Ali

Thank you very kindly.

Ladies and gentlemen,

right now we'd like to introduce...

the star of our show, the young man

you've all been waiting for.

So let's all get together and welcome

him to the stage with a great big hand.

How about it for Sam Cooke?

Before we do anything, we'd like

to say how are you doing out there?

- Is everyone feeling all right?

- Yeah!

How are you doing?

- You doing okay?

- Yeah!

- You two doing okay?

- Yeah!

Well, I ask you one more time.

How you doing?

Yeahh!

What you running from, son?

We got a call.

I'm gonna bust you up.

Beat your ass

like I was your daddy.

For those of you

who think you came here today...

to hear us tell you

like these Negro leaders do...

that your times

will just get better...

that we shall

overcome someday...

I say to you,

you came to the wrong place.

Because your times will never

get better unless you make them better.

Those of you who think you came here

to hear us tell you...

to turn the other cheek

to the brutality of the white man...

and this system of injustice

that's in place right here in America...

you think you're gonna come here

and hear us tell you...

to go out there and beg

for a place at their lunch counter...

again, I say you came

to the wrong place.

We don't teach you

to turn the other cheek in the South.

And we don't teach you

to turn the other cheek in the North.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad

teaches you to obey the law...

to Cary yourselves

in a respectable way...

in a proud

Afro-American way.

But at the same time,

we teach you...

that anyone puts

their hand on you...

brother, you do your best to see they

don't put their hand on anybody else...

again.

Time.

Just like that, Daddy.

Never jump in one place.

Bad for the heart.

Forwards, backwards, sideways.

That's the most important thing.

I'm called Bundini.

Rhymes with Houdini.

He was a Jew too.

Some people call me Fast Black.

Some call me Daddy Mac.

Gave Sugar Ray Robinson

my power for seven years.

My voodoo. My magic.

Now Shorty done sent me here

to work for you.

- Who's Shorty?

- I call him Shorty.

Call him Shorty

'cause he like 'em circumcised.

Original people. Like Moses.

And I was a babe in a basket too.

Born on a doorstep with a note

across my chest that read...

"You do the best

you can for him, world."

I wanna be your inspiration.

Your motivator in your corner.

Can I be in your corner,

young man?

Time!

Be the invisible man

as soon as he swings.

Get personal with him.

Sonny Liston,

you ain't no champ! You a chump!

Float like a butterfly,

sting like a bee.

Oh!

Rumble, young man, rumble.

Y'all wanna lose y' all money?

Then you bet it on Sonny.

He know I'm great.

He will fall in eight.

Come on, you big, ugly bear.

I'll whup you right now.

Two-ten and a half.

Two-ten and a half!.

The challenger, Cassius Clay,

two hundred and ten and a half pounds.

- Man, you sure that's right?

- That's what the weight is.

Old, ugly bear, come on.

Let's go.

You got these folks fooled. I ain't

scared of ya! I ain't scared of ya!

Two hundred and eighteen.

Two hundred and eighteen.

Sonny Liston,

the champion of the world.

Two hundred and eighteen pounds.

- Pounds of what?

- Pounds of ugly.

That man's so ugly,

when he sweat...

the sweat run backwards off his forehand

just to stay away from his face.

Come on, you big, ugly bear!

I'll turn you into a rug!

Keep talkin'.

I'm gonna f*** you up.

If you whup me...

I'll crawl out of the ring and take

the first jet airplane out the country.

- Is that a promise, Mr. Clay?

- You'll eat his words first.

- Cassius, you're a 7-1 underdog.

- Liston says he talks with his fists.

- What do you say?

- You scared of him?

I'm gonna give Sonny Liston

talkin' lessons...

boxin' lessons

and fallin' down lessons.

Cassius, are you a black Muslim?

Pat Putnam says in the Miami Herald--

A man's religion is his own business.

What kind of question is that?

- Angelo, tell me--

- Malcolm X was in town, then he left.

Was that so

he wouldn't embarrass you?

- Yeah, Howard?

- Liston doesn't like you.

Really can't stand you.

Says he wants to kill you.

Howard Cosell, you ain't

nothin' but an instigator.

- Man, how you get that way?

- Cassius, now you're being truculent.

If it's good, I'm that.

You next. Soon as I'm done with Sonny

Liston, I'm fightin' Howard Cosell.

Y'all write that down right now.

That's good?

Wanna check that out?

Hey, man, when you get back?

I just got here.

I'm front row, seat seven.

I'll be sittin'

with Mom and Dad.

You should've stayed in the first place.

Nobody gotta hide when they're with me.

There's nothing wrong

with being cool, my brother.

He's right.

- ...and challenger, Cassius Clay.

- Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

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Another boxing milestone

is at hand.

In just a few minutes,

Louisville's Cassius Marcellus Clay...

will be facing

the devastating punching power...

of the heavyweight champion,

Charles "Sonny" Liston.

...for the heavyweight championship

of the world.

Introducing, on my right--

And now the time has come.

Both challenger and champion

are in the ring.

The heavyweight championship

of the world is on the line.

I fit goes past the first round,

there will be surprises already.

Sonny Liston wrapped in that

tery cloth towel of his...

wrapped around his head

swami fashion...

Looking as malevolent

and baleful as ever.

But this man

is a professional prizefighter.

Make no mistake about it.

I want a clean fight.

When I say break,

stop punching and step back.

Do you have

any questions, champ?

Any questions, challenger?

We're fine.

Touch gloves, gentlemen. Good luck.

Good evening,

sports fans across the nation.

Liston in the white trunks

with the black stripes.

Clay, an inch and a half taller, in

the white trunks with the red stripes--

And Cassius Clay

is sidestepping.

There it is, champ.

Stay on your toes now.

And we can see that the champion

is the aggressor.

There's a shot under the heart.

Cassius Clay slips away.

And now Clay pounds a left.

Another left. A straight jab.

It seems to have stunned him.

And that's the bell.

And they're fighting after the bell.

And they're still fighting.

This round is over.

Break it up, ref.

There is no love lost between

the two contenders at this time.

Cassius goes back to his corner.

It's been an amazing round.

You can beat this guy.

I'm still here.

And Sonny Liston

is not taking the stool.

He's anxious to get back

into the challenger's face.

Take it to the body.

Kill the body, the head will follow.

This is a totally different fight

than Liston expected...

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