I Am Ali Page #3

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

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