I Am Ali Page #11

I don't know. I'm pretty.

He did used to say that it was

hard to get up and have to train

and do those things.

You know, put your body through that

when you're already comfortable in life.

You have a big house,

you have the money you need.

But when you're trying to make

it and you have this hunger

and this need to prove to

yourself and to the world

how great and wonderful you

are, it's a lot easier.

So at that time in his life

he was, what, 38 years old.

He already had Parkinson's,

although it was undiagnosed.

People saw, you know, you

could hear it in his voice.

The slurred speech and the, you know,

the discoordination in his movement.

Um, but no-one really

knew what it was, so...

There it is. It's all over.

What a fight.

A tremendous fight.

A very good fight.

Ali in much better condition

than they thought he would be.

Everybody here feels now

that Ali really won the fight.

Berbick is walking around.

He's been holding his hands up in the

air as though he did win the fight.

However, there is a look

of gloom in his eyes,

as though he may have figured that

he did lose it by a decision.

My father is one of those people

that would have spent the rest of

his life trying to make a comeback.

He actually joked about it probably

up till age, I would say, 65.

"Wouldn't it be something to

shake up, shock the world?"

"We'll shake up the world. Come

back, take that title back. "

Judge Jay Edson votes 99-94. Unanimous

decision for Trevor Berbick!

Well, there you have it.

Trevor Berbick has

the unanimous decision.

He's always defied impossible odds,

doing the seemingly impossible,

you know, and proving to the world, and

himself, that he can accomplish it.

And I think that's part

of what my father needed,

and it's part of what made him

who he is.

Had he not done it,

he wouldn't be the three-time

heavyweight champion of the world.

So he couldn't say goodbye to

boxing, so obviously, you know,

ultimately boxing had to say

goodbye for him.

Boxing will always continue

without me.

The Concorde, I understand,

is not too economical

and they're talking

about grounding it.

Well, if they do,

jet planes will still fly,

but you just

won't have a Concorde.

So, I was the Concorde of boxing

and the other fighters are jets.

I was at a higher altitude than the

rest, moving faster than the rest,

but you'll just have to get

used to riding on jets again.

You can't ride Concorde anymore.

We're on our way to meet

Mike Tyson,

one of the most unique people

on planet Earth.

One time Muhammad Ali and

I were in New York City

and we got a call

about a reform school.

No celebrities or athletes ever visit

those kids, and they're good kids.

And we went out to

this reform school

and then three months later

I got a call from Cus D'Amato

and he said, "Gene,

lightning struck twice. "

He said, "I got a young kid here

who's gonna be the heavyweight

champ of the world some day. "

"He knows you. " I said,"He knows me?

How does he know me, Cus?"

When I saw Muhammad Ali I was at a

reformatory in the Bronx, New York,

named Spofford.

And, um, Muhammad Ali came

one day out of the blue

and someone say,

"We have a surprise. "

We saw the movie The Greatest and

then after that Muhammad Ali came in

and that was just a really, um,

interesting moment in my life.

I said, "Wow, that's awesome. " You

know, "How can I be like that?"

Got involved with boxing

and, um, I met Cus

and Cus was very, um,

acquainted with, Ali

and, um, he would talk to him

on the phone.

You know, he'd call him up,

talk to him.

Him and Gene'd be talking, and

Gene'd put Ali on the phone.

And, sometimes I'd go over to the

phone and listen to 'em talk,

sneak another phone, put it... listen

to what they're talking about.

And, um, he just...

it was just in my environment.

Everything was fighting and war,

and the other concept of war

and fighting and war.

You know,

it's just the whole thing.

Who would have won if you

fought this man in your prime?

Him?

Ali, Ali!

Ali! Ali!

Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait.

I was so fast.

But if he hit me...

- That's if you catch me.

- Yeah. What would you say, Mike?

I... by no means... I'm vain.

I know I'm great,

but can I tell you something?

In this situation every head must

bow, every tongue must confess.

This is

the greatest of all time.

You can't really explain, um,

what Muhammad Ali is.

You know, there's no word

really to explain it

as far as

achievements are concerned.

And, um, emotional and psychological

achievements and, you know, inspiration

that, that, um,

had came from Muhammad Ali.

Um, you just can't imagine

that in the word "great. "

There has to be

another word created.

My father has a lot of sides,

and some sides are focused on

and some sides aren't.

And you hear about the fights.

You hear about, you know,

he's a good person to people,

but you don't hear about family that

much or what that meant to him.

You know, he used to always say,

"When you guys grow up, I

want us all to live on a hill

and everyone has a house

on the same street. "

I admire him because I have half-sisters

and he had children out of wedlock

and he would make sure we all

converged in LA to be with him

and get to get to

know each other.

He wasn't a perfect person, but I

admired how he was with his kids

and what he wanted for us.

When you all get to be grown

ladies and get married,

and we look back

when you were coming up

you can say, "I didn't live with

all my sisters and brothers,

but Daddy let me see 'em,

and we knew 'em. "

"Daddy let us play together. "

Back in the days when Muhammad and

I was young kids, he would say,

"Rudy, I can see it in the stars.

God is talking to me. "

He would tell me his destiny,

how great he would be.

He said, "And I want you to be with me.

I love you, my brother. "

He's a sweet,

sweet, sweet person.

God blessed him with having

insight to predict the future.

"I'm gonna be the world's greatest boxer.

I'm gonna be a great man. "

He wanted to become famous

to help people.

He's a wonderful, wonderful...

I can remember feeling

very proud of my father

and just an overwhelming sense of pride.

I guess it's a euphoric feeling.

You know, when I was...

From an early age,

anywhere we'd go together, because

not just him getting attention,

but the way that people would react to

him and sometimes they'd be in tears.

And I know my mother

hadn't seen my dad,

maybe, I would say, three or

four years after the marriage.

You know, he would come around and

three years might have gone by

where she hadn't seen him

and when he came to the house,

we lived in the Venice Canals,

she was remarried

and she looked at him

and she hugged him.

Then she started to cry

and she left the room.

My father looked at me and he

says, "Why is she crying?"

So I had to ask her. She said, "Well, I

looked into his eyes and I saw God. "

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes