2

\Vho is > -luharnrna A]J~ Why i') he famous? Why did he h.1\'c [,,\"0 narncv, (~;a;~iu!~Clay in his early years, and later

i\1uhaJ111nad Ali: And vhat is he doing now?Iuharnrnad AlJ \V;}"> , of course, a famous boxer, a

world champion. But he f()ught for black Americans,

too. He stopped boxing 111 1<JR1 because he was sick.

But today he is fighting for peace in the world.

The Red and '\Vhite Bike

The story starts vith a boy's new red and white bike.

It is 1954, Joe Martin is a policeman in Louisville

Kentucky; but he teaches boxing in a gym in the.

evcrnngs, too,

One day two young black boys come into the gym.

One of them,. sees Joe."Excuse me," he says. "Are you Joe Martin, the

policeman T'

"That's right," Joe says. "What's your problem?"

"It's my new bike," the boy says. "It's red and white. Itwas in front of this building, and now it's not there."

The young boy j'; unhappy and ve,ry angry.

, "Fm going to find the boy with Jny bike. Then 1'n1

going to whup' him!" he says again and again.

Joe Martin smiles The boy is about twelve years old.

He is t-111 with long legs, and he is thin."Can you box?" Joe asks.

"No, j can't box," the boy says. "But I want to whupthat boy"

+Ulhup~to 'w)1t and h~~f.' p~f¥m O~h(k American English)

3

4

'-- ., '-

J ~

.J~_)(" smiles .l~.litl." "o mc here tl the gynl first. tvLl'ybe

I l\ll) tl'.ll'h vou ....

"l)l,:- the hoy. ~.l.Y:,."·l\i like th.ir."

"(~cH'"i."l.(..)l' s.ivs. "\''/11.1(':, v., our n.uue?"

"l.,l":'Sll1:.'.

., t 1ll\1)(_).Y S,lY. :'.

"C' ..lSS1tlS --."'1a"v..

JnL' d~'L'sn't ku. \Y it. but in only ten yC'~lrs rh.it y ung

bLICk bov. is ~t)itl~ to l-c ~1world hoxinu champion!'" '- "-

:\ttt'r th.it. Cussiu» went to Joe Martin's gyl11 six days

.1 week. l-11' \Y~lS stnJug and quick on his teet. .md he

starred boxiui; wirh the other bovs in the srvm. Hedidn't box tor 1110tlC\', of course. I-Ie boxed because he

liked it. He usuallv.Gut he \Y,1511't a

\\'011 his ti~~

hts. He w,is g~ ood!

.u. ood student at school. He had a lot

of problems, He \\ ,1S a good boy from a good tamilv;1-1t' wns friendly . and his teachers liked hi111. But scho 1work was ve ry difficult for hi111. The only important

thine~ in the world for him then was boxinu

~.

In six v,eurs he had l08 fig~ hts and he won

tOO Then in 1(60 he went to Rome and boxed

United States.

The Olympic Games

f them.

for the

' ..

In 1960 Cassius \\ as only eialireen years old. Ht' \\ us in Rome for the Olympic Carnes." He beat e\-ery

opponent and he won an Olympic medal for the United

States. He was an Olympic boxing ch.uupic ll. And he

didn't take otfhis Olympic medal tor \Yl'cks-night or day.

5

* O/)'III)'ic

Camcs: people from every country ~")

to thC.'Sl' ~,\1\lt'severv f -ur years and some win medals

Et~htccll-)'C(lr-(l/d Cassius (,'If I) 1 '1'0:'; (III G/Yllipic c/tal1lpion.

At home ill Louisville he was EU11011S. But he "vas black. And in Louisville ill the 1960s there were places for

white people and places fc)r black people.

In many hotels, theaters, stores, and buses, black people

didn't sit with white people. One day Cassius wanted to

buy a drink in a "white" store. It was a problem. "Whites

only," they said.

"But 1'111 the Olympic boxing champicn+-l'm famous,"Cassius said.

"Whi tes on 1y," t 1ley answcrco. I "G0 away.I"

Cassius \iVaS, vcry unhappy about that. "I'm going to be the World Champion," he said. "I'm going to be

important. Then white people are going to sit down with me and listen to me,"

After the Olympic Carnes Cassius started to fight for

money. Boxing wasn't a game now. 'It was his vvork. He moved fronl Louisville to Miami. He went to a new gym

in Miami, and he had new friends. One of them was

Anc~clo 1. un i 'c. I-I " worked with Cassius in the\\·<1~ .1hYJ\·~ vvitli liu n tor his ti~hts.

, L

~gy. nl and

The First Fight with Sonny Listotl

In 1964 _a~~ius Clay was t\\ cntv-two year~ ol L I-Ie \\~as

tall and strong. ~,\fter nineteen fights and nineteen wins,

he \Y~l11tt':1 r fight the world champion. Sonny Liston.

Clay ah\·.lYs III ved very quickly in his tights. He

danced here .111<.i there in the ring. His opponcurs were

big, strong men. But they lost because their punches

usually didn't hit him."

But Liston \\-3S the \\ odd champion and a YL'ry strong

boxer. The ne\yspapers in the U.S. said. "Liston is ~()ing

to \\ in this fight. Clay is very young. Liston is ~ )lng to

kill him," Only three ne\vspapers said. "Maybe Clay C;ltl

beat the champion,"

He danced here and there ill the till .~. .

7

\. I

. "

B r

• , II 1\1.11111, ,IIHI it" as Oil television in a lot rh .'. tl~:lll\\,1 I

~ t1 '\l~'I" (\)(),;,.-\'11l.'rll•111 Il,' l f d'\..' ..( "'Ill'

I'll,

\V,ltllt'd to )C Jl110llS an make a11_)l:11~ '- I

\.,l' ,I' rl' hi~ l'i~.d1t~

I 1 game.

He talked

Ill' P aycc a',_ tillI..11t\. l " ,

.l l, 1'. ,j' . 111v hO~I.:r:-; \VCrL quiet men, but Clay's" n.: (,,1 kl. u. :-L-l. ,

il1(H.lth \\·.1~ \lh\·.lY~ O~"'l.'ll.

·')t-t.

'\'l

'\'\' IIPht hl' s;,id to the people and thel ;-.

Ilc""papl'l~". "1"11) hl"ltlLilld. I'll I good. 1'111 quick and

I ,

_. l"l' 1'11 <T( iuu to bL':lt that 11);111 111 t\VO, or three, or four:-.tl01L",. 1 ~ ~

rOUl1~:." \T'llitc pc )pk were angry with him. They didn'tlike this ':Lung black 11l~.\11 with the big 111011th."Kill hun!" thev s.u tro his l ppoucnts. "(Jose that big 1110uth for him,"

Bu~ then. of c ursc, a lot of people wanted to see the fight.

Bef re the tight with Sonny Liston, Clay played this. ~l111e gc.Hl1C. Liston was very strong, but he wasn't very quick.

The tight is au February 25. In round l Clay starts (0 dance. Liston can't hit him. Sometimes Clay hits his

opponent' face--one, two very quick punches. Then be

1110VC- J\\·ay. Li ton goes after him, but slowly, He is big and

. trong, but he can't hit the young Clay.

Clay goc back to his chair. He smiles at his friend,

Angelo Dundee. "That's the Erst round, and he didn't kill 111e,' he says. "1 can win this." Liston is on his feet. He

doe 11 t \\ ant to sit down. I-Ie wants to start round 2.

But it is the same story in rounds 2 and 3 and 4. Claydances across the ring and Liston can't catch him. Sometimes

he hits Clay, of course, but Clay is always moving away. And

he is hitting Liston's face and eyes all the time. ~'.;

Mter six rounds, Liston sits down. His face is red and ~ - .

one eye is closing. Suddenly he IS very tired. "That man .:}can hit!" he says, '

0J t) \ v 1tis ro 111) I 7 a 11d ( ~];1y is. ra 11 ii 11g II P 011 hi, f<.:

c l. l lr i" xv.iitiruz; but hi. opponcnr i u't moving ft·onl

his l·h.lir. Cas: ius Clay is the new Ch~llllpioll of'--the

world

.111 I he i: only twcnr, -t\VO YC3rs old.

l-lc ca1ls, to the newspaper men ncar the ring. "1 am

till' .h.unpi n. 1'111 beautiful. 1'111 number one in the

\\'t 1'1L And you were all wronc wronc wronz '

b' b' b'

A New Name and New Problems

The day after that first fight with Liston, Cassius Clay

had a new name. "M Y name is not Cassius Clay now,"

he said. "It's Muhammad Ali."

Ali's family was unhappy about this. His father, "Cash"

Clay, and his mother were good Christian people. Their

two sons were always good Christians, too. They loved

their mother and father and had a happy horne.

to be a Muslill1, beC:lllSC ill the U. . white people are

Christi::lllS. My black brothers arc Muslims and 1'111

them. I'm not going to go into the army!"

This as a big problem. The u.S. governn1ent .~

..W

,

'19

I .;C'1 '?" 1 " . ....1;ll

"()lltT \vith t ic name _J ay. 11S f.'ltl1'~r .. '.S \ VI t"> , ,. '"' .

,I. , I "It 's :1 It 0 () d n :1111C. Its 0 11r 11~u n C ..lSl\.l( . . ~ ,. AI' "1 ,. .

"C:1.1V i~ :1 \ hire man s name, 1 sam. We have that.. I; .."lust; our t~l111i1y worked for 1\11r.Clay, a \~hite

11,1111<.. l)l(., .

11l:1I1. Our fnmily carne fi'Oll1 Afiica, and I would like a

11("1\1 name, a 'black.' na111C. And fi'0111 today, I'n1 going

S .,

going to be a Muslim, too."Later that year Ali visited Egypt and Africa. He talked

to M uslims there. "There are M uslims of all colors in

the world," he said. "I know that now, Our problem

in the U.S. is only with the bad white people there."

But he liked his new Muslim name and he stayed

a Muslim,

Fifteen months later he and Sonny Liston fought

again. This time Liston was on his face on the floor in

the first round. Muhammad Ali was the world boxing

champion.

In 1967 the U.S. Army was in Vietnam. Thousands of

young Americans, white and black, went into the U.S... .

A.rmy and fought the Vietcong. The U.S. governnlent

called Muhammad Ali and said, "Your country wants

you in the army. You have to go to Vietnam."

Ali answered, "I'm a Muslim and Muslims want peace.

They don't fight and kill people. Who are the Vietcong?

They don't want to kill me, and I don't want to kill

said, "Go into the army, or go to jail." The Alnericari ~r\people were angry with Ali, and they .really didn~~,."?¥;:

....

10

"Co ill to the arl1l)~ or go to jail. "

like him. "You can't box in the u.s. You can't be world champion," the gover nment said. "And you can't go

;lnd box in other countries." But Ali didn't go into the

:1rIlly.

"1'111 a boxer," he said. "I fight people because that's

Illy job. But I don't kill people."

Ali didn't box for t\VO years. He talked to students in

schools and got a litt1e money. He talked about peace in

Vietnam. "The fighting in Vietnam is wrong," he always

S:1 id.The govcrnn1ent didn't send him to jail, but he didn't

have much nloney. Then in 1970 the U.S. governn1ent

sal id, "'IIOU

can

b. OX agaI.n".

But there was a new world champion now, Joe

Frazier.

w

J 'F r.t i il' r \v a s ~1 go 0 d box l' r. I It' \\. b 'l( I t 1I1 ~', .111 d (l' Ih.k .11' \\ ..lS .111 Olympic cli.n npiou. tl)\). l h- \ (III 111', III('(l.d

.1( til, ()lyll1pi' G~l1l1CS in 'n kyo ill 1<)(\·1 /\1,\ III',' figllt

\\'ith him \\'.lS in New York ill I ()7 I.

l lur t\\·~) yeJrs a\vay from hoxillg i\ .\ I,)ll~!,111111' 'IIII'

fi~.. ht \Y,lS

vcrv.

difficult for Ali. l lc d.ll)(l·d. 11111 lH' \. ',1'1

sloxv .in i tired. l-le fought \\,(,11, but .lIlt'l 11(1('1'11 long

r )tll1Lis Frazier won.

1h It t\1i did 11 ' t stop fi gh t i11 g. A f[ c r [h 1 rt l 'l' J I II~i,l, t t,

, II H I

rwclv w ius. he foughtJoe Frazier ~lg;lil1ill N<'\\' Vorl: ill

1t)7-L Fr.izicr fought well, but after :\ ll)llg .Illt I c lifllcull

fl~hr . this time Ali was the 11 ncr......

This time, Ali 1I1as the ''';'IIIC1~

But Ali wnsn; the world champion after that fight. At thar rime th 'IT \ .\S ,1 ncvv world charnpi on , George

F()rl'111~nl."l want to b ' world champion again," Ali said. HAnd only C~corge F':ore111;l11 can stop 111C now, When

and where 'a n I figh t hi In?"

Ali and Foreman-The Big Fight

The Ali+Foreman fight wasn't in the U.S. It was in

Kinshasa in Zaire." Ali loved Africa. Zaire was J black

country. The government was black. Ali stayed in a

beautiful big hotel, and the people there loved him.

He was on the streets of Kinshasa every day, and

people called to hi m, " 'Ali! Botnavc! Ali! BOIIIQ}'C l' ""Bouiavc? What are they saying?" Ali asked a man.

The man had a big smile. "They're saying, "Ali! Kill him!"

, Of course, George Foreman was a black Amer ican,

too. But Africans loved Ali because he wanted peace in

Vietnam. And he was very famous because he didn't go

into the U.S. Arn1Y.

But George Foreman was a very big, strong boxer. He

\va~' twenty-five years old and Ali was thirty-two. And

Foreman wasn't slow and heavy.

At four o'clock on the morning of October 30 1974, Ali and Foreman start the big fight. It is very hot in

Kinshasa. There is going to be heavy rain later in the day.

In round 1 Ali starts to move and dance across the

ring. Foreman comes after him. In the first round there

IS no ·winner.

*' Zaire: an 'African country, now the DCI110Cratic Republic of Congo

o

'- ;::- ... - .....

.' I )\\'1) "I "'I d.mcc tt){' ti1~~.?1 - ...-...

J\ II ~1 t~ ((. - . -. .-

. k "It ' vcrv IJ(,{, .d1d l-orc m.m : \.fU':~:.·-t/IIJl \, ~ J ,.

,"nOt (roil)" to wor k .~,lllll J:-; :-> r» ., III rntlllli .2 /\Ii 'itop" d.ll1Clng. H' (-'t?, .t

Ill' is going to 11l;11'l' hi", oppon .nr c::- ',-~.

:do\\ Iy. ,"'Ol11ctllllCS hl' only t.ind rl It" -. r- '\:-~:-:

him wirl: hig. heavy puur hcx, People ',1..'

'::3' :

Ali! 1)(l11CC! J)Oll't stop moving. He's !-iji~:y;

:.._..

For six rounds. Foreman hits Ali .1gai;l J::,-~ ~!-:- •.. ' .. _",

A Ii St~lyS 011 his fee t. r n ro u nd c.). Forc'-::::_:-:';; "". --.

xlovv Ie is \'Cry hot and tired. Hi" h,i: \.~ ,~:-.:~::."~-

_-.'~;:

slovv Suddenly Ali is quick and tr ng ~l~·.l~::-::~.

: :-, '_.'

opponent agdin and agdin. And sud 1 i iv .._"::-'"":::.':::.

the Aoor. He can't stand up. Ali is :tli .. :::.:. .:-:~:

\ orld champion again,

...'-

. television and in movies theft: an: :2C'':''> of an colors.

., -People are people. Ali is happythe first t11110USblack Americans.

because he was one of

/

~ ,

'.. - ... 14

'. .

. -.. ' .',:"~\1i 'I\'~'t'd Iht i 11,11111111", fn1 '"of..' ·p"ui.'· ii ;,H',d })t~ J:,.,j7,.j(>r

·~·':···"'HJ.,ii;\ illl\\.\llil.llll Il)/f~ db" ,ltd.~~.fri'{d'!(i;uh ntjhL. ' lit ,1trhi /\11 l(lq ,I lq'.ll( "',lIn, f / ('I, tr~':"}~ j~J L;}!lVega.J,

J.htl tll~'Il, ~l'\' 'II 1Illllllipi Irlt(·,. I. J,I ;:" ;,,1'1 Ali '''NJS the

11('\ \' \\',) rid l' h" III J IPI' f III n' ti 11 " " rt) f I I .. ~ A r ~j ~/e;.n, . .J

111 19HO Ali In\( tI (it~~hr vl1d: L~~{r·/ 1>jJ;J)"~s, aod

in I <)HI hl' lost ,,!,.dll t o 'I', 'v()r l~lfrL;( % ~ i~~'/:;:!') ')jo\'\'

and tired. I-Ie \\;lSIl', well, ,tlld I)e VI"!jr ti, ;~''>,' ~;()L

"You're very sick," the doctJJr <',~,~I;, HJ..:.d vou're not;

going to get wcl]. It's not g(],ing t{J l:'~! /(,1U~ but you're

going ro get tired very quickly (:r/e~'/ ~k)"; Y~)u're going

to, walk slowly and talk slowly. rrn :L/rr/ but we can't stop it. And, of course, you can 1[ b()z:'

Ali stopped boxing. Now he Ii /:._ f~Ujs:t1y with his

family ill a big house in the country i Michigan. In

the U.S. today, there arc no places i()r "whites only.' On

,.,' And. now Ali is working for peace in the world, He

~ makes 1110ney with his famous name. He meets and talks. "with governments and other famous people, He gets

:..:', .rnedals these days, too. He is a worker for peace in the

'~. ,world, peace for all people-blacks and whites, Christians

,f.:, and ..Muslims. In the U.S. they now say. ;~.;. \ was right: .

~:. w,e·. were wrong about Vietnam. He fought for his people

:~~;~_~-~d"fbr peace ..He is, our American Nelson ivlandel?:~.. .....

, .I.. .... .

. ....

, ._ . . \. ,.

15

III; (fl.lili), 1/J;I" his.fall/il)'.

Ali givL'~ ;t lot or JIlOIH':Y to the children of the world.

I-Ie loves chiklrcu. II, ahvays loved children. There arc J) j 11(.' chi J d re I) j J) J) is (;")) iJ y.

I-I \ 1l1()Ve~ very slowly 110\V. I-Ie sits at horne. I-It' ~l't~

tired very qlJickly. I-Ie likes watching his old hghts 011

television. Ill' is ;1 good Muslim and a good 111~ln. Peoplc visit hill) ;111(1 talk wit]: hill),

. YOtlng Muil;llllll1:td Ali talked and worked tor bl.uk AJ1}criC:IJls. I lhcr: he W;IS a faJ11011S boxing chatnpiol1.

But toclav they C:lJJ him a people's champion.