I Am Ali Page #2

the Eastern Heavyweight champ.

And Joyce is in trouble

from the first round on.

When he discovered boxing,

he was smart.

He said, "If I can dive, move from

side to side in the boxing ring,

I know I'm not gonna get hit. "

So he said, "Rudy, let's go

to the back of the alley

and pick up rocks

and throw the rocks at me. "

"See if I can dodge the

rocks. " So he would...

I'd throw the rocks at him. The rocks

would not hit him and go by him.

He would dodge the rocks, improve

his reflexes as a boxer.

And sure enough, when he

got in the boxing ring,

he would dodge those punches.

He was a genius.

Back in the days when Muhammad

and I was young kids,

he would tell the children in

our neighborhood his destiny,

how great he would be.

Most of the kids would laugh

at Muhammad.

Say, "Cassius,

you can't do that. "

"That's too much for you to do.

You can't be that great. "

When you're a kid,

you always bet some fellas,

"I'm gonna be champion one day,

and when I'm champion, I'm gonna

come down and show you I'm wrong. "

And then I say, "Guys, I'm gonna

be a great doctor one day

and I'm gonna be a dentist. I'm

gonna be a great scientist. "

"I'm gonna be the President

of the country. "

And there are very few people actually

are able to make good of the boasts

and come home and say,

"I told you. "

- I got a call from the lobby.

- "I'm Cassius Marcellus Clay. "

"I'm the Golden Glove Champion

of Louisville. "

"I won the Golden Gloves in Seattle.

I'm going to win the Olympics. "

Now, this is '58. So I hold my

hand on the phone and I says,

"Willie, there's some sort of a nut

downstairs wants to talk to us. "

- It was a great meeting.

- Very interesting.

He was a student. Wanted to

know how much fighters train.

What they ate, how many miles they ran.

He wanted to know everything.

When he came back

from the Olympics,

the Louisville Sponsoring Group

sent him to Archie Moore.

Well, that didn't work because, see,

two star qualities don't blend.

In fact,

what broke the camel's back,

Archie Moore asked him

to sweep the kitchen.

He said, "I didn't sweep the

kitchen for my mother. "

"I ain't gonna

sweep no kitchen. "

So they called me up,

the Louisville Group,

and they came down

and they interviewed me.

Asked me how I

would handle the kid.

And I told 'em I would take my time.

I don't like to rush anything.

Well, they said, "Well, jeez,

he won an Olympic medal. "

I said,

"That don't mean nothing. "

Transition from an amateur

to a pro takes time.

He would come to the gym and if

he didn't get a ride to the gym,

he didn't have no car,

he would run.

He would run across the causeway. I

got a call from the police one day.

"There's a tall, skinny kid

running across the causeway

says he's your fighter. "

So I said, "Yes, he is.

Cassius Clay. "

In the past, everybody else

talked but the fighter.

Now people got to wanna know

the star.

And Life magazine, the biggest

magazine in the world.

They want my pretty face on it.

I was around with this kid

for four years.

They thought I was a mute

because I never put a word in.

"Talk to my guy,

please," you know.

When they do interviews with me,

they are not the interviews

that you do with boxers.

Boxers usually don't talk

and all they can tell you is,

"He ran five miles yesterday," or duh,

duh, duh, good left jab, duh, duh.

I'm not that type of Negro,

black man, you understand?

Yes.

See, the questions they ask me

on interviews and in colleges

is the same thing,

or more complicated,

than you would ask the Queen

of England or President Nixon

or some senator politician.

He used to jump and bounce

and pull hands down, you know,

so I wasn't making no excuses for it.

I said, "It works. "

In fact, one time I was so influenced

by the media, the Doug Jones fight,

I told him in one part of that

fight, "Get your hands up. "

And he got the heck kicked out of him.

I said, "Put your hands down. "

This is the criteria, because

everybody kept their hands up.

No big man ever moved like

that and this was the key.

He was special. And you're as good

as your talent you work with.

And Muhammad made me shine.

This is BBC Television.

Well, no doubt

about the top feature

in tonight's specially lengthened

edition of Sportsview,

because everyone

is still talking

about the fight between Cassius

Clay and Henry Cooper.

I knew the English pub were

tremendous.

I knew for a fact they weren't

gonna like him the first time,

'cause he talked too much.

I knew they

wouldn't like Muhammad.

When we first went there, we didn't see

nobody. The people didn't like him.

And we're fighting the hero, Henry Cooper.

And he'd gone, "Five. Five. "

People didn't go for that, you know?

But he was just having fun.

And Cassius Clay,

the gimmick man to the last,

comes into the ring with this

monster crown on his head

and all the way

down to the ringside,

through the rows of people

with umbrellas,

People were throwing things and trying

to knock the crown off his head.

So here we go.

It's the fight of the year.

Clay from the right-hand corner

against Cooper of Britain.

And Clay has said, "I'll beat

him in five. " We'll see.

And Cooper's left eye is

a very sorry sight indeed.

- And he's teasing Cooper.

- Round four.

Henry Cooper, you know,

was well loved by everybody.

I can see why.

And, it was a great night.

After all,

he hit my guy on the chin.

Dropped him. He slid down the ropes.

It was dramatic.

And thank God

the ropes were there.

That was the end

of the fourth round.

And he hit him about two seconds

before the end of the round.

He came back to the corner

and I was chewing him up.

They're working furiously

on him in the corner.

Angelo Dundee, his trainer, he

really is giving him a talking-to.

Cooper's left

hook finally scores

and Clay was down two seconds

from the end of the fourth round.

And out they

come for round five.

And now he's stepping in, and I

think this is it for Cooper.

The towel has come in

from Cooper's corner.

There was no alternative.

He had to stop the fight.

Inside, Frank Butler asked Clay if he

still thought Henry Cooper was a bum.

He's not a bum. I must admit, I

really underestimated the fella.

My nose has never bled

until I fought him

and his left hook was as good or

better than the people had predicted.

And I must say he had me on the floor

at the end of the fourth round.

I've never...

I've been on the floor once,

but I wasn't really shook like I was.

And I have to say he's the...

He really should be the

number-two contender next to me.

After all,

I'm still the greatest.

But he should have been the number-two

contender. He's the best I've met yet.

Well, you're still

a wonderful prophet,

because you said you'd win in round

five and you won in round five.

But don't you think you were just a

little lucky to win in round five,

in view of the fourth round?

Well, I don't know

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