The Trials of Muhammad Ali

1

Well, now, with just

a slight skip of the heart,

we have, I think,

got through to Chicago and Muhammad Ali.

- Are you hearing us from London, Muhammad?

- Yes, sir. Loud and clear.

- How are you doing today?

- Very well. Thank you. Welcome to the show.

Thank you for allowing me to come to

you live by Early Bird satellite.

Now, let me just get a few

facts straight with you.

You're a professional

fighter, right?

I am a minister of

the religion of Islam also.

A professional fighter

and a minister as well.

- Yes, sir. - David Susskind would like to

ask you some questions. David.

Well, I don't know

where to begin.

I find nothing amusing or interesting

or tolerable about this man.

He's a disgrace to

his country, his race...

and what he laughingly

describes as his profession.

He is a convicted felon

in the United States.

He has been found guilty.

He is out on bail.

He will inevitably go to prison,

as well he should.

He's a simplistic fool

and a pawn.

Muhammad Ali.

One of the greatest athletes

of all time.

As the first three-time heavyweight

boxing champion of the world,

he thrilled, entertained

and inspired us.

He was

given the Medal of Freedom...

by the president

of the United States.

The American people

are proud to call Muhammad Ali...

one of our own.

What does it mean,

the Medal of Freedom?

We bring you up. Oh, yes.

This is Muhammad Ali, the great fighter,

the great humanitarian,

the great Muslim.

Years ago,

Ali came and sat right here.

And Ali looked at me.

He said, "Still a n*gger."

I said, "Oh, Ali.

Don't talk like that."

He said, "Still a n*gger."

What did my brother mean?

Olympic champion,

and the flag is going...

And I'm standing so proud.

I just hear the man say,

"Champion of the whole world...

Cassius Clay."

Olympic champion of the world...

...from Kentucky.

Southern boy raised poor becoming

a gold medal winner, oh, man.

Oh! I still get excited.

Me, my mother, my father

were standing at the terminal

when he came off the plane.

I was so happy.

It was beautiful.

Beautiful.

Any ideas now as to whom

you might sign with?

I would like to get with a nice,

honest crowd. Nice, clean people.

And with the right backing,

I believe I'll have a chance...

to become the world's

heavyweight champion.

It's best to be with somebody you know

and from your own town if possible.

I'm Gordon B. Davidson, attorney for

the Louisville Sponsoring Group,

owner of Cassius Clay and the hired hand to

keep the group and Cassius Clay together.

We had a contract

with Ali for six years.

We were as powerful a group as you

could put together in Louisville.

These were all capitalists.

I'm Bill Faversham,

vice president of Brown-Foreman,

and one of the founders

of the group of Cassius Clay.

I'm also his manager.

I'm W.L. Lyons Brown,

chairman of the board of

Brown-Foreman Distillers Corporation.

I'm also a farmer

and in the oil business.

The original group,

they're all deceased.

I'm the only survivor.

The reason for the group was

to aid, assist and protect...

this fine Louisville athlete.

He was a young fellow

who wanted to be great.

Cassius, you say you're gonna be

champion by the time you're 21. Is that right?

As you know, today is the jet age.

Everybody's trying to break records.

There's the man who says that

he'll be on the moon by 1970.

They're gonna make cars

that will run by sunlight.

Well, those are pretty

game predictions.

I wouldn't want to do

too much bragging about it,

but everybody that watches me, they say that

I'm the greatest that they've ever seen.

But did I think he

would be the heavyweight champion?

I had doubts about it.

And I think the group

had doubts about it...

because the odds,

it's like winning the Kentucky Derby.

You have a horse,

and the horse looks pretty good,

but it is gonna win the Derby?

He never had a doubt about it.

For me to say it was

a civic thing...

...it was.

This is the house behind us that

Muhammad and I were raised in...

for the first 13 years

of our life.

Who's the champ?

I'm the champ.

- Come on.

- You come on.

I was good,

but he was more gifted than I

Left jab,

right cross,

hook.

And we shared a room together.

It had twin beds.

He had a bed

on one side on the room.

I had a bed

on the side of the room.

And from Mom, we got kindness,

gentleness, sweetness

and affection, love.

All the good things from Mom.

My father, his name was

Cassius M. Clay Sr.

As I understand, I'm

Cassius Marcellus Clay VI.

Well, Cassius Marcellus Clay

is a great name in Kentucky.

Cassius Marcellus Clay...

the old guy, the white guy,

for whom Cassius was named...

he was a very strong

abolitionist.

I did talk to the Clays a lot.

Always a very friendly relationship.

The father was kind of

an in-and-out sort of fellow...

who painted signs

and other things for a living.

My father was painting

the churches here in Louisville.

My dad painted

this beautiful portrait of

Jesus Christ rescuing Peter.

Peter started denying to believe

in Christ and he started sinking

When I went

to church on Sunday,

and I always asked my mother,

"How come is everything white?"

I said, "Why is Jesus white

with blond hair and blue eyes?

Angels are white."

I knew something was wrong,

but I couldn't pinpoint it.

They had a lawyer

whose name was Alberta Jones.

She was an African-American

lawyer and a very good one.

He had little regard for money,

except he wanted to have it to spend.

When the group had him,

the top rate

for income tax was 91%.

It's now 35.

So the more he made,

the more he paid to the government.

To solve that problem,

the group paid

for everything...

so he could just concentrate

on his boxing.

Cassius,

do you believe that a fighter...

actually tries to

kill another fighter?

Does he get that vicious?

Do you get that vicious?

Every time I enter a ring,

I intend to down him.

And if he should fall,

he falls.

Well, that's everybody's

intention or we wouldn't go in.

We had a fund that we fondly jokingly called

"The Orange Juice Fund."

When he was in Florida,

we would get the bills...

and they would be

in the range of, say,

2,000 gallons worth

of orange juice.

And we knew that he wasn't drinking

2,000 gallons of orange juice.

But the entourage managed to get

a little one way or another.

We could not foresee the

difficulties that would lie ahead...

as far as military service and,

of course, the Muslim affiliation.

This is the corner where

I met Cassius Clay in 1961.

I'm standing on the corner of Second

Avenue and Sixth Street in Miami, Florida.

I was selling the Muhammad

Speaks newspaper...

to propagate

the faith of Islam.

We tried to clean

our people up.

We were trying to be the best

citizens that American had.

People trying to be righteous.

We didn't smoke.

We didn't use drugs.

We respected our women.

We train our children to be the same way.

This is what he saw.

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