by Jonathan Eig
Clay was wise to make the deal quickly: Horn, “A Rueful Dream Come True.”
Liston answered in a gold smoking jacket: “Once More, Sonny, with Feeling,” Pacific Stars and Stripes, November 7, 1963.
as the men exchanged threats: “Police Dogs Route Clay from Home of Liston,” Greeley (CO) Daily Tribune, November 5, 1963.
“I’m the champ of fightin’”: Horn, “A Rueful Dream Come True.”
“You eat like you headed to the electric chair!”: Ibid.
“I ain’t worried about nothing”: “Draft Board Could KO Clay,” Middlesboro (KY) Daily News, November 9, 1963.
“so he can make the most”: Ibid.
13. “SO WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE MUSLIMS?”
“That audacity! That youth!”: Jesse Jackson, interview by author, July 6, 2016.
“I’ve been boxing since I was twelve”: “I’m a Little Special,” Sports Illustrated, February 24, 1964.
called Clay’s doom “almost inevitable”: “Cassius Clay: The Man and the Challenge,” Sport, March 1964.
“I have to go into the Army pretty soon”: “I’m a Little Special,” Sports Illustrated, February 24, 1964.
“I don’t see the kid going more than one”: “Liston’s Edge: A Lethal Left.”
“The loudmouth from Louisville”: Arthur Daley, “An Unhappy Choice,” New York Times, January 14, 1966.
“Look at that!”: Remnick, King of the World, 151.
“Clay is part of the Beatle movement”: David Remnick, “American Hunger,” New Yorker, October 12, 1998.
“Where the fuck’s Clay?”: Ibid.
“You made us look like monkeys”: Harry Benson, interview by author, September 12, 2016.
There were rumors: James Booker, story notes, March 14, 1963, Time magazine article, Nick Thimmesch Papers.
To Clay, Malcolm was like an older brother: Alex Haley, interview by Blackside, Inc., October 24, 1988, for Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965 to 1985, Henry Hampton Collection, Film and Media Archive, Washington University Libraries, St. Louis, http://digital.wustl.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eop;cc=eop;q1=malcolm%20x;rgn=div2;view=text;idno=hal5427.0088.062;node=hal5427.0088.062%3A1.7.
“The Big M”: James Booker, story notes, March 14, 1963, Time magazine article, Nick Thimmesch Papers.
Malcolm told George Plimpton: George Plimpton, Shadow Box (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1977), 97.
“Sure I talked to the Muslims”: Roberts and Smith, Blood Brothers, 164.
“This fight is the truth”: Malcolm X as told to Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, 354.
“Maybe I can be beat”: “Liston’s Edge: A Lethal Edge.”
“The DUNDEES stated”: FBI memo, Muhammad Ali files, February 13, 1964, FBI Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.
Clay lived at 4610 NW 15th Court: George Plimpton, “Miami Notebook: Cassius Clay and Malcolm X,” in Kimball and Schulian, eds., At The Fights, 195; Wolfe, “The Marvelous Mouth,” 20.
Clay showed movies: Plimpton, Shadow Box, 107.
size 13EEE: Larry Kolb, interview by author, May 28, 2016.
“When has there ever been”: Hank Kaplan, “Liston vs. Clay, from This Vantage Point” (unpublished, n.d.), Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.
watched countless hours of fights: Hank Kaplan, “Clay-Liston, in Retrospect” (unpublished, n.d.), Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.
Robinson-LaMotta fight “over and over”: “Cassius Is Elated over Victory, but Is Angry Being Long-Odds Underdog,” New York Times, February 26, 1964.
“Ten to one?”: Hank Kaplan, “Nothing Left to Say — Nothing Left to Write About” (unpublished column, December, 1, 1963), Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.
Ringside seats for the fight were $250: Seating chart, Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.
“I ain’t denying it because it’s true”: Harold Conrad, Dear Muffo (New York: Stein and Day, 1982), 169.
telling Clay to “act right”: Remnick, King of the World, 178.
“my finest piece of acting”: Cottrell, Muhammad Ali, Who Once Was Cassius Clay, 151.
“I think he was shaken up”: Remnick, King of the World, 181.
Forty-three of forty-six boxing writers: “Boxing ‘Experts’ Get Ears Boxed,” New York Times, February 26, 1964.
Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, Joe E. Lewis: Hank Kaplan, “Countdown to the Fight” (handwritten note, n.d.), Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.
and fashion icon Gloria Guinness: Hank Kaplan “Brief Recall of the Day Cassius Clay Shook up the World” (unpublished, n.d.), Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.
more than ten thousand people: “Louisville Glovers Dance for Cassius,” New York Times, February 26, 1964.
Around the country, about 700,000 fans: “Record $3,200,000 Likely to Be Topped for Bout TV,” New York Times, February 26, 1964.
Major League Baseball teams cost $13.6 million: Michael Ezra, Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009), 82.
The fight was shown in Europe: Ibid., 83.
dressed in a tight-fitting black suit: “Clay Is Exultant,” New York Times, February 26, 1964.
“After tonight, Rudy”: Remnick, King of the World, 186.
“He’s getting hit with all the punches”: Clay v. Liston, www.youtube.com.
“You can’t quit. You’re not fighting”: Drew Brown, interview by author, March 7, 2016.
he had checked his sponge and towel: “Cassius Is Elated over Victory.”
Barney Felix, the referee: “Felix Discloses 5th-Round Drama,” New York Times, February 26, 1964.
“I think Clay’s got all the confidence”: Clay v. Liston, www.youtube.com.
“You gotta fight!”: Harry Benson, interview by author, September 12, 2016.
“I am the greatest!”: “Clay Liston Round 7 with Radio Broadcast,” February 25, 1964, www.youtube.com.
“I’m the greatest fighter who ever lived!”: “Sonny Liston vs Cassius Clay — February 25, 1964 — Round 6 & Interviews,” www.youtube.com.
14. BECOMING MUHAMMAD ALI
Clay and Malcolm X slipped away: “Champ 23.”
Cooke, nicknamed “The King of Soul”: Peter Guralnick, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke (New York: Little, Brown, 2005), 532.
Brown respected Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad: Jim Brown, interview by author, June 25, 2014.
“don’t you think it’s time”: Hauser, with Ali, Muhammad Ali, 106.
“I’m through talking”: “Clay Discusses His Future, Liston and Black Muslims,” New York Times, February 27, 1964.
“In the jungle”: Ibid.
“A rooster crows only when it sees the light”: “Clay Says He Has Adopted Islam Religion and Regards It as Way to Peace,” New York Times, February 28, 1964.
“I get telephone calls every day”: Ibid.
“The power structure”: Muhammad Ali: The Whole Story, directed by Joseph Consentino and Sandra Consentino (1996, TV movie; Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2001).
“I remember the day I became aware”: “Muhammad Ali Shaped My Life,” New York Times, June 5, 2016.
Elijah Muhammad opposed “sport and play”: John Ali, interview by author, April 4, 2015.
In an interview with Jet: “Champ Offers $20,000 to Anyone Changing His Muslim Beliefs,” Jet, March 26, 1964, 50–58.
“Play that over”: Cottrell, Muhammad Ali, Who Once Was Cassius Clay, 175.
announced that Malcolm X: “Report Clay, Malcolm X Plan New Organization,” Chicago Defender, March 2, 1964.
“nursing” the young boxer “like a baby”: Memo, March 12, 1964, Malcolm X FBI file, section 10.
“I’m the champion of the whole world”: “Clay, on 2-Hour Tour of U.N., Tells of Plans to Visit Mecca,” New York Times, March 5, 1964.
“This Clay name has no divine meaning”: Clay Puts Black Muslim X in His Name,” New York Times, March 7, 1964.
“He did it to prevent him from comin
g with me”: Manning Marable, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (New York: Penguin Books, 2011), 292.
“They’ve been hammering”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 133.
“They don’t like me because I’m light”: Audio tape, Ax 322, tapes 1–34, Jack Olsen Papers.
“They stayed on one side of town”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 139.
“embarrassed for Clay”: “Negro Leaders Criticize Clay for Supporting Black Muslims,” New York Times, February 29, 1964.
“When he joined the Black Muslims”: “Clay Criticized,” Louisville Courier-Journal, March 20, 1964.
“The idea that integration was our goal”: Jesse Jackson, interview by author, July 6, 2016.
“He longs to figure out”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 103.
“I think he is involved with these Muslims”: “Champ 23.”
“The fight racket”: Remnick, King of the World, 209–10.
“What white America demands”: Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice (New York: Dell, 1992), 117.
“good label for anybody’s product”: “Advertising: ‘Greatest’ — but Can He Sell?” New York Times, February 27, 1964.
“At all stages of the negotiation”: Minutes of meeting, March 8, 1964, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers, Filson Historical Society.
“We were just being smart businessmen”: “Fight Agreement to Be Scrutinized,” New York Times, February 28, 1964.
“setting a very poor example for America’s youth”: Cottrell, Muhammad Ali, Who Once Was Cassius Clay, 154.
“would make suckers”: “Greene Opposes 2d Bout between Clay and Liston,” New York Times, April 27, 1964.
The test Ali flunked: Lewis, Cassius Clay, 101.
“I just said I’m the greatest”: “Clay Calmly Accepts Decision That Will Keep Him from Military Service,” New York Times, March 21, 1964.
“Not as a conscientious objector”: “Clay Admits Army’s Test Baffled Him,” New York Times, March 6, 1964.
15. CHOICE
“When you saw King, you saw sound bites”: Dick Gregory, interview by author, June 17, 2015.
the Nation of Islam lost about 20 percent: Karl Evanzz, The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad (New York: Pantheon, 1999), 291.
“I, who was mentored”: Louis Farrakhan, interview by author, August 8, 2015.
vacate his house and turn over his car: Memo, March 12, 1964, Malcolm X FBI file, section 10.
“to get rid of him the way Moses”: Memo, March 23, 1964, Malcolm X FBI file, section 10.
urged black activists to stop worrying: Memo, March 13, 1964, Malcolm X FBI file, section 10.
“Concerning nonviolence”: Marable, Malcolm X, 298.
“I am not a racist”: Ibid., 365.
“Man, did you get a look at him?”: “Clay Makes Malcolm Ex-Friend,” New York Times, May 18, 1964.
“It’ll be like a castle”: Ibid.
some of his hosts were struck: “Clay Is an Enigma to Egyptians,” New York Times, June 15, 1964.
kente cloth and a copy of his books: “Short Cuts,” London Review of Books, May 19, 2016.
he offended the people: “Nigerian Tour Wins Cheers, but Leaves a Bad Taste,” New York Times, June 4, 1964.
“I should be pleased to fight”: “Clay Says He Would Answer an Egyptian Call to Arms,” New York Times, June 11, 1964.
“Because a billion of our people”: “Clay Makes Malcolm Ex-Friend,” New York Times, May 18, 1964.
Malcolm was beginning to see: Marable, Malcolm X, 365.
“You should’ve seen them”: “Day with Clay: TV, Song, Muslims,” New York Times, June 27, 1964.
16. “GIRL, WILL YOU MARRY ME?”
Herbert plied women: Memo to FBI director, October 6, 1965, Herbert Muhammad File, Malcolm X Manning Marable Collection, Columbia University Libraries, New York.
Sonji Roi may have been a prostitute: Lowell Riley, interview by author, July 8, 2014.
“I swear to God, Herbert”: Ali and Durham, The Greatest, 184.
“The way you touched my head”: Ibid., 187.
Sonji was alone: Hauser, with Ali, Muhammad Ali, 115.
“He was young”: Charlotte Waddell, interview by author, October 2, 2015.
work in nightclubs as a barmaid: Safiyya Mohammed-Rahmah, interview by author, August 6, 2015.
“We were trying to get him not to marry her”: Lowell Riley, interview by author, July 8, 2014.
checkered sheath dress: “Clay Honeymoon May Be in Egypt,” Louisville Courier-Journal, August 15, 1964.
“anything he do is legal”: Ibid.
“in the hereafter”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 151.
Sonji and Odessa worked together: Ali and Durham, The Greatest, 188.
“woodie baby”: Rahaman Ali, interview by author, August 30, 2014.
“he’s gonna be broke”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 161.
“Why, you have to be almost totally illiterate”: Ibid., 166–67.
“I can’t drive no more”: Audio tape, Ax 322, tapes 1–34, Jack Olsen Papers.
“That was the onliest reason I married her”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 153.
“My wife and I will be together forever”: “Work, Play, Talk and All-Star Cast Fill Clay’s Camp,” Louisville Times, November 12, 1964.
five-pound work boots: “Clay Undergoes Successful Surgery for Hernia,” New York Times, November 14, 1964.
carried pound-and-a-half weights: “Still Hurt and Lost,” Sports Illustrated, November 16, 1964.
he had grown half an inch: Ibid.
“He seemed to shrink in size”: Arthur Daley, “Sports of the Times,” New York Times, November 15, 1964.
“I give him three more rounds”: “Still Hurt and Lost,” Sports Illustrated, November 16, 1964.
told jokes, wrote poems: “Clay Shows No Worry over Folley or Draft,” Louisville Times, March 21, 1967.
chauffeur for his new $12,000 Cadillac limousine: “Work, Play, Talk and All-Star Cast Fill Clay’s Camp.”
“To me, he’s just a thoroughly confused person”: Ferdie Pacheco, interview by Jack Olsen, typed notes, n.d., Jack Olsen Papers.
“People don’t understand the champ”: Remnick, King of the World, 246.
a Muslim service led by Louis X: Ferdie Pacheco, interview by Jack Olsen, typed notes, n.d., Jack Olsen Papers.
ticket sales were expected to top $3 million: “Clay Undergoes Successful Surgery for Hernia.”
Ali ate a steak, spinach, baked potato: “Clay Undergoes Surgery; Fight Off,” Louisville Courier-Journal, November 14, 1964.
Sonji, who was staying at the home of Louis X: Louis Farrakhan, interview by author, August 8, 2015.
William Faversham and Gordon Davidson of the Louisville Sponsoring Group: Gordon Davidson, interview by author, April 18, 2014.
“That damned fool”: Remnick, King of the World, 239.
17. ASSASSINATION
“The die is set”: Marable, Malcolm X, 398.
“Malcolm X and anybody else”: Muhammad Ali: Made In Miami, produced by Gaspar Gonzalez and Alan Tomlinson (PBS, 2008).
“I don’t even think about him”: Muhammad Ali, interview by Irv Kupcinet, WRKB-TV, March 15, 1965; Malcolm X FBI file, FBI Vault, part 27.
“You see what they are doing”: Hauser, with Ali, Muhammad Ali, 110.
“Get your hands out of my pockets!”: Marable, Malcolm X, 436.
Sonji became suspicious: Ali and Durham, The Greatest, 192.
“That was a strange fire”: Ibid., 191.
suffered his hernia during sexual intercourse: Untitled memo, January 19, 1965, FBI Archives.
“he was foolish to let the NOI”: Untitled confidential memo, dictated February 16, 1965, FBI Archives.
“Malcolm X was my friend”: “Cassius Clay Says He’s Unafraid; Walks Streets Daily — No Guards,” Montreal Gazette, February 25, 1965.
“I was never interrogated”: John Ali, interview by author, April 4, 2015.
“I wanted to kill Malcolm”: Ab
dul Rahman, interview by author, August 19, 2016.
“This is my wife y’all”: Ali and Durham, The Greatest, 191.
“the kind that can’t believe in anything”: Ibid., 192.
“Did I do that?”: Ibid., 193.
“I was vexed over that dress”: Ibid., 194.
goodbye note: Ibid., 195.
Rahaman Ali would follow: “Earmuffs Help on Clay’s Bus,” Boston Globe, May 1, 1965.
“Ali, you see about my dry cleaning?”: “Should a King Tote His Own Water?” Miami Herald, April 1, 1965.
Sonji’s tone hardened: Kindred, Sound and Fury, 88.
The bus was a 1955 Flexible: Edwin Pope, interview by author, March 20, 2014.
the latter cooked by Sonji: “Should a King Tote His Own Water?”
Pope was typing his stories: Edwin Pope, interview by author, March 20, 2014.
offered Bundini fifty thousand dollars: Drew Brown, interview by author, March 7, 2016.
“Okay, Jackie Robinson”: “Champ, Press Marooned in N.C. as Axle Burns,” Boston Globe, May 2, 1965.
“You fool”: Plimpton, Shadow Box, 118.
“One of these days”: “Ugliness in Yulee,” Miami Herald, April 2, 1965.
18. PHANTOM PUNCH
“My poor little red bus”: “So Hard to Be Righteous,” Miami Herald, April 4, 1965.
“Drinking Scotch and working out”: “A Birthday for Sonny Liston,” ThisWeekScience.com, http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles-frontpage/15175-a-birthday-for-sonny-liston.
“Liston is burnt out”: “Still Hurt and Lost.”
“He just didn’t seem”: Geraldine Liston, interview, ESPN Classic, transcript of broadcast interview, May 2, 2001.
jeans and a sweatshirt: Remnick, King of the World, 254.
“It may start out”: Ibid.
“Angelo, he got a fight plan”: “Cassius to Win a Thriller,” Sports Illustrated, May 24, 1965.
“He laid down”: Remnick, King of the World, 261.
“It was a perfect”: “A Quick, Hard Right and a Needless Storm of Protest,” Sports Illustrated, June 7, 1965.
“I saw Liston’s eyes”: “Eyes Have It, Says Doctor,” Louisville Courier-Journal, May 28, 1965.
“I didn’t think he could”: “A Quick, Hard Right and a Needless Storm of Protest,” Sports Illustrated, June 7, 1965.
“Sonny is too dull and too slow”: “No Fix,” Louisville Courier-Journal, May 28, 1965.