I Am Ali Page #2

those days. I was his best friend.

We were that close, like salt and pepper.

Like salt and pepper.

And it all begins here.

From the root to the fruit.

Maryum, tell me something.

When I started boxing,

how old was I?

I was 12 years old.

You were 12?!

Yeah.

I thought you was younger.

- Twelve.

- 'Cause somebody stole your bike.

Yeah, that's when I was 12.

It was on a Monday night

in Louisville, 1953.

We both went to a home show. Every

year they had, like, a big carnival.

We had rode our bicycle

we got for Christmas up there.

And when we came out

of the home show,

our bicycles had got stolen

so we cried.

We were little boys.

We started crying.

So we asked somebody coming

out of the building.

"Please tell us where we could find a

policeman to report our bikes stolen. "

And the gentleman said, "Go downstairs

and there's a policeman downstairs. "

So we went down a long flight of steps.

It was a boxing gym.

The policeman was in the

corridor talking to some kids.

He was all hostile

and wanted to whip somebody.

So I said, "You never fight

if you don't know how. "

I said, "Has anybody ever taught you

how to fight?" and he said, "No. "

I said, "You should come down

here and learn how to fight first

before you

starting picking fights. "

So that was the beginning of it.

He started coming to the gym and

he was a very religious trainer.

And so he was there when I got

there, and he was there when I left.

He was 12 years old and weighed 87 pounds.

That's how he got started.

Cassius Clay of Chicago

challenges Gary Joyce,

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

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