next time
on "Muhammad Ali"...

BRYANT: You got to
have real competition

to prove your greatness.

ANNOUNCER: Ali faces
his greatest rival.

BOYD: You can't talk
about Muhammad Ali

without talking
about Joe Frazier.

ANNOUNCER: He gives
back to his community...

BELINDA ALI: Ali
could have $30,000

in his pocket one afternoon.

He'd come back
here, have nothing.

ANNOUNCER: And faces
his final judgment in court.

ALI: I'm thankful that
the court's recognized

my sincerity of my
beliefs in this case.

TOM KRATTENMAKER: It
was quite a bombshell.

No one expected it.

ANNOUNCER: That's next
time on "Muhammad Ali."

♫ ♫

♫ yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♫

♫ don't you know
I love you, child? ♫

♫ Oh, yes, I do ♫

♫ reach out your
hand to me, child ♫

♫ you know I'll understand,
oh, yes, I will now ♫

♫ ♫

♫ reach out your
hand to me, child ♫

♫ yeah, you know
I'll understand ♫

♫ yes, I will now ♫

♫ want you to reach
out and touch my hand ♫

♫ yeah, you know
that you'll understand ♫

♫ oh, yeah, yeah, yeah ♫

♫ ♫